The Long Reach of US Extradition 242
CuteSteveJobs writes "The New Matilda reports how the U.S. is now able to extradite people for minor offences, and asks why foreign governments so willingly give up their nationals to the U.S. to 'face justice' over minor crimes committed outside U.S. borders? Lawyer Kellie Tranter writes, 'the long arm of the Government is using criminal enforcement powers to enforce commercial interests at the behest of corporations and their lobbyists.' A former NSW Chief Judge said it was bizarre 'that people are being extradited to the U.S. to face criminal charges when they have never been to the U.S. and the alleged act occurred wholly outside the U.S.' He said although copyright violations are a great problem, a country 'must protect its nationals from being removed from their homeland to a foreign country merely because the commercial interests of that foreign country.' Australia recently 'streamlined' its laws to make extradition to the U.S. even easier."
There's a good dog (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:There's a good dog (Score:4, Insightful)
ok, so who do I vote for at the next Federal Election that isn't going to bow down to the US and to big US corporations?
Re:There's a good dog (Score:5, Funny)
Obama.
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The funny thing is Obama corruptly sold the vice presidency to the copyright industry, and many people here, like last time, will completely and utterly ignore that, so the other guy won't win.
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Whoosh.
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Re:There's a good dog (Score:5, Informative)
Vote Pirate.
http://pirateparty.org.au
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Pirate Party Australia currently does not have the number of exclusive members required to register with the Australian Electoral Commission. This status is unlikely to change before the next election.
We do have a handful of more liberal minor parties that one can vote for, though most Aussies have never heard of them. Two that spring to mind are the Liberal Democratic Party and Australian Sex Party. Of course there is always The Greens, but who wants to undo centuries of human achievement and plunge back i
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Pirate Party Australia currently does not have the number of exclusive members required to register with the Australian Electoral Commission. This status is unlikely to change before the next election.
And what can be done about it? Are there any laws about how you are allowed to find new members? The way I see it, it can all be done electronically, and for the digitally disenfrenchised, all you have to do is carry around copies of the party Constitution, the Member Application Form, and envelopes with the address and a stamp.
NOTE: the party itself should scrutinize it's officers with a fine-tooth comb, one accusation of right-extermism (favourite) or any kind of illegal activity (drunk driving, etc.) and
Re:There's a good dog (Score:5, Informative)
The big parties everywhere reflect what they can get away with. If you want to change something, you have to infiltrate them. Which means going to local party meetings, arguing, etc. Just hoping that someone with the right ideas comes along so you can vote for him/her does not work.
Much of what happens depends on someone doing it, and if there is nobody to do it, it just doesn't happen. If you want change - make it happen. Organize anti-extradition rallies, generate awareness, etc.
Everybody blames the politicians, but you must as well blame the people who expect someone else to fix it for them.
Re:There's a good dog (Score:5, Insightful)
Only problem is that its getting harder and harder to organize protests and rallies without being harassed by the cops.
Its also hard to explain these sorts of issues to normal people or to convince them that its an issue that they need to care about.
Also, as we have seen many times over the years, just because "the people" want something doesn't mean the government will listen.
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just because "the people" want something doesn't mean the government will listen.
I may be a bit cynical here, but I generally think people respond to hype and fall for shite, an example but by no means a good one is just looking at the amount of people who fall for fake fb stories and get all riled up about it when it's not even true. This actually annoys the hell out of me. But I digress...
The point I was trying to make is just because the people want it doesn't mean it's right...Almost everyone in the US I meet tells me how they get taxed too much when in reality out of the OECD coun
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just because "the people" want something doesn't mean the government will listen.
I may be a bit cynical here, but I generally think people respond to hype and fall for shite, an example but by no means a good one is just looking at the amount of people who fall for fake fb stories and get all riled up about it when it's not even true. This actually annoys the hell out of me. But I digress...
The point I was trying to make is just because the people want it doesn't mean it's right...Almost everyone in the US I meet tells me how they get taxed too much when in reality out of the OECD countries they are 4th lowest out of 33 countries OECD Tax rates [slashdot.org] ..just ahead of Mexico, Chile and Turkey..they want to pay less taxes but is that really the right thing for the country? NYT-why US People are wrong on tax rates [slashdot.org]
I could go on with examples...my daughter wants to eat nothing but cheesecake and coke...doesn't mean it's the right thing for her(or the people)...
