Afternoon tech news: Google is expected to announce it will " sweep consisted of 120 searches in 27 states and 10 countries, where officials seized 200 computers, 30 of which were alleged to have been used as storage and distribution servers, containing thousands of copyrighted works, including newly released movies and music.
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Umm...... what are you talking about? Network Associates/McAfee has nothing to do with Network Solutions/Verisign. They are completely separate companies..........
So, they confiscated 200 computers (and made no arrests), and 30 of them were found to have evil wArEz on them. Meaning that as many as 170 people were wrongly accused and had their premises raided and computers confiscated for nothing. I guess an 85% rate of bullying innocent folks on spec and stealing their stuff is pretty good nowadays.
It's for a good cause, after all - BMWs for copyright industry folks aren't cheap - and surely it's all worth it. Just think what an effect this'll have on the distribution of illegally copied material by tomorrow!
Mr Jackboot, your reasoning is flawed. It doesn't say anywhere that 200 people were arrested, it says that 200 computers were seized.
While I feel for the plight of those computers, I don't expect too many people will be concerned over their constitutional rights.
It also says that 30 of these machines were alledged to have been for storage and distribution - I think that doesn't mean that the remaining 170 weren't used for illegal purposes connected with this piracy.
If you read the article linked to, it says that $50 million worth of software was seized. It's not clear whether these were being sold or not, but if there were being sold as a business, where do you think that money goes, to charitable causes?
Money from this kind of crime buys BMWs for criminals, who don't pay taxes and who use their money/power to fund yet more crime. Whining on about this just brings the rule of law into disrepute - if you think this is ok, then so too is drug dealing, prostitution and you getting mugged/stabbed by a crackhead for $5.00 for his next fix.
Piracy hurts no one if the people that pirate don't have money or the desire to purchase those items in the first place. Why should the less fortunate not have access to all of the tools that the rich can afford to purchase? Why should the less fortunate be left behind in the learning curve while the rich rise ONLY because they have access to the tools? If someone can afford to purchase software, they should do so. I, for one, pay for everything, but there was a time when I was in school and struggling just to pay my rent that I didn’t. If more companies had 30 day demos, there would be much less piracy and MORE purchasing of products that live up to their hype.
Drug dealers really don't hurt anyone by simply dealing. People who make decisions about whether or not to purchase illegal drugs are responsible for their actions. Please don't pass off personal responsibility onto the drug dealer. Pretty soon alcoholics are going to be suing state liquor stores.
Prostitution hurts no one. Period. I don't remember the last time someone got #$*(ed to death. And please don't give me that c*** about HIV. Unless you are willing to admit that your (insert deity here) is malicious and he/she/it intentionally harms people that chase their evolutionary instincts (mating), then HIV is a virus that we all need to hate. Once again, if someone has unsafe s**, their lack of personal responsibility led to that decision. Let them live their life, rather than force them to live how YOU would have them live.
Your only comment that equates with a true crime is the one about someone getting mugged/stabbed. The top 3 do not harm anyone directly. There is a huge difference between the top 3 and mugging/stabbing. The problem is, we have people in charge that aren't intelligent enough to see the difference.
Just my two cents.
Oh yea…Live Free or Die.
>Why should the less fortunate not have access to all
>of the tools that the rich can afford to purchase?
Because you live in a capitalist society?
Personally I'm a socialist, but in the US that seems to be a crime, that's a country where people *still* routinely refer to "Red China" despite it being one of the US's largest trading partner and it's a Federal offence to sell someone a ticket to that Communist superstate, Cuba.
>Drug dealers really don't hurt anyone by simply dealing
Illegal drug dealing probably causes more crime and misery than anything else in the developed world. Drug dealers do their best to get peopl hooked, those dependent on drugs do whatever is necessary to feed their habits - including prostituting themselves and/or robbing anything they can from anyone they can.
Have you ever been to "The Big City"? You sound like all you've ever seen is a few cows.
