There are murders, rapists, corrupt government officials and other heinous criminals doing less time. How much is it going to cost to build prisons to hold a million downloaders?
How long before the US government becomes the enforcement arm of a group of private companies? (Please ignore the Mid Eastern oil wars, the FCC chairman’s comments, and other obvious examples of protecting ‘American interests’–government code phrase for ‘American business’)
Two years in prison for downloading latest film
Germans risk two years in prison if they illegally download films and music for private use under a new law agreed yesterday. Anybody who downloads films for commercial use could be jailed for up to five years.
The measures, some of the toughest in Europe, were announced after an aggressive campaign by the film industry in Germany, the largest market in the EU and one of the most computer-literate populations.
Günther Krings, the Christian Democrat legal affairs spokesman, said: “There should be no legal distinction between stealing chewing gum from a shop and performing an illegal download.”
Well, sometimes the Government and courts do believe it is theft. A few months ago there was a topic discussed here about someone using a neighbor’s WI-FIs feed. The court found him guilty of theft.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20060325/tc_cmp/183702832
It didn’t help that the guy pleaded guilty.
I’m quickly learning just how much the ones in power understand about technology and the people and listen to the ones that give them money. downloading music is closer to figuring out what is in a product at a restaurant and then making it at home. One you didn’t take a real product like gum. you merely figured out what the contents where and then made it yourself. No real stealing went on. You aren’t stealing a dvd or the music cd merely your computer is figuring out what is in that song and then lets you listen to it. Thats it. so the ones that compare downloading a song clearly have no idea how to set laws and policy for this day and age and should go get a degree in computer science instead of listening to the ones that give them money.
I have been reading A LOT about the supposed economical problems the music and movie industry is having since people started d/l their IP from the internet. But what about some info I read a couple of years ago that these industries were fixing the price of the cd and movies so the customer was paying more. If I am not mistaken, they (the music and movie industries) had to give this money back to customers, but the catch was that the customer had to show a proof of the price paid (sales ticket, bill etc). If I bought a cd/movie 5 years ago, how the hell am I supposed to keep those bills around? It was ridiculous. Why not lower the price of cd’s/movies for a period of time or permanently to make sales more attractive and keep people from d/l stuff? LIKE THAT WILL EVER HAPPEN!! There are reasons people are going less to movies, buying less movies, buying less cd’s… Most of the movies, and music cd’s coming out are crap, pure and simple. When a movie or cd is good, it sells, when its crap, well, lets just say I don’t know anyone that owns a copy of Catwoman. Another big reason is all this nonsense DRM technology included with the music cd’s. I will not play in my computer another cd for risk of unknown software being installed doing only god knows what. For example, I know of people that buy a cd, play it on regular cd players and d/l the actual songs from the internet or file sharing programs to avoid getting nasty software in their computers. These companies have been milking customers for a LONG time and making lots and lots of money, if they want to make people stop d/l stuff they should start by changing the way they treat their customers, charging less to promote sales and stop bullying everybody. And can someone clarify the rights of a user of IP, for example i was under the impression that you could d/l IP (a song or movie) and delete it in less than 24 hrs and this is not considered a infringement; also making a copy of your cd’s and movies for personal use/safeguard is legal.
Everyone of you have no clue!! The Federal Government can do what ever they want when ever they want to who ever they want and it doesn’t make a difference what you or I say about it.
I know this for a fact!! I just recieved 12 months and 1 day sentence along with $39,000 and change restitution for nothing more then programing 1 Satelight TV card for a kid that was wearing a wire. 1 charge!!!! A civil case that was blown up into a Federal prosicution simply because I pissed the wrong Small Town USA truck drive turned Deputy officer off for an unrelated incidend.
There are thousands of Civil cases where the defendent has done far more infrigments and recieved Far less and even no penalties at all then what I recieved. Do a google search for your self if you don’t believe me.
The Legal System in this country is so screwed up that unless you know how the system works or have the money to hire a GOOD lawyer you are going to Prison for a very long time for nothing more then a petty crime or even worse no crime at all. A Court appointed Lawyer is nothing more then a paper filer of the courts. A Federal Defender does not have your interest or defence in mind but instead does what is necessary to be sure the paperwork for your case is filed in a timely manner.
Your given NO legal advice and If you decide to plead guilty thinking its better to work with the prosicution and possably recieve a lighter sentince then to fight and lose and then recieve the maximum sentince to a petty crime such as the one I committed the court can and will use fabricted evidence against you in determaning what your sentince and or monitary losses will be. Evidence which is clearly and obviusly flawed and would never be allowed in a trial now becomes “Factual evidence and no longer needs a factual bases to be proven”
What a legal injustice this form of practice now allows the legal system to do. So before you start expressing the rights or wrongs of downloading movies, software, or Satelight TV you need to find out the truth.
travan@yahoo.com
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at http://xrl.us/ouog6
does this law apply in canada?
and where or who would i talk to about getting someone busted for downloading movies illegally and burning them to cd’s?