Links are example only to back up my argument that many people really don't know what's good for them, feel free to add counter links as why people know best and I'd be happy to discuss :)
People think they're taxed too much because they feel an economic squeeze and can point to taxes as a point where their money gets taken away from them. In addition to seeing a big chunk of money go away, they feel they have unmet needs. This generates that, "What the hell are we paying for?" feeling and animosity towards taxes.
And ultimately, why aren't the people right? Why can't we have cheesecake and coke at every meal? This is our society, and it's hard to believe that the optimal outcome is the system
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... feel free to add counter links as why people know best and I'd be happy to discuss
No links are necessary. Just re-read the comments up to this point. Hell, just re-read TFS. By my count, we've now heard from posters from at least three countries (USA, Australia, Great Britain) who believe their governments are beholden to special interests, not their electorate or taxpayers, and no-one appears to have any clue as to what to do about it. I'll add Canada for four. Why the hell would you lobby to pay more for clearly dysfunctional democracy? Because they might fix a few potholes whil
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That would depend on who's running in your electorate. In the senate you can Langer vote below the line and stop your preference flow when you have exhausted the candidates who won't bow down to the US. For the house you'll have to find some way to rank the candidates that will bow down to the US or reach an agreement with some other people you trust to arrange your preferences so that your votes cancel out once you reach the bad candidates (if there are a lot of house candidates that will take a lot of peo
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I was just thinking " Good God! Elect me! I'll fix that crap and so much else to take us back to several states under the Constitution.
We will start by gutting the Uniform Commercial Code and eliminating anything not Constitutional and patching it with patriotic goodness as we go.
We will cut the NEED for so much defense spending by pulling troops back from all over the world and concentrate on defending our borders as prescribed Constitutionally. No more world cop for corporate interests.
We will eliminate t
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You'd have my vote, if I weren't on the wrong side of the 49th parallel.
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No tool that is designed to do significant bodily harm is "just a tool."
All objects are just tools, unless you are suggesting a firearm can think and act for itself?
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Greens or Democrats.
Re:There's a good dog (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:There's a good dog (Score:4, Informative)
Re:There's a good dog (Score:5, Informative)
"The major parties are Labour (more left wing) and Liberals (who oddly enough are very un-liberal conservatives)."
Left and Right doesn't mean shit anymore in any of the major English-speaking countries. The mainstream parties all seem to favor copy monopolies and increased surveillance of citizens. UK's Labour was a willing partner in Bush Jr's Iraq misadventure. I also remember reading in the BBC how the party was actually disappointed over the Conservatives' decision to block security "hacker" Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US.
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Re:There's a good dog (Score:5, Insightful)
"I also remember reading in the BBC how the party was actually disappointed over the Conservatives' decision to block security "hacker" Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US."
The Tories have once again reached the point where they're openly acting as "the nasty party" once more, and are so confident in the fact they've got another 2 - 3 years of being able to fuck out country about at will now the Lib Dems are willing patsys despite the Torys not fulfilling any of their obligations to the Lib Dems in the coalition agreement.
But despite this, I'm not going to be able to bring myself to vote for Labour next election, I'm unsure if I'll even vote at all this time as I'm really at a loss as to who to vote for (we don't get anything like the pirate party in our constituency). The reason I couldn't vote Labour is for precisely the sort of thing you mention - there are certain things from their time in power that were key reasons I and many others were glad to see them go, yet they haven't recognised their faults and denounced them.
The ID card database is still very much something Labour wants, they still think they were right to spend all that time trying to extradite McKinnon, and they still think they were right about the Digital Economy Act, they still think they were right to throw as many benefits around left right and centre as they did to the point of near bankrupting the country, they still think they did the right thing in blocking all accountability about the torture they let the security services be complicit in under their rule, and they still think things like the interception modernisation programme, and censorship laws were a good idea.
I think Labour are guaranteed a majority or coalition next election because of the public distaste of the Tories now, but I also think that whilst it means we can say goodbye to the vocal Tory right, borderline far-right that seems to be getting it's own way despite only comprising a minority of the Tory party, it means we're going to end up fighting the same old shit we did last time - ID cards, censorship and so on.
Re:There's a good dog (Score:5, Informative)
The Liberals are not "very un-liberal conservatives" they are for economic liberalism (when compared with the labor party anyway) hence the name. If you want to use the American definition of liberal (social liberalism - center left) rather than the Australian definition (economic liberalism - center right) then obviously the names of Australian political parties won't make sense.
