We have been hearing about the FTAA (Free Trade Areas of America) and its intellectual property rights chapter, which many civil rights advocates are strongly opposing. One particularly concerning provision is what is called a mandate for jailing Peer to Peer users who trade in copyrighted materials (without prior authorization to do so from the copyright holder). It is also asserted that this Act could affect the lives of 800 million people!

For those who really want to delve deeper into the issue, there is a great page at:
http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidtrade/issues/iprpaper.html. Once you start looking at some of these scholarly articles about the issue, you start seeing certain very concerning trends. These trends include but are not limited to issues of public health information, privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, etc..

The point is this. If you construct an artificial level of need for monitoring people for potential violations of intellectual property laws, and the concomittant ability to imprison people for just allegedly sharing of copyrighted files, you create the "need" for the ability to easily monitor digital transactions and movements on the Net, and the "need" to be able to peek into citizen's hard drives, and analyze the transit of packet information across networks.

As many know, here in the United States, electronic snooping is already going on by governmental agencies through such software/hardware combinations as Carnivore, Echelon, and others. We have already heard of a thing called the "Magic Lantern" which in essence would be like a trojan or keylogger installed on your system without your knowledge by government agencies, and there are reports that agreements have been accomplished with major anti-virus companies, to agree NOT to detect the "magic lantern" worm/trojan.

I first started really seriously thinking about this issue when I saw author Lester Thurow (MIT economist and author) on C-Span, ostensibly pushing his latest book. Mr. Thurow was stressing how important intellectual property laws were to the coming "global economy". And, listening to him, there was a Borg-like quality to his "resistance is futile" message, in which he told a caller that they needed to realize that as the economy changes, they would have to accept not being a farmer and raising tomatoes anymore.

The underlying message to the caller was that he needed to wake up to his new role as a functionary in this new world, in which America would just be a part of the greater whole.

A good article that addresses some of these issues is found at: www.civiced.org/papers_oct99_branson.html.

I anticipate some readers alleging this is some sort of conspiratorial delusion, and that is fine. All I ask is that you start reading the proposals, the bills, the provisions, both here and abroad, and just make a logical extension of these proposals into everyday life as it would exist under these changes.

For those who read this and the links, and ARE concerned, I would suggest that we cannot sit on our hands and let people like Orrin Hatch run things. If you think that a lot of these people in Congress are sitting around with YOUR best interest in their minds, then you have to wonder what they were thinking when they passed the DMCA.

I urge you all to educate yourself, to help to share information with those people you care about, and to do what you can to help preserve not only our rights, but the true sovereignty of our nation,

Thank you for reading this, and for your help in our movement.
~CodeWarrior

"...as the economy changes, they would have to accept not being a farmer and raising tomatoes anymore."

Does the changing economy eliminate the desire for tomatoes? Does it outlaw them? Will BLTs beome mere BLs? Why can't someone still be a tomato farmer??

Thurow was replying to the caller who said that he had lost his farm due to giant, multinational agribusiness concerns who are based oversees, and was complaining that he lost his farm.
Thurow gave him the matter of fact, resistance is futile, adapt or die response.
~Code

WIPO as while WTO 2 be being ICC do 2
be evil. vile be been.
NRA as while us 2 be success do go.
people thought 2 be against WIPO do be
untired. rise

Codewarrior, your talent is clearly in taking these lofty subjects and explaining them to the average joe. Hot's off to you.

thanks. I do apologize for not making it clearer about the farmer, but his thing was that he could not compete financially with these giant multinational agribusinesses, and this is true of many other small farmers who have "sold the farm". Same is true of mom and pop stores who are being driven out of small towns because they cannot compete with Wal*Mart (which sells goods made in China and other countries at a cheap price).

You know, Wal-Mart is always saying that they have the lowest prices, but when they moved into my town and rdrove away my local Ames, I checked out the prices for the same products in both stores. Guess what? Ames was a lot cheaper. And the groceries in the Superstores are ridiculously priced. Good thing they didn't drive out the Better Val-U yet.

and hires illegal aliens

i love a good tomato.

