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United States Government Patents Politics

U.S. High Level Anti-Piracy Post Created 442

Posted by Zonk from the keeping-the-bread-buttered dept.
Vicissidude wrote to mention a CNN/Money article, announcing that President Bush has created a new senior-level position to fight global intellectual-property piracy From the article: "Bush has tapped Chris Israel, currently deputy chief of staff for Gutierrez, to head up the administration's anti-piracy efforts. China -- where 90 percent of music and movies are pirate copies -- will be a chief priority, Gutierrez said."
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U.S. High Level Anti-Piracy Post Created More

U.S. High Level Anti-Piracy Post Created

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  • War of Foo! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by garcia ( 6573 ) * on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:32PM (#13138250)
    Drug trafficking is a major problem around the world. We believe that it is costing U.S. businesses and citizens about $250 billion in tax dollars and wages," some random talking head told Reuters in an interview with reporters and editors.

    The party currently running the country, tapped the resources of a random individual that is currently an up-in-coming member of the political party, to head up the administration's anti-drug efforts. A random South American Country, along with Afghanistan -- where 90 percent of cocaine and heroine originate-- will be a chief priority, this random government official said.

    "Frankly, our goal is to reduce (South America and Afghanistan's drug trade) to zero," he said. This government official declined to specify a timetable, but acknowledged it could be a lengthy effort which will waste just as much tax money and resources as the users did before it while actually not eliminating anything.

    He got a personal glimpse of rampant drug harvesting during visits earlier this month, when he was offered the chance to buy drugs and sell them to his own citizens, an aide said.

    The United States will closely monitor a long list of anti-drug pledges these two countries made after the US government offered them huge aid packages at this month's high-level Joint Commission on Drug Trade meeting, including a promise to increase criminal prosecutions, he said.

    Sounds awfully familiar doesn't it? Why do the rest of the American public sit there and refuse to acknowledge that this Anti-Piracy bullshit is nothing but a rehashed attempt to increase protections for Big Business under the guise of protecting *our* interests?

    BTW - When are we going to start standing up against "lengthy wars" that have no real returns? Does no one remember that hundreds of billions of dollars have been wasted on this unending war?

    Sad.

    • Re:War of Foo! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Sensible Clod ( 771142 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:35PM (#13138295) Homepage
      Why do the rest of the American public sit there

      You haven't seen much of the American public, have you?
    • Remember, you only have to get a touch over half the population to vote for you (Only a third in the UK). With half the population having an IQ of less than 100 you don't need to promise all that much to get their vote.

      Stating the obvious and then grossly oversimplifying the action to take is a pretty good way to get elected.

      • well said colin.

        I live in new york and I have friends who were outraged when Bush basically ignored the state during the past election.

        he knows his bullshit won't fly here, so he doesn't even try. he knows his constituency.

        on the other hand, i was thinking about starting some kind of dynamic voter constituency. Starting now, we'd get democrats to register for dual citizenship in swing states; there would be host homes in the swing state to accomodate the "swinger". During elections, places with a superab
        • Too bad but I don't think that's legal.

          Also as an aside, too much of anything is bad, and frankly while I may not be thrilled with Bush, I still vote red because the blue side of the aisle frustrates me even more.
          -nB

    • Re:War of Foo! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by shark72 ( 702619 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:52PM (#13138517)

      "Why do the rest of the American public sit there and refuse to acknowledge that this Anti-Piracy bullshit is nothing but a rehashed attempt to increase protections for Big Business under the guise of protecting *our* interests?"

      You are not necessarily speaking for all Slashdotters when you use "our".

      I have very little interest in buying a pirated DVD for China, or utilizing a P2P service to download music without permission of the copyright holder. However, I am interested in adequate healthcare, roads kept in good condition, and other quality of life issues for which our state and federal governments are primarily responsible. The government wants those additional tax dollars from the Microsofts and EAs and 20th Century Foxes and Capitol records of the world.

      Whether you and I like it or not, the fact is that intellectual property is one of the US's largest exports and the income that it brings into this this country plays a major role in the quality of life we enjoy. Our government taking this steps might ultimately hinder my ability to get a copy of the latest DVD for free rather than paying the $5 rental fee or the $20 Netflix subscription or just buying the damn DVD for $20, but I don't lose any sleep over this.