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The Liberals are not "very un-liberal conservatives" they are for economic liberalism...
The most accurate term for them is 'neoliberal', and it also fits both major factions of the US's ruling party, and most all of Europe where right wing nationalism doesn't rule. It's people like Reagan, Thatcher, Blair, Harper, etc. Real social liberals that stand up against capricious, demented authority have virtually no real power or influence of any kind anywhere in the world. They are nothing more than figments of i
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In an Aussie context "Republican" does not refer to a party, it refers to the political position that the Queen should be fired. Most Aussie pols in both parties are Republicans in this sense of the word. According to Aussie Republic activists, so are the people, but there actually a referendum on the issue fairly recently (late 90s), which they lost.
They claim it's because the Australian people want a US-Style, directly-elected, politically powerful President, whereas the pols just want to rename the un-el
Strewth, blue buggering ruin, etc. (Score:4, Funny)
No, the main political groupings there are Inmates and Guards.
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These countries need to keep stroking US cock or they'll pay a terrible price. What that price is no one knows. Maybe we'll be stern with them. Maybe there's some secret orbital bombardment system us peons don't know about. Maybe these non-US countries need a spinal carbonate infusion. I'm an America, I am not the US and I find it tragic that so many countries kowtow to US. Get a spine. Where is the fun in ruling the world if everyone does your work for you? As an American I prefer insanely fierce competit
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Basically, if the US decides that a country should suffer its roth then all it needs to do is put them on the "don't trade without a special license" list or require companies who sell to the federal government not to trade with that country. You'd be surprised at how effective that would be in hitting the economy of the target country, especially if it's a developed, industrialised one.
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The problem is that you can only do that once: when you do it, pain ensues. If the companies/economy recovers, they don't need you anymore. Also, there might be retaliation: when negociating with the EU, the US basicaly does as it is told. Which apparently leaves the US negociators flustered and confused.
Which matters little, because the same lobbyists are pushing in the same direction both side of the Atlantic, so there are no real disagreements anyway.
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Australia has been the US's lap dog for quite a few decades now. They say jump, we say 'how high?'.
... Then I look at you crosswise and say: "I said JUMP, not Ask Questions!"
Pleb? Who cares? (Score:5, Interesting)
What do the elites care if a few plebs get sent abroad?
Mods: Before you mod me down, google "plebgate" or "pleb uk"
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So he swore at some police, like so fucking what? They can be obnoxious overbearing officious twats, especially when it comes to cyclists.
I really don't see why he's resigning. The current crop of Tories (UK gov't party) are all rich and I expect they all think they are above 'the commoners'. Perhaps this is it, he's not allowed to say what the Tories think of the voters. Not that I like Tories, they're ****s.
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Ugh, am I the only one who thinks the "elites" should have to prove themselves in hand-to-hand combat with whoever they are trying to enforce their bullshit on?
yes
One thing is certain. . . (Score:5, Funny)
Nothing in this discussion will be alarmist or overstated in any way.
Re:One thing is certain. . . (Score:5, Insightful)
That is an overstatement. You have actually contradicted yourself.
Bribery (Score:5, Insightful)
Countries allow this sort of abuse because the right people (or entities) have been bribed. Of that, you can be sure. The real question is, is it legal bribery (AKA "foreign aid," or other forms of government money), quasi-legal bribery ($13,000 sex parties paid for by lobbyists, anyone? [inquisitr.com]), or the good, old-fashioned, illegal sort ?
Re:Bribery (Score:5, Insightful)
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You got a citation for those assertions, or just random unfounded conspiratorial ranting?
Bribery is the geek's all-purpose explanation for any legal decision --- in any court in the world ---he doesn't like. It is so much easier then trying to understand the role of the judge and the differences between different legal traditions.
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Bribery is the geek's all-purpose explanation for any legal decision ...
Why are you bringing up bribery when this sub-discussion is about purported threats to politicians if they didn't toe the party line?
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Posting in lieu of having an option to mod this as being "What did I just read?"
They told me... (Score:2, Funny)
They told me if I voted for McCain, we'd see corporations exerting even more control over federal laws... and they were right!
Two endings (Score:2)
2. "I say, mates, fuck America! We don't have to take their crap! Those yanks don't control us! Do we stand for freedom, or do we stand for cowardice? Now, who's joining me on this kamikaze mission?!"