Oh, man. In high school, I was part of a car wash in front of Wal Mart, and I had to hold up a Car Wash sign next to protestors. Fighting the Wal Mart menace. I was so embarassed.

HONK FOR MOM AND POP!

I wonder what mr. Lester Thurow would say when universities, scholarism and research is incorporated, globalized, standardized and made bland to appeal to an audience as wide as possibly can be marketed, as any multinational business tends to. "Go with the flow," mr. Thurow?

Another thing that I don't like is that, voluntary or not, the US economic power dictates the conditions of the treaty, and other American countries will have to follow this agreement. This opens it up to lobbying from the who's who in today's industries - effectively curbing competition. enter RIAA, MPAA, and all the other boys.

Such a disturbing world we have in the works. There are 3 things I want people to stay out of. My home, my journal, and my computers. Key word being use here is MY. Unfortunatly I dont get to write the rules. Rich greedy fokes with the power get to decide what and how my life can be used. Be sure to color inside the lines while we keep drawing more lines for you to cross. Find a thousand new ways to make everyone a violator of something. Then make a thousand more. Personaly I hate tomatos more than just about anything. However, I do think people should be allowed to grow them if they so wish.

what is the difference between a government and a large corporation?

As for the scandal which is a certain thing it is possible to be able in regard to the toast which meets to 2. Brown of method of the wing cow ice is done.

btw...today is "United Nations Day"

Happy UN Day everyone...

"Brown of method of the wing cow ice is done."

and that will be my closing thought for the day.

happy UN day everyone.

today we celebrate the New World Order

Thanks for reaffirming that change is the design. And that at least a few of the "improved" don't like it.

to ConsumersAbyss,

I agree with you 100%,

However, my home and my computer mean the same thing to me. My journal and the press, are often times the same thing to me.

I guess I would more fully agree, that anyone making a profile of someone for any purpose is guilty in my ethics system. I don't care if they might be a filesharer, or a teacher, or a policeman, or a future politician, they should be safe in there homes.

here is a thought from recent headlines,

Is profiling an FBI agent more or less dangerous that profiling a terrorist?

code -- wasn't trying to pick at anything. It's just how I am.

lol...and that's why we love ya
Actually, am glad you said something because it WAS confusing without mym explanation.
~Code

Good point ConsumersAbyss, I feel the same way.

I think the world today is completely ignorant, paranoid, and childish; being since most people are not completely evil.

Most people can be trusted, I make decisions every day like, weather or not to eat poison. Then there are those who ponder "He might not eat the poison now, but what about tomorrow?"; making new ignorant more oppressive laws.

I can feed my self, I can cloth myself, I can make decisions for myself, I can defend myself, I don't need cameras on every street corner, and police monitoring my speed on the highway within one tenth of a mile, waiting for the slightest accidental push of the throttle.

Yes, I am a sinner and not perfect, you can't make someone perfect no matter how hard you try.

In engineering the amount of imperfection is called tolerance, go pick up a pack of resistors from Radio Shack and read the tolerance rating, apparently machines are not perfect either.

Anyone who thinks they are perfect are not thinking as clearly as they should.

Some of these "rich greedy folks" do in fact think them selfs as perfect and expect it from others, things such as, "6 Sigma at Caterpillar", and quotes such as "in the evolutionary ladder we have become more evolved than others".

The only real thing that holds you back is fear, in fact thats historical.

Yes, I could be murdered some day or get in a fight, but I'm not worried, and I'm not afraid.

When my time comes, it will all be over soon enough why worry about that now?

"Then there are those who ponder "He might not eat the poison now, but what about tomorrow?"; making new ignorant more oppressive laws."

Unfortunately, computers have made this line of reasoning more pronounced. It is an inevitable and unavoidable byproduct of technology.