      • Re:War of Foo! (Score:3, Insightful)

        by garcia ( 6573 ) *
        The government wants those additional tax dollars from the Microsofts and EAs and 20th Century Foxes and Capitol records of the world.

        It seems to even out in the end to me. Wasting billions of dollars in the short term to get back billions later (at a possible loss) via taxes doesn't make sense.

        To give billions in cash, weapons, and training to people that might later use those same weapons and training back on us just doesn't make sense.

        Does it?

        • "Wasting billions of dollars in the short term to get back billions later (at a possible loss) via taxes doesn't make sense."

          You're correct that spending $X to make back $X-$N is counterproductive. I don't have enough data to predict whether the government will be able to avoid this pitfall, but I think that comparing it to the war on drugs and predicting its ultimate failure is over-reaching. China is not Colombia. Those who predict failure on the basis that we can never 100% stomp out piracy are mi

          • Re:War of Foo! (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Frymaster ( 171343 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @04:32PM (#13138985) Homepage Journal
            China is not Colombia

            correct. and software piracy isn't the drug trade either. witness:

            • columbian coca is grown in large fields visible from airplanes. dvds are pirated indoors away from prying eyes.
            • coca is grown in columbia and then must imported to the purchasing country (ie, the states). dvds can be copied at or near the point of consumption.
            • it's easy to detect and difficult to disguise coca and cocaine. aerial foliage colour analysis, drug sniffing dogs &c. make concealing drugs difficult. a pirated dvd can be packaged to be indistinguishable form a legit one to an untrained observer.
            • drugs ruin lives. pirated dvd's waste afternoons.

            if anything, the war on piracy will be more difficult and reap less benefit than the war on drugs.

      • The one thing you need to do to cinch that argument is show that the tax revenue that is lost to piracy is more than the cost of fighting that piracy. If not, the money is being wasted and could go to fund health care, roads, etc.

        I have no idea which way the balance comes out, but it is something I want to see before accepting your case completely. So I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I need more data.

        • Agreed. I don't have the wisdom to predict the success or the failure of this endeavor, but as with all government programs, if they're going to do it, let's at least hope it's successful, so we get at least some benefit out of it.

          In my case, taking care of just one pothole on my route to work, or reducing pollution by just a few PPM trumps my ability to go to the seedy part of my local big city to procure a $1 DVD.

        • Re:War of Foo! (Score:3, Insightful)

          by FriedTurkey ( 761642 ) *
          There is 6.4 billion people in China with a 90% piracy rate. It doesn't take a leap of faith to say that's a lot of money America is losing.

          Since we have no more manufacturing jobs in the US borders, thanks to outsourcing, the only thing America "manufactures" is intellectual property. It is our best interest to protect what is supporting our economy before we are have nothing left.
      • Will all the money spend on fighting piracy result in a return in tax revenue greater than the cost of the war? The same could be said for the 'War on Drugs'. Like that war this is a war against supply. This will ulitmately fail as long as there is a demand.
    • Full Tilt Boogie Shitstorm on the pirates, but nothing against the companies that stole the public domain by bribing politicians to extend the copyright period indefinitely!

      Typical corrupt Republican nonsense. And please don't tell me that Clinton signed the DMCA. He's just one more corrupt Republican too.

      This whole piracy thing is all nothing but a pricing issue. The global entertainment corps insist that the old model of having every piece of product having the same price forever is finally bre

    • Re:War of Foo! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by LnxAddct ( 679316 )
      Granted I agree with your post, but in all honsety, a minor part of me always disagrees. On the one hand its like "Oh wow! I can get free stuff, that is kick ass", on the other hand its like "Well they probably should enforce copyrights, afterall these companies do pay alot of skilled people alot of money to make these movies, songs, games, etc... They aren't a necessity in my life so if I feel they are charging too much I just won't buy it. Who am I to think I have a right to see or hear what they've done

    • Re:War of Foo! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Shalda ( 560388 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @04:36PM (#13139037) Homepage Journal
      This is very different from the "war" on drugs. One of the biggest things the US exports is intellectual property. Preventing the spread of pirated American works abroad and forcing foriegn user to buy legit copies puts money into the hands of US companies, and by extension their employees and stock holders.