This is, (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the main reasons why the united states is not well liked by a lot of countries.
Think for a moment, imagine say, China, Russia, or say Norway, bullied its way into other countries in such a way that non-citizens of these countries could be 'deported' to them to face punishment. Punishment for laws they did not know about, or are not against the law in their own countries but against the law there.
Re:This is, (Score:5, Informative)
Friend, the Americans aren't too happy with America right now. What they're (American Corporations) doing to your country they're doing vigorously all over America, and they're a damn site closer here, so if its chafing you, its frigging killing us.
This strikes me as a powerful indication of the state of the world. The Nation state is in decline. The multi national corporation is calling the tune, and the laws are now being adjusted to ensure that any infraction against the all mighty corporation anywhere on the planet is dealt with swiftly and with overwhelming force. The new terrorist is anyone who isn't consuming his proper allotment and paying his bills. Now might be a good time to take our world back.
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Now might be a good time to take our world back.
They've got you outvoted, outnumbered and outgunned which means you lose. Thanks for playing!
Re:This is, (Score:4, Insightful)
Friend, the Americans aren't too happy with America right now. What they're (American Corporations) doing to your country they're doing vigorously all over America, and they're a damn site closer here, so if its chafing you, its frigging killing us.
This strikes me as a powerful indication of the state of the world. The Nation state is in decline. The multi national corporation is calling the tune, and the laws are now being adjusted to ensure that any infraction against the all mighty corporation anywhere on the planet is dealt with swiftly and with overwhelming force. The new terrorist is anyone who isn't consuming his proper allotment and paying his bills. Now might be a good time to take our world back.
The nation states where freedom and privacy used to mean more than they do today are in decline.
The nation states where freedom and privacy mean nothing are not in decline...they are growing in power.
Unfortunately we in the developed countries that are in decline are not unhappy enough in large enough numbers to effectuate change at this time. Only when the balance of unemployed vs. owners reaches critical mass will change become possible.
Re:This is, (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately we in the developed countries that are in decline are not unhappy enough in large enough numbers to effectuate change at this time.
Unfortunate indeed. FTUSDI: [ushistory.org]
[...] whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
What's that they say of the cyclic nature of history? I put it to you that it's not enough to know history to avoid repeating it; We must also be mindful of it always. Otherwise, in the end there will be lots of, "sorry, but you leave us no choice" on both sides of the double edged sword of power.
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When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensable of duties.
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, 1790.
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What's that they say of the cyclic nature of history? I put it to you that it's not enough to know history to avoid repeating it; We must also be mindful of it always. Otherwise, in the end there will be lots of, "sorry, but you leave us no choice" on both sides of the double edged sword of power.
History is already repeating and now we have to continue the change to completion as we have lost any sense of balance between right and left, between rich and poor, between the educated and the ignorant, between the manipulators and the manipulated.
It is too easy to imagine a not too distant future where the wealthy and powerful, become nobility, have control of the jobs, the police and the military to a point where the rest of society will no longer be able to achieve change.
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And on that note: Prisons in the US are major business. And what do you do when you've mostly saturated your home market (with the US leading the world in incarceration)? You begin extraditing people from other countries.
U.S.A! Number 1!
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The multi national corporation is calling the tune, and the laws are now being adjusted to ensure that any infraction against the all mighty corporation anywhere on the planet is dealt with swiftly and with overwhelming force.
Hey!!! Corporations are people, too!
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All corporations should be inherently amoral. If they took a morale stance that would limit their profit potential and not be in the interests of the owner or the shareholders as the case may be. Not that there aren't corporations which take a moral stance of a sort but its usually just for the sake of their public reputation and thus only skin deep.
Capitalism is not a positive moral force in the world, rather the complete opposite - the structuralization of Greed.
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Now might be a good time to take our world back.
Take it back, indeed. The corporations aren't headless monsters, they do have directors and motives. Any given corporation can be targeted, and its' actions affected with the right approach. This could involve piles of cash to buy your way in, or bending motives in a field-centric way. Either/both avenues can be followed simply with hordes of average-joe participants.
An organization of the willing, coordinating efforts, identifying & focusing on the most critical/effectual corporations, would seem t
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Let me introduce you to the British East India Company. Sound familiar?
That's right, the corporations have been calling the shots for over 400 years now. Nothing has changed.
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The new terrorist is anyone who isn't consuming his proper allotment and paying his bills.