>Prostitution hurts no one
I'm not going to get all feminist on you, but prostitution is generally the exploitation of ill-educated and/or poor women by criminals - often these women are drug addicts trying to find enough money to feed their habit. Women are routinely trafficked across borders to be exploited for this purpose - many of them are under-age.
No one gets hurt?
The problem is people like you who want to take a simplistic view, all this is just cause and effect. If you want to take a view that some laws are made to be broken, then I think you also have to take the view that some people are going to take the same view, and you could end up being the victim.
Criminal gangs run large music and software piracy operations - vote with your money to fund them over the legitimate rights holders if you like, but don't try to justify it with some kind of philanthropic, utopian socialism.
Really, just grow up.
Sorry, missed a bit.
>Piracy hurts no one if the people that pirate don't
>have money or the desire to purchase those items
>in the first place.
This is the biggest bullshit excuse in the world. People who have no money can't have lots of things in the "physical" world, so why should that change in the digital world?
Replication may be low cost or free, but that point is that payments are supposed to encourage "artists" to share their work, so that more people can enjoy it at lower cost - than one rich fat bloke who has the money to bay a Van Gogh.
The gambit that "I was never going to buy it anyway" is also nonsense. If that were the case why do you want it now? Because you have a desire to have it - you cannot logically both claim to have no desire to have something, and yet defend your right to have a pirated copy, there's no sense in it.
If you don't want it and would never have bought it, then do the rest of us a favour and have the discipline to deprive yourself of whatever pleasure the pirated item gives you.
lol now that is hilarious actually.. movies of any quality are going to be fairly large.... meaning you need a high speed connection... which doesn't really come cheap... $40-$50 a month for a high speed connection... if you are using a college connection, then you can't be all that poor..... and since you need a computer.. for that fast connection, and a house to keep the computer in, with electricity... that means you can't be "too poor" to buy the damn DVD for $19 bucks or even less sometimes.. I can feel for someone that steals a can of beans for their family, but not for someone who wants to download an illegal copy of Matrix Reloaded two days after it comes out in theaters.. please.. don't try to justify this stuff, makes ya looking ignorant sometimes
All I see is a bunch of people who have probably never truly been down and out. How many of you worked 3 jobs AND went to school full time? Ever heard of student loans? Probably not. There are plenty of people in this world that live paycheck to paycheck. Their children should not be left behind in the human race just because all they could afford was a donated computer without any software on it.
And that c*** about prostitution and drugs is lame. Go read a book. Prostitution is legal in some states and they don't seem to have a big problem with it like the prudes that are in charge of the govt. at this time. Drugs are legal in other countries and they don't have nearly the drug related crimes that the U.S. does.
If anyone needs to think out of the box, it would be some of the closed minded people currently "controlling" our society rather than allowing people to live freely and "learn" from their good or bad decisions.
Personally, I don't need Big Brother to keep watch over me and my actions. Seems to me like maybe some of you do.
>Their children should not be left behind in the human race
>just because all they could afford was a donated computer
>without any software on it.
I don't disagree with the point here, only the method. What you're suggesting, the support of the poor, is called socialism - and the USA would rather pay less taxes than support its poor.
Additionally, really, you're not suggesting that the only people that pirate software and music are those with two parents doing three jobs each just to feed their kids, are you?
>And that c*** about prostitution and drugs is lame. Go read a book.
Read a book? Get a life you dope.
I think prostitution is only legal in Nevada, but wherever it is it is still the exploitation of women, mostly by men - who are the ones counting the money.
There are no countries in the developed world where heroin, cocaine, crack, etc are legal. There are a few countries where hashish/cannabis are "tolerated" for personal use, but dealing is always forbidden (even in the Netherlands where strange rules apply).
>Personally, I don't need Big Brother to keep watch over
>me and my actions. Seems to me like maybe some of you do
I think we probably need Big Brother to look over us, to protect us from fools like you.
You really do need to grow up.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Yet Another Name Change
Can't those Network Associates guys make up their friggin' mind? First they're Network Associates, then they're Verisign, then they're back to Network Associates, and now they're McAfee. What was wrong with the classic Netsol, anyway?