      By contrast, the War on Drugs is about control of the people. IE, the governement doesn't trust you to make good decisions for yourself. Chris Rock very accurately summed up the problem in one short sentance: "People want to get high." By restricting the supply of drugs, the government artificially raises the price of drugs making them a very lucrative business.

      China has been a member of the Berne convention since 1992, but has done a poor job of living up to their obligations under the treaty. By allowing mass piracy (and we're not talking about a little bit of file sharing, we're talking about wholesale counterfitting) China is taking money away from US companies and handing it to counterfitters within their borders.

      Now, there are a number of flaws with the Berne convention (like a life + 50 copyright minimum for starters), but the US would be remiss if it didn't protect its intrests under the treaty.

  • Plans for China (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:33PM (#13138260)
    They will send China this email:

    Dear China,

    Please stop your copyright infringement, or we'll send another email. It's just not nice.

    Thanks,
    United States
    • China is surprisingly flexible and responsive to actual U.S. pressure, reference the status that Taiwan has maintained, reference the recent re-evaluation of the Yuan. If the U.S. seriously demands this China will stealthily cave. Eventually.
    • And the is how the "Spam Wars" began.

      • Re:Plans for China (Score:5, Funny)

        by Rei ( 128717 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @04:50PM (#13139189) Homepage
        Episode I: The Phantom Menace

        Turmoil has engulfed the world. The regulation of IP trade with outlying countries is in dispute. Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly lawyers, the greedy Corporate Interests has stopped all shipping to the nation of China. While the WTO endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the President has secretly dispatched two Elite Programmers, the guardians of peace and justice in the world, to settle the conflict....

        Episode II: Attack of the Regulations

        There is unrest in the WTO. Several dozen nations have declared their intentions to defeat planned regulations. This separatist movement,
        under the leadership of the mysterious Count Johansen, has made it difficult for the limited
        number of Elite Programmers to maintain IP control in the world. Representative Wen Jiabao, the former primier of China, is returning to the WTO to vote on the critical issue of creating an ARMY OF LAWYERS to assist the overwhelmed Programmers...

        Episode III: Revenge of the Corporations

        Trade War! The WTO is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Pirate, Count Johansen. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere. In a stunning move, the fiendish pirate leader, General Brocious, has swept into the American capital and copied the entire MPAA archives. As the Pirate Army attempts to flee the country with their valuable contents, two Elite Programmers lead a desperate mission to protect the intellectual property....

        Episode IV: A New Hope

        It is a period of trade war. Chinese pirates, striking from a hidden internet connection, have won their first victory against the evil American Empire. During the battle, Chinese spies managed to steal secret plans to America's ultimate weapon, DRM, an encrypted media link with enough legislative power behind it to destroy an entire fair use system. Pursued by America's sinister agents, Princess Hua Ching races to /home on her computer, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her data and restore fair use to the world.

        Episode V: America Strikes Back

        It is a dark time for the Pirates. Although the DRM has been cracked, American troops have driven the Pirate forces from their hidden
        internet cafes and pursued them across the world. Evading the dreaded American Lawsuits, a group of freedom fighters led by Crazney
        has established a new secret base on the remote ice country of Norway. The evil lord George Bush, obsessed with finding young Crazney, has dispatched thousands of remote packet sniffers into the far reaches of IPV4 space...

        Episode VI: Return of Fair Use

        Crazney has returned to his home country of Australia in an attempt to rescue his friend Professor Felten from the clutches of the vile gangster Mitch Bainwol. Little does Crazney know that the AMERICAN EMPIRE has secretly begun development on a DRM method even more powerful than the first dreaded DRM. When completed, this ultimate weapon will spell certain doom for the small band of pirates struggling to restore fair use to the world....
    • They just floated the Yuan, and I think this is an attempt by China to clean up their act over time. *All* the markets went up, I think as a result of the removal of some intangible market risk that China would continue to weasel its way out of generally cooperating in world affairs.