Hmm. That describes me at the moment, and with the first snow of a Canadian winter falling now, I might welcome being renditioned to Cuba.
Re:This is, (Score:5, Insightful)
Cut the crap? Okay by the numbers, 2% of our population is in prison, more than any developed nation on the planet, and with prisons everywhere switching over to private institutions, and prisoners working for $0.50 an hour welcome to the future of the American laborer. Since 2000 there have been half a dozen economic crashes destroying jobs and combined with corporations outsourcing jobs to India, China and a dozen other countries, entire regions have suffered economic collapse and acquired names like "The rust belt". Since the last major disaster, millions have lost jobs they will never see again. In fact the new jobs that have become available since 2008 are predominantly service jobs that forces 50 and 60 somethings to utter the phrase "Would you like fries with that burger?" Retirement accounts gone. Pensions gone. Health care gone, Benefits evaporating. Just this week our nation set an all time record for the number of people receiving food stamps. The top 400 richest people in America now have the same wealth as the poorest 165,000,000. The average wage is shrinking faster than the number of honest men in our government. Inflation, due to printing endless tons dollars to cover the bad debt of the bankers, is imploding the American economy, and fast destroying what little buying power remains in the middle class. The corporations are no longer loyal to America and have sucked it dry and are now in the process of throwing away the dry husk... so what part of this sounds to you like bull shit, because I can speak from personal experience, this decade of the corporation has ruined me financially, and I have so many friends and acquaintances that have suffered the same its almost a cliche.
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entire regions have suffered economic collapse and acquired names like "The rust belt".
The rust belt is defined by the heavy industries that became dominant in the northeast and the mid-west after the Civil War and which prospered through World War II and on into the fifties.p There were good jobs to be had here in high-wage union labor.
But at enormous cost to the environment --- and little post-war investment in infrastructure. In the sixties the bills came due.
It was simpler and cheaper to abandon the works in place and move south and west.
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On the other hand, I suspect the US is doing this more often because countries keep complying. So the US pushes a little further, other countries comply a little more, repeat.
Re:This is, ... bullying? (Score:3)
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I don't live in the US, and I'm not a US citizen, but I don't blame the US for trying to get people extradited. I do however blame my own government for not properly protecting its citizens by complying too easily with every request.
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I don't live in the US, and I'm not a US citizen, but I don't blame the US for trying to get people extradited.
Well, you should. It's part of our prisons-for-profit program, and you should be concerned about that.
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uber lords (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:uber lords (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh no, There are a huge number of American's who are perfectly clear what's going on, and we have no illusions to what our nation has evolved into over the last 30 years, though as you suggest a vast mouth breathing, knuckle dragging majority has voted for its own slow motion suicide. As Mussolini said, fascism is the corporate state, and we are now all becoming pawns in a global power grab by monied interests. Strangely, we fought WWII to stop the tyranny of fascism, while at the very same monied interests here invested in the Nazi's and laundered their money in the U.S., England and Switzerland. The bankers and CEOs are the threat to liberty, justice and the advancement of the human condition. Perhaps it is time for a new fight for the dignity of the human spirit.
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Or we could start by saying that temporary monopolies like copyright and patents were never meant to enter the hands of powerful entities, such as corporations. The potential for abuse is too great. The copyright or patent should end as soon as the artist or inventor has been payed by selling
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They do. See e.g. Luigi Zingales and his books "Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists [wikipedia.org]" and "A Capitalism for the People [wikipedia.org]".
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You Americans thought you had freedom how cute :-)
They did. Theirs was better than anything that'd come before. Unfortunately, they forgot how to maintain it, or some slick talking salesman sold them some snake oil.
Welcome to the revolution. :-P
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You can never stop this kind of thing permanently. The price of freedom, after all...
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So far, too few US citizens seem to care
FTFY
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The vast majority of them are fine, hardworking & God-fearing folks.
They have nothing to fear from measures like the Patriot Act; it's only bad people - tairsts, comnusts and hermersexuls - that will have their freedom curtailed..
I totally misread... (Score:2)
I need a break from the internet.
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We had a few scandals about the private lives of some of them so it can be one and the same thing :) The judges in question were entirely professional at work so it should have been irrelevant, but the press likes a scandal.
Meanwhile, things are looking up in the Philippines due to talks between MILF and the government which could lead to the end of their conflict.
