We're doomed

[Fusion]

Maybe in other parts of the world, but here in the US we have an established precedent that ISPs are not liable for content posted by users as long as the ISP shows good will and cooperates with take-down requests as soon as possible.

If they're not liable, why are they held responsible?

[Insanius]

They're not.

[The_None]

http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-lawyer-is-biased-calls-for-a-retrial-090423/

No wonder why we've lost.

[Jesuszilla]

Hah.

[Fusion]

This rant isn't about video games, or is it about people I know.  It's about the justice system and how it's bound to fail should it keep running this course.

So I'm sure most of us are familiar with the Pirate Bay's trial.  Some people I've heard still believe the Judge's decision was the right one, referencing Robin Hood's scholastic version as being the factual version of what actually happened and trying to say they're using a "robin hood" defense all the while painting the lot of torrent users as pirating assholes who wake up every day and just imagine what they can get illegal copies of.  That description is so contrived I'd even call it a stereotype.

But it doesn't help that the Pirate Bay's trial had 1 major factor that honestly, the Swedish Government should have considered going against in the best interest of fairness: The revealed fact that the Judge was part of a anti-piracy group from the beginning.  He ruled in favor of the IFPI and associates, most likely because his membership would be threatened and he'd lose some of the theoretical capital by letting "criminals and thieves" free.

But when it comes down to it, they should either be innocent, or they should be prosecuting major search engines that aren't directly linked to torrent websites' activities but link to them regardless.  Google is a major, MAJOR offender of copyright law if just having links run through a tracker is enough to indict you for copyright infringement.  The judge basically ruled for guilt by association, NOT whatever the verdict actually was.  THAT is why the trial was unfair.

But add to that, President Obama wants to further limit the Defendants' rights in trials.  Is it really "Innocent until proven Guilty" or is it the other way around?  It really gets just hard to look at the legal system as a thing of fairness and makes me want to live in the shadows even more just in fear of the justice system which is becoming more like Dredd by the second.  It may seem cool, but in reality, the law system of Judge Dredd is really, really screwed up.

A major problem with the whole system in general is that it automatically favors large corporations against individual users or smaller companies, no matter the defense or how legal you are according to the Constitution and all of the amendments passed.   Fair trials?  Let those accused stand guilty no matter their innocence.

I could go on about Torture, the "enhanced interrogation techniques" and how nobody considers waterboarding (not the fun kind, but basically a simulated drowning) a method of torture.  I could also go on about how "state secrets" is abused for a lot of the inquiries.  SOMEONE is going to get pissed, SOMEONE is going to rebel and SOMEONE is going to rip apart those secrets in a fit of rage and determination.  Who is it going to be?  The American public that gets sick and tired of all this bullcrap.

Terrorist attacks?  Screw them, if there is one, it will be damn convenient for Obama to rally support should his poll numbers slip.

[The_None]

I (so does Fusion) fucking knew it.

Anybody knows how to sign into The KKK?

[MC2]

It's gonna four looooooong years.....

[Jesuszilla]

Good thing I don't watch too many movies, and those that I do, I buy anyway.

[The_None]

Warner* Music is now officially the most butthurt music label of the planet.

* - strange concidence, isn't it?

[Jesuszilla]

Isn't that ironic?

[The_None]

It boggles my mind how I could forget about THIS....

[K.O.D]

if it ever happens, take to the streets, boycotts, protests, etc.

Even though i'm not european, i'm scared it might soon get forced into asia as well.

[Fusion]

Policing the internet is POINTLESS.


The Internet as a whole is a distribution network, where people can share things with others without them even having to leave their home for, say, a copy of Bedtime Stories.  Buying things online is just as popular as ever, now that people can do it from the convenience of their own home AND without having to do it through a telephone.

But with the good, come the bad, which as history tells us... The bad ALWAYS outweighs the good, somehow.  You'll never hear of good things that happened during our nation's history, or even the world's history.  No, Crusades this, vanishing that, the bad points of history always end up being repeated because we learn from them.  Society as a whole might be more tame and progressive if we, the media and all such focused on the good of the world as opposed to the bad.

You start your life as a child, being read stories with happy endings and learning about a small portion of the good things that have happened.  But later, you start to see the painted reality that there's nothing good about the world, that bad is capitalized on by everybody instead of the heroes that save the day.  If Society were instead more focused on the good, pure and true things that the people of the world have done, then we may be a far more tame and progressive society.  We might actually have a global unity if we did.

But no, we instead choose to capitalize on the bad qualities of life, to support violent reactions, social awkwardness if not fuel those very same and more!  Giving the scum of the earth more publicity than a local hero who by all rights deserves to be known in some way for his achievement no matter how small.  EVERYBODY does it and no one realizes it.  Have we truly got anywhere as a society for however long we've existed?  Or have we just built our buildings, made up stories and proceeded to not move away from what we would consider a barbaric way of life.

I would change society for the better, if I had any power to.  But alas, my mind is attached to a body that can gain no recognition, no fame, for my lineage is cursed into obscurity.  But I can't end myself, that's just not the right way to go.  I want to wait until my natural death, so that when I do cross over, I have plenty of stories to tell.

What does most of this have to do with the internet?  Hell if I know, but it's a good piece of existentialism.

[Jesuszilla]

...

[The_None]

The European internet still remains under imminent threat, as the Telecoms Package was just simply postponed, and may return later to simply rape us all this time.

At least someone gave a middle finger to Sarkozy's three strikes rule though.