      I don't expect them to come clean right away. They are conservative and even paranoid about making big changes.

      But count on it 10 years from now all the 3rd world taxi drivers are going to be asking for crisp new "Chairman Mao

  • War on piracy? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tibor the Hun ( 143056 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:33PM (#13138267)
    Can't we just declare a war on piracy and get it over with?
  • Going against the main source - chinese counterfeit - will do a world of good when you think of the current efforts (read: *IAA lawsuits). Too bad we had to wait for the Gov'ment to get involved since it will now become a masive sluash fund for politicians to draw cash from the people as it inneficiently tries to "do something about piracy".
    • I don't know how software works, but with other products in China, they are the real thing, not just copies. Instead of shutting down the factory for clothes and purses, they keep it running and sell the products real cheap. It covers their costs and then some. Where do big software vendors have their software made and packaged?

  • Uh, sovereignty? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Andrew Tanenbaum ( 896883 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:35PM (#13138300)
    The only thing the US should be doing to reduce piracy abroad is -possibly- sanctioning them - but since the US would be dead in the water in several ways (DEBT!) without China, they can't even do that.
    • If China is full of pirates, then obviously what we need is a fleet of US-sanction privateers, who will... crap. I dunno, sell copies of Chinese art & literature for outrageous prices?
    • This is a huge joke. The US isn't going to threaten China so China has no incentive to crack down on its vast piracy rings. What this is really going to come down to is busting a bunch of small timers selling DVDs in Chinatwon and giving them lenghty prision terms.

      In the 80's the prison population skyrocketed because of the "Drug War", now it'll skyrocket again because of the "IP War". Joe Public will pay more taxes to built prisons to hold these dangerous copyright infringers and the only one who wins is

    • Sovereignty? What's that [examiner.ie]?

  • Anti-piracy indeed... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Soulfarmer ( 607565 ) * on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:36PM (#13138314) Homepage Journal
    They have this new post for fighting piracy, that's all great and stuff, but howcome the biggest antipiracy news concerns torrentsites and so forth? Those sites are not earning with the piracy, and because of that, are not the biggest pirating people anyhow.

    People who sell pirated products (movies games and all other stuff that can be pirated) have MUCH more motivation to do their "job" and in my mind, de facto are MUCH more to blame about this whole piracy problem.

    Of course, without the releasing groups there wouldn't be pirated goods for the sites or the sellers either... But still, the sellers are the biggest culprits in here...

    Or then I am totally wrong, again. Would be the first time tho. To be wrong again.

  • Wow! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Progman3K ( 515744 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:37PM (#13138322)
    You can really buy a lot of government with your money these days!

  • Let me guess... (Score:4, Funny)

    by chriswaclawik ( 859112 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:38PM (#13138327)
    ... they staffed the post with a pirate's mortal enemy: a ninja [realultimatepower.net].

  • Hans Bwix?! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kurt Gray ( 935 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:38PM (#13138332) Homepage Journal
    Hans Bwix you're busting my baws here! I told you we don't have any piwated pwogwams!

  • Chinese Nukes (Score:3, Funny)

    by spaztech ( 899194 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:38PM (#13138340)
    I believe the threat of Chinese nukes should take priority over whether or not Xi Chuan has an illegal copy of Windows Vista. Let the software companies handle the software and let the President worry over oil.. I mean world peace.

    Please don't mod funny, it's not.

  • Civil Liberties Czar? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by spookymonster ( 238226 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:39PM (#13138341)
    So corporations get a 'czar' to protect their civil interests. Great! When do we get a Civil Liberties/Privacy czar to protect ours?

    Bueller?.....Bueller?....Bueller?....

    • Re:Civil Liberties Czar? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by twifosp ( 532320 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:52PM (#13138513)
      Well, call me crazy, but I was under the impression that office belonged to the President of the United States. After all, each one cites and swears to the following:

      "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

      Now I could be wrong, but I think the constitution is that document that has all those liberties and privacy garuntees defined and outlined in it. Go figure!

      • You're right about that silly Constitution thing, but as we all know, any document written less than 1800 years ago should not be considered a text worth following. This "Constitution" you speak of isn't even 250 years old!

  • My first thought (Score:3, Funny)

    by shish ( 588640 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:41PM (#13138362) Homepage
    Bush came to slashdot and made a post declaring a war on pirates?

  • Fascinating (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The guy tapped to take up the post is a public policy executive at, where else, Time Warner. I will refrain from sarcasm, because it'll just make me look snotty, but this guy is being set up for a conflict of interests. He won't be doing independent analysis of piracy problems; he'll be a high-level executive mouthpiece for the media conglomerates.
  • I love the tagline, the "keeping-the-bread-buttered" department.

    Now pay attention, all of you who never had a civics class:
    The President is the Chief of the Executive Branch of the government.
    The Executive Branch of the government is there to enforce the laws created by the Legislative Branch (aka Congress) provided that they are consistent with the Constitution, as dictated by the Judicial Branch (Supreme Court).

    This is like your local Police department appointing a "Drug Czar" or a "Gang Violence Preven
  • I support this new war on piracy, it sounds like a serious issue. According to Wikipedia

    "Seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant problem (with estimated worldwide losses of $13 to $16 billion USD per year), particularly in the waters between the Pacific and Indian oceans, and specifically in the straits of Malacca and Singapore, used by over 50,000 commercial ships a year."

    link [wikipedia.org]

  • Slap a tarriff on all Chinese imports until Microsoft, the MPAA, and the RIAA have been paid back for all of the pirated works that they estimate have been scattered around China.

    Of course, the recipients will only get a percentage after the usual administrative expenses are deducted.

    Nyahh -- it'll never sell. Hell, I don't even like it.

  • For Linux that is.

    I, for one, welcome our new anti-piracy overlords.

  • Excellent. Just what is needed. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mrRay720 ( 874710 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:45PM (#13138423)
    Terrorism still on the rise, poverty, famine and disease running rampant through large parts of the world, growing unrest in an ever increasingly militant Middle East.... what does the US govt. come up with in these troubled times?

    That's right, they bend over and take large cash injections up the rear from the corrupt media industry and spend YOUR OWN money launching lawsuits against you. Ho ho ho ho ho.

    And I just adore the extreme arrogance of a US political post being created to fight *global* IP infringement. So will they be enforcing other countries laws in other countries, or will it be US law? Either way is just.... wow... too arrogant for words.

    Seriously you guys, get off your damn asses and find a government that will work for the voters instead of working for the people who bribe them the most.

    • I think you have put your finger on it. The government is doing this because they are greedy and they want more money -- money in the form of tax dollars from the entertainment industry. Intellectual property is one of the USA's biggest exports and brings in billions and billions of dollars into our economy.

      You mentioned terrorism, poverty, famine, disease, etc. Unfortunately, our government needs money -- and a good dose of wisdom -- to address these issues. Protecting our country's economic interest

      • You make a good point. Further weighing down the poor malnourished wallets of the Hollywood fatcats is EXACTLY the way to fight evils in the world. How could we all have missed that?

        Anyway you must excuse me, I'm off to support a better, freeer, healthier world by being bumraped by price-fixed tripe. I'll slip the poor guys at Univsal Studios half my yearly wages too - just in case they haven't enough caviar-filled swimming pools this month. I'also saving so many starving infants from death that I'll sleep

        • Thanks, but let's turn this into a more positive discussion. If you have a better way of funding our fight against terrorism, disease, et al. than by protecting our biggest economic interests, please discuss. Whether you or I like it or not, our government needs money to operate, and the sale of intellectual property is one of our country's biggest industries. That's the reality, and simple bromides like "Hollywood fatcats" will not solve this problem.

          I don't know many people who in the movie industry,

    • Seriously you guys, get off your damn asses and find a government that will work for the voters instead of working for the people who bribe them the most.

      At the risk of sounding trollish, can you please explain exactly how we should do this? Doing so would require first educating a vast majority of Americans on what the specific issues are. Second, these people would need to be convinced that _our_ side is right. Third would be targeting specific politicians who are promoting this kind of action. These th
  • "Politics is the entertainment branch of industry". This was true back then. This is true now. Now bend over and hand that guy the vaseline.