I probably shouldn't respond to Timothy's trolling (Score:3, Interesting)
...but I'll bite.
You can have either three* economies, in today's world, and still have a country:
Bronze/aluminum age -- agrarian
Iron age -- manufacturing
Silicon age -- information tech and design
The highest standards of living are in IT economies. Ask yourself this: do you want to live in bronze age India? Of course not. You'd rather live in iron age Brazil, or, even better, siicon age Boston. Most world leaders understand this, and that is why they are cool with draconian copyright laws. And in fact, if you protect innovation abroad, you in theory protect innovation at home, as well, and create the possibility of a local market. Most 2nd world countries WANT to become like America. They WANT an innovative and productive economy -- and that is why they support strong IP laws -- to hopefully boost their own economy into a knowledge-based economy, and out of 2nd or 3rd world stagnation.
The sad thing is though, innovation doesn't just come from a good marketplace. It comes from an intelligent, inspired, hopeful, dreaming, confident and curious populace, with time and ways to experiment. Innovation is no longer happening in America because we are not confident anymore. We are dumbed down, crushed and we have no more dreams. College was our only formal gateway to a better life, but that has suffered the fate of most monopolies and destroyed the market by overgouging consumers. Increased corporatism and restrictive patent laws have hurt individual inventors and made college a requirement for any white collar job, due to the fact that only big companies with many lawyers on retainer can survive amidst these insane IP laws. Those few big companies are flooded with applicants, and only distinguish between candidates by education level (read, debt/wealth background). In addition to a dumbing down college tax** and a noncompetitive marketplace (which rewards suing your competitor instead of inventing/refining a product), we also have the dilemma that there are fewer and fewer hobbyists being creative with stuff. Increasingly, everything is locked down, and single use. Even our water bottles are stamped "do not reuse." Not to mention the TV instant gratification culture which discourages critical intellectual activity, like reading a book instead of buying things from commercials.
So, no, wannabe 1st world countries, please do not copy us. We are not a knowledge economy, we are a consumer economy. We no longer create much, anymore. Yes, protecting IP is a good idea. But like anything else, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. We need sane copyright and patent laws, not an elimination of them all together.
(And we also need local manufacturing, and less corporate litigation -- and less big business domination, period.)
*I'm not including stone age hunter-gather societies, because a) they got their butts kicked by everyone else, and lost almost all their sovereignty, and b) no one really wants to go back to the stone age, and there isn't enough spare flora and fauna to support that move, anyway.
** College has basically become a tax which everyone who wants to get ahead pays. And frankly, it is so insanely bad, that it's aproaching indentured servitude. Many first world people are actually advocating returning to a bronze age civilization, because the american college-industrial complex is so crushingly destructive, restrictive, and empoverishing.
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I'm sorry, but I have to call into question your claim that America isn't innovative any more.
While the rest of the world is *gradually* catching up, which dilutes the appearance of American innovation, there's still a huge amount of research done in America. More to the point, if you start looking deeply into almost any industry, you'll find that it's massively changed over the last 10-20 years, and mostly a result of American innovations.
Farming, manufacturing, chemistry, medical advances, business proce
I think we're at the peak of the empire. (Score:2, Informative)
The USA is an empire with vassal states all over the world, but it's about to collapse just like the Roman empire, and for the same reason. An empire is expensive, and the will of the American people to maintain the empire is fading away.
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dont worry, they dont make anything that lasts more than a year or two
What gets me is (Score:2)
Planet USA (Score:2, Insightful)
Slashdot has reported several extraditions to the USA from the UK where, essentially, US law has jurisdiction in the England.
This follows decades of preferential treatment for US interests: noticebly no-tax laws and the AUS-USA FTA. It is little suprise one Australian leader was called an 'arse-licker' for getting chummy with president GW Bush.
They want to have it both ways... (Score:3, Interesting)
Copyright infringement is being prosecuted in the country where the server is... Extradition .99 Euro and not overseas for .99 $)... Not allowed to use a global market
Alleged spying is prosecuted where the hacked (cracked) machine/network was (Gary McKinnon, etc.)... Extradition
University must be accredited in a state (Free Online Education Unwelcome In Minnesota)... Being on an out-of-state server does not matter
Parallel Imports not allowed (must buy songs for
Somehow everything is turned in a way that does not benefit the common people. We should finally once and for all declare a world-wide decree that either you are on foreign soil when you use a specific server or that you are on home turf and the location of the keyboard counts. Then it would be clear what laws apply. The current situation is a complete mess.