Anyone who has ever done any programming for public consumption knows that you spend 90% of your time asking yourself, "what is the stupidest thing someone can do" and then try to prevent them from being able to do it.

Somehow this thinking process made its way into the lawmaking process, where it does not belong. At some point, the law loses its jurisdiction and responsibility with this approach. You cannot legislate morals or behavior, try as they might.

No matter how hard they try to prevent it, if the poison exists, sooner or later someone is going to drink it.

Code (and others):

If you are interested in learning more about the dangers of globalization you should definately check out the book "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by Greg Palast. It has a chapter on globalization that is downright scary. I just wish it was fiction

Hermit -- "Is profiling an FBI agent more or less dangerous that profiling a terrorist?"

It's probably more accurate.

windoze9x - agreed, I've heard Greg Palast speak. I don't agree with everything Greg says, but there is getting to be a consensus about where lots of things are headed.

man this just keeps makeing me unhappy this is the most depressing site on the web lol

but any way we can fight back we just have to do it and stop talking about it we need more web sites supporting us we need are news being broad cast all over the web

The sudden introduction of computers is changeing everything, and it is sudden. Only a generation ago people were using slide rules and abacuses. People even knew mental arithmatic, while people my age are now reaching for calculators as soon as the sum involves a double-digit number. Too much, too fast, society cant change. Hasty decisions are made, and we get the DMCA.

My life is almost entirely digital. I collect data, a rediculous quantity of uselss junk. 200 G in the archives, and a few thousand books. I download TV, movies, software, games and books. What passes for my social life is on IRC, forums and usenet. My idea of a good time is fighting corporate domination on the net through my website. I sit in this chair for hours at a time, my two laptops in front of me, headphones on, studying or relaxing. I can go for weeks without leaveing the house. This is my life, and much as others may call me a lazy couch potato I still do productive work.

Ive written a few programs, and ive seen users do some very stupid things. Nothing to beat the stupidity of the bios programers who set my server to print "keyboard not found - press F1 to continue" when its turned on without a keyboard. No timeout, I have to actually crawl into the Wormery (server cupboard, used to be the Snake Pit until I cleaned it up) and plug one in.

Code, is something going on that your not telling us? Do you have connections to the inside of the government, and are they warning you that something bad is going to happen to our rights very soon? I ask because all of a sudden you come back to Boycott-riaa and start throwing out all this civil rights stuff, when nothing appears to be happening to them at this time(Patriot Act is slightly old news, as is DMCA).

napsterboy:
The difference between a government and a large corporation is that a government need not be profitable or even commercially viable to exist. Governments just use the power of the gun to seize assets from those who earn them when they need money. Corporations have to provide the buyer with something he wants or needs to be able to earn capital.

A thought just hit me. Aren't licenses returnable? If I paid for a license, shouldn't I be able to get a refund?

tasadar...a word to the wise my friend,
a word to the wise...
~Code

Jazzmary has been stressing registration for voting. Read more about the voting machines Diebold maintains.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org

Ever wonder what frigging business the foreigners have in gun control in the US? They know what a direct assault on our freedoms would reap. I would personally shoot the ass off some idol worshipping lunatic that tried to get into my home and tell me what i can and cant do. Hell, It wouldn't suprise me one bit if the attacks on new york city were orchestrated by our own Gov't. See Pearl Harbor. This globalization requires one big factor in it's equation, they need us as slaves, we work and take their shit, as long as we have our Cell phones and SUV's, and Gamecubes, we are oblivious to what they are doing to our futures and the futures of our kids. Music will be the least of worries if this shit goes on. The boycott should be about freedom going down the sewer.

tasadar24
I think it's clear on the news what's going on.. Seems our constitution is not of the people, by the people and for the people.. that is if you aren't someone that has billions of dollars to support an elected official(s) in Washington.. uh hum and I use that word "elected" loosely.

Thank you boycotter,

I will investigate,

Wow, You are totally right!!!

DAMNED SHAME.

What do I do about it?