  • Insanity (Score:5, Insightful)

    by djpenguin808 ( 896946 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:49PM (#13138462)
    There's one thing that really bugs me about all the China-bashing that seems to be so popular in the capital these days...


    China holds close to $700 billion of US govt. debt in T-bills


    Originally, the purpose of this buying behaviour was to manipulate the fluctuation of the yuan, which until yesterday was pegged to the dollar. The unintended effect was that the US government started to spend like drunken sailors, financing all sorts of things with deficit spending. With the yuan now floating in relation to a basket of currencies instead of pegged to the dollar, the impetus to continue buying dollars to manipulate the yuan is greatly weakened.


    Generally, when you owe a bank a lot of money, you don't run into the bank screaming about how evil they are, piss on the rug, and then set some trash cans on fire. It tends to make the bankers rather unwilling to keep underwriting your debt.

    • Good points, but considering that the US is China's #1 buyer of export goods, they aren't going to be calling us out on our debt any time soon.

      Futhermore, it's not like the Chinese government are the ones responsible for the piracy, it's their citizens. It'd be in their (the Chinese gov.) best interests to cooperate or act like they are cooperating.

      They aren't going to suddenly say: "You accuse our citizens of piracy?!?!? That may be true, but how dare you! Time to pay your debt!"

      Assuming they did

    • ...but that rug really pulled the room together.

  • Isn't this the point of capitalism? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by HockeyPuck ( 141947 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:49PM (#13138479)
    Ok, so one of the points of conservatism is that they are for 'Big Business', and against 'big government' and that 'big business' should govern itself. This includes the companies creating their own anti-piracy software.

    So where is the justification that government needs to step in and help MSFT (who just posted record profits) fight against piracy? What is the government going to do? Put in sanctions against China? That would cause further damage to other industries (e.g. Steel).

    Maybe the Fed's should call up Balmer and say "Steve, with $36B in revenues... surely you can solve your own problems without involving our tax dollars.

  • House of Cards (Score:4, Interesting)

    by PingXao ( 153057 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:52PM (#13138516)
    After this there will be a Patent Policy Czar for Europe to make "suggestions" to the EU. Soon there will be a cabinet-level agency, the Department of Intellectual Property. When energy prices really start to take off and the economy starts to tank, the pols in DC will claim that "intellectual property" makes up a large chunk of what the country exports, and deserves the greatest "protections" available.

    "Intellectual property" is not real property.

  • Good news for pirates! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by crism ( 194943 ) <crism@maden.org> on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:53PM (#13138530) Homepage
    The War on Piracy will be as successful as the War on Terrorism and the War on Drugs (not to mention the War on Poverty and previously, the War on Rum). This means that we can start to see big money for the pirates, as well as turf wars and violence. Yay! Thanks, Mr. Bush!

  • First order of business... (Score:5, Funny)

    by FellowConspirator ( 882908 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @03:55PM (#13138552)

    The initial stage of the anti-piracy campaign will be broken down into several simple goals:

    1. Ban all imports of Jolly Roger flags
    2. Prohibit over-the-counter sales of eye-patches; they will now be prescription-only
    3. Shore up the Endangered Species act to stem the parrot trade
    4. Increase the cannon and powder tax three-fold
    5. Remove the letter 'R' from the alphabet

    If that doesn't stop piracy, nothing will. Er, I guess nothing will... nevermind.

  • Ok, I know that's not gonna happen. But if we quit trading with the countries that were involved in the majority of piracy, it might not disappear, but we wouldn't notice it. Of course, that could lead to the problem of having other countries do the same thing, and pretty soon we've deglobalized, and we're all in a world-wide free for all again.

    Just a thought.

  • Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy
    Office of Technology Policy

    Chris Israel joined the Commerce Department as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, on November 1, 2001, joining Assistant Secretary Bruce Mehlman at the Office of Technology Policy.

