Attached Link: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7128957/

Bout time....

Good news thank you for sharing. SndCastie

Yeah, too bad my home state has to be the first place. There is a very large article in the Hartford Courant about it this morning. I will post some additional details if you're interested.

Message edited on: 03/09/2005 12:27

Great news! Thanks for sharing the information. Clint

The warez providers will continue to laugh at the rest of us -- until they start getting seriously nailed. Then, they'll whine about the unfairness of it all. Oh, well.....boyz will be boyz......even at age 32.

I have a feeling there will be more. According to the article in the Courant, the feds have infiltrated at the highest levels. The three that were caught were very high up there in the ranks, and I'm sure the concerns will filter down. Some snippets ... "These three individuals acknowledge they were among the leaders of some of the world's most notorious piracy groups." "Tuesday's convictions are the first in an ongoing international investigation dubbed "Operation Higher Education," run from the FBI's cutting edge computer crimes lab in New Haven." And ... watch out, it will trickle down ... "It became clear during Tuesday's proceedings that all three men are expected to cooperate."

"It became clear during Tuesday's proceedings that all three men are expected to cooperate."

No honor among thieves.

They are going to try to save their own hides by ratting out others.

That's how it's done.

Warez types are such nice people....they kindly supply the fix for other bottom feeders. So thoughtful of them.

"A positive step today in the battle against software piracy and warez'ing ..." Why? For having charged men that have done it "just for fun" copying progs and setting up a server in their parent's basement? The blow must be dealt to the COMMERCIAL warez traffic, the same that make million of dollars yearly printing counterfeit CDs and DVDs in sweatshops and selling it worldwide in countries that could never afford the real thing...

The blow must be dealt to the COMMERCIAL warez traffic, the same that make million of dollars yearly printing counterfeit CDs and DVDs in sweatshops and selling it worldwide in countries that could never afford the real thing...

Well.....last that I heard, we aren't planning on invading Red China in order to shut down pirate factories. Factories that are endorsed, and even run, by the Chinese government.

Unfortunately, there is very little that anyone can realistically do about the situation.

BTW - foreign movies and computer games are regularly copied & sold -- technically legally -- in this country, too. It might violate international copyright law, but who's going to enforce that?

One can easily find such items for sale on eBay.

BTW - American-made major release movies are openly copied & sold in places like Japan and Hong Kong.

So.....we return the favor by doing the same thing with their stuff.

Being legal (by local law) doesn't necessarily make something right. But that's how it works.

hard proof of statement please. or are you just being offensive? Proof of which part of the statement? The part about not planning on invading?

Attached Link: http://www.linuxmagazine.com/content/view/41/112/

Sometimes, even that's not good enough.

*But the boom in computer sales has also led to an explosion of software piracy. The Business Software Alliance estimates that pirated software accounts for 95 percent of all software in China a country where a workers average annual income is$ 1,000.

Up until recently, that rampant software piracy has largely gone unpunished. But as a result of joining the World Trade Organization( WTO) and adopting new rules targeting piracy, the Chinese economy is now faced with potentially massive licensing expenses running into the billions a grave financial liability that could up-end Chinese prosperity. As a result, Beijing is eager to sever its reliance on Microsoft and other foreign products, and is strongly investing in its domestic software industry.*

Despite its best efforts, Microsoft is quickly becoming unpopular within China, as it resorts to legal action to combat piracy. It has received hostile responses from the local media when suing Chinese companies over the sale of pirated software.

I can provide tons more examples, should you require them.

Attached Link: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/26/piracy_unlimited/

*Or maybe not. Asked about the glaring lack of a copyright enforcement clause in the new deal, Microsoft president and CEO Steve Ballmer did a quick Nixonian shuffle.

"Certainly, software piracy rates in China are high, but there is nothing in the agreement specifically around that," Ballmer told a reporter from Reuters shortly after the June announcement. Rather, the company was pouring its resources into China's nascent proprietary software industry, knowing that it would be in China's long-term interest to secure "a good domestic market" for "intellectual property."

Although most news accounts depicted the Ballmer response as a cop-out, there's at least one other explanation for his comments -- and Microsoft's strategy. Between copyright battles at home and the challenge to conquer emerging markets abroad, the company may have good reasons to revamp its longtime hard-line stance on copyright enforcement. Indeed, there are some who make the case that, in a place like China where the competition in the software market features both state-backed companies and open-source software companies that allow public access to their code, a proprietary software company such as Microsoft might actually benefit from illegal copying. In other words, casting a blind eye toward piracy may simply be good business.*

Emphasis mine.

since your "common knowledge" is infact unknown to the "common people".

Oh, it's common enough knowledge that the story has been reported by pretty much all of the major news sources.

Anyone that's halfway informed on the subject would know this.

please refine your tone from being offensive as well. I merely asked for information. not for you to get superior about it.

Interesting. You begin this discourse with an implied accusation about "being offensive", and then you demand that I moderate my tone......how odd.

As for my "getting superior about it" -- there is nothing "superior" involved here. It's simply a case of being right.

Attached Link: http://www.businessinternational.bz/piracy.html

If I have the time later, I might provide some more similarly helpful information.

Of course, I suspect that there will never be enough documentation to prove the point to some.

Khai, for more information about officially-sanctioned piracy in the PRC, check most back issues of "The Economist". From what we have been able to learn, the entire hi-tech industry of PRC is based upon theft of technology from the U.S., Europe and Japan. The most recent case to come to light is the theft by the PRC of Hitachi hard drive technology, which has forced Apple Computer Inc. to review their policy of out-sourcing manufacturing functions to PRC.

sigh no thats enough. tho I would ahve prefered to have seen information from Rueters, ITN, BBC, Fox, CNN etc. as to attitude? take a look in the mirror. statements like " Oