Japan: Police Arrest Journalists For Selling DVD-Backup Tools 252
Modellismo writes "Last week four journalists from Sansai Books were arrested for selling, through the company website, a copy of a magazine published last year (with a free cover mounted disc) focused on how to backup/rip DVDs. They violated Japan's Unfair Competition Prevention Law that recently has been revised to make illegal the sale of any DRM circumvention device or software. It's interesting to note that Japanese cyber police could arrest the Amazon Japan CEO, too, as the online giant is selling a lot of magazines, books and software packages for DVD copy and ripping: exactly what put Sansai Books' staff in trouble."
Two things come to mind (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfair Competition Prevention Law
Most people would think that this law is designed to prevent unfair competition. What it really means is it's an unfair law to prevent competition.
Also, getting governments to step on other people for you is apparently NOT unfair competition...
Obey. (Score:5, Insightful)
There are ways to dispute a law you disagree with. Disobeying it is usually not a good way.
The bus driver said to Rosa Parks.
Re:Japan: (Score:5, Insightful)
It's like you believe Korea does not even exist!
Corporations are an extension of government - it should not surprise anyone when they work together.
not in the USA (Score:5, Insightful)
in the USA, government is an extension of Corporations
Re:Journalists? (Score:4, Insightful)
The simple fact is, most people don't give a shit about injustice until it effects them personally.
Not true. 2 million people protested against invading Iraq in the UK. The problem is that they are powerless. We invaded Iraq anyway. Come election time when we could have thrown the government out we also had to consider things like the economy and the fact that the other lot were tossers and would probably have done the same.
Re:Journalists? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, people shouldn't be allowed to have many, many orders of magnitude more then the average person.
When the CEO makes 200 million and the employees make minimum wage, then something is wrong. When someone can watch people who live on the streets suffer from menatl and physical ailments and they feel nothing, then something is wrong. When someone makes more money the the GDP for some small countries, then something is very very wrong. Then when you grant personhood to a corp, something is so wrong its not even comical anymore.
Just having more does not make wealth inequality except in the strictest of definitions. Its when you have more money then a very large swath of the population put together that you get wealth inequality.
Re:Obey. (Score:4, Insightful)
If these guys have decided to disobey the law in order to challenge it in the courts then that's cool, and I look forward to seeing their well prepared legal battle.
Re:not in the USA (Score:4, Insightful)
someone: what's the term for this insane level of assimilation between political, corporate, and aristocratic power?
Idiocracy.
Re:libdvdcss ilegal? (Score:4, Insightful)
"Cyber" is a short form for "cybernetics", a former science that has been surpassed/replaced by control theory and dynamics system theory.
Just because a few thousands clueless politicians use the term the wrong way doesn't mean that they successfully have redefined its meaning.
Re:Journalists? (Score:5, Insightful)
yes, i agree with everything you said, and i celebrate these facts
now: what is the republican agenda in regards to what you have cited?
Re:Anime fansubs (Score:2, Insightful)
No it doesn't. That question has been answered for ages: fansubs are copyright violations, period, and only exist because it wasn't worth the time or effort to pursue those doing it. Once upon a time fansubbers had respect for the studios in Japan and the US and would stop doing releases once it was licensed, then the warez kiddies came in and took over.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Japan: (Score:2, Insightful)
that has squat all to do with bowing to corporations that has to do with putting the back up generators below sea level leading to them failing and thus turning off the cooling system for the nuclear fuel rod leading to a meltdown during a tsunami, the hole thing was due to poor planing and not enough preparation.