    From January 2001 until moving to Commerce, Israel was Deputy Director of International Public Policy for AOL Time Warner, and previously worked as a Senior Public Policy Analyst for Time Warner Inc. beginning in 1997. His experience includ

  • Are they going after guys selling DVDs in swap meets and street corners? How many can they catch? If they do start, it is only going to make bootlegs more expensive, and this leads to more competition, and since illicit money is at stake, illicit means are going to be used to protect market share. I wonder where we've seen this happen before, hmmm?

    They can't shut down the servers in China, and they can't stop the Chinese from infringing (hell, they can't even stop Americans really).

    So, other than pos

  • It'd be great if we could also convince this new IP piracy czar to uphold the principles of fair use and to protect time- and space-shifting of legally-acquired content from oppressive technological and legislative regimes, while at the same time combating content piracy.

    Will it happen?

    Probably not.

  • US czar: What do you do about treatment?
    China czar: The pirates... they treat themselves. They exceed the bandwidth limit and there is one less to worry about!

  • Welcome to China and India... (Score:4, Informative)

    by bayankaran ( 446245 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @04:08PM (#13138702)
    China -- where 90 percent of music and movies are pirate copies....

    I was in China last month attending one of the biggest audio-visual trade shows.

    90 percent of music and movies sold in China and India are way overpriced for the public. For example a DVD costs between $9-$11.

    As long as the price remains high piracy will happen...doesnt matter if it is Guiterez or his mother-in-law is the US Anti-Piracy Police Chief.

    A few weeks back I was dealing with a top Indian VCD/DVD distributor in Bombay. Later I saw films from his label at the nearest roadside shack selling for Rs.50-100 ($1-$2) with the same label/cover/inlay card/logo/details as the ones available in regular stores. Later I realised it is the same guy who distributes to both the regular stores and the 'pirate'.

    This business practice makes sense for the distributor...he makes a profit whether he is selling to a regular store or 'pirate' (a slimmer margin when he sells to the 'pirate'). And we all know the material cost for producing a DVD.

    I also heard both original DVDs and duplicates are made in the same factory...which is real socialism.

  • Average Chinese Income (Score:3, Insightful)

    by iamwahoo2 ( 594922 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @04:08PM (#13138707)
    Isn't the mean annual income in China under $2000? Where do they plan to find this huge untapped market? Given an income of this amount, I think $1 is a pretty fair price for copyright protections. Perhaps the cartels should lower their prices.

  • GPL violations? (Score:3)

    by lawpoop ( 604919 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @05:45PM (#13139765) Homepage Journal
    Will this office also go after violations of GPL and other open-source licenses?

  • Whatever.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SeaFox ( 739806 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @06:11PM (#13139991)
    What's the point of creating a government department to fight international piracy that only has jurisdiction in the United States?

    The only pirates they can go after are American citizens.

  • Offshoring will DESTROY all anti-IP Piracy efforts (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Travoltus ( 110240 ) on Friday July 22, 2005 @06:59PM (#13140402) Journal
    When the IP theft czar gets done, the pirates will only be able to steal IP from the offshored factories.

    The thing is, that is where all the pirates are probably getting stolen IP from now.

    Ever read up on the Chevrolet Spark and the Cherry QQ? Those two cars look alike. They are both sold in China and the latter was made from plans stolen right out of the plant that makes the former.

    If Bush wants to stop intellectual property piracy then he needs to stop allowing that stuff to be offshored.

    Otherwise it is all a simple matter of paying off the plant management staff, what with their pennies-on-the-US-dollar salary, to cough up an email of the blueprints.

    And if you think anyone will be able to do anything about it, ask Cisco what they were able to do when their routers were pirated by Huawei Corp. Cisco abandoned the lawsuit because
    a) Huawai is funded by China's government;
    and b) Cisco's factories are in China, which could be shut down at any time.

    Read more at http://in.tech.yahoo.com/031001/137/2858q.html [yahoo.com]

    You may not think offshoring is a problem but as long as it persists, IP piracy will dip for a while as the US clamps down, and then IP piracy will centralize itself in China, with the help of the Chinese government, and IP piracy will go back to its usual blazing pace.

    And the US will not sanction China because corporations depend on them to produce those cheap routers and DVD players.

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