I wonder (Score:2)
Are all the cases that people are kidnapped in this way for actually crimes at all outside the Corporate States of America?
"Outside the USA" (Score:3)
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This is a principle which probably needs to be revisited. There are lots of things that go wrong with that. For example, if I start sending anti-Islamic propaganda to computers in Saudia-Arabia, is it reasonable to treat it as a crime? What if I then go to Malaysia or somewhere else that has an extradition treaty with the Saudis?
Another example; if someone orders or is involved in child abuse in another country, that should be, and often is, a crime they can be punished for in their home country even
Remember those who warned Global Government is.. (Score:2)
..the destruction of your sovereignty, and that means destruction of your rights?
Fixed link ** Re:nocookies (Score:5, Informative)
"ATTORNEY-GENERAL Nicola Roxon has authorised the extradition of an ethnic Tamil, wanted by the US on offshore terrorism charges, despite his fears he will be deported to Sri Lanka and punished. Ms Roxon signed the extradition order in February, sparking a legal challenge by the man's lawyers, who insist he has never been a threat to the US or Australia and that the alleged offences are more political than security-related. Documents obtained by The Australian under Freedom of Information laws show the extradition case was considered especially sensitive by Australian bureaucrats
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/foi/roxon-clears-tamils-extradition-to-us/story-fn8r0e18-1226438076806 [theaustralian.com.au]
Re:Fixed link ** Re:nocookies (Score:4, Funny)
cutestevejobs?
you were his own personal minime?
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Darth Vader?
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You must be one hell of a shot if you can snipe someone in America from a hill in Australia. Seriously, if you believe that the US or any other country should have this kind of power you must be crazy.
Go to the border of Canada then. Shoot someone in another country. Where are you tried?
How about in the USA? Someone from California goes to Texas and shoots across the border and hits someone from maine who lives in Oklahoma, who is taken to hospital in Coralardo? Classic sideshow bob scenario.
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You must be one hell of a shot if you can snipe someone in America from a hill in Australia. Seriously, if you believe that the US or any other country should have this kind of power you must be crazy.
Go to the border of Canada then. Shoot someone in another country. Where are you tried?
How about in the USA? Someone from California goes to Texas and shoots across the border and hits someone from maine who lives in Oklahoma, who is taken to hospital in Coralardo? Classic sideshow bob scenario.
But that's not really what we're talking about are we. The US seems quite keen to lock away citizens of other countries i.e Gary McKinnon [guardian.co.uk] without feeling the need to return the favour. Under the terms of the US/UK treaty the US have managed to make it *exceedingly* one sided (Thanks for that Tony).
This is all about wielding power over weaker countries, and nothing about justice
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No, this is just you displaying your ignorance of international law. The jurisprudence came about from countries that share land borders & was extended for example to events in international waters. Australia does not get to ignore this because you do not share a land border with anyone.
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You are getting very exited about this, so let me get this straight: You think that an Australian citizen commiting a minor IP crime on Australian soil should be extradited to the US and tried and imprisoned there. You also think that the fact I believe an injustice has been done is because I am ignorant of international law.
No. I am well aware that this has been done within a legal framework. This is quite simply a one sided(US centric) injustice. 'Legal' does not equal justice.
It is however increasing
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Regardless of what damages (apart from embarrassment) he actually did to the Pentagons computers, $700,000 is a figure I've not seen any proof of, but thats beside the point. The US UK extradition treaty doesn't require any proof on the US side whatsoever, it does however require it when a US citizen is requested to be extradited to the UK. Hmmm... See what I mean?
My point is that he should be tried for his crime in the UK under UK law plain and simple. Why on earth should America expect every person on t
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You'd have to be one hell of a twit to fail to realize that it is the principle I referred to & a specific example rendered difficult by peculiar circumstances. Seriously if you think that Australia thinks that a shot fired from an Indonesian vessel that kills an Australian on an Australian vessel would not be prosecuted in Australia, then you're living in a universe different from the rest of us.
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..when they only play WoW and download american content? And really, in Sweden, it is all they do after school or work. The only people who have a healthy outdoors lifestyle are the young arab immigrants, who can't stay over in others rooms even for homework because the parents will think they are having sex...
According to the Swedish stereotype the Swedish parents would probably rather they were having sex than be playing Wow.
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You misspelled trial and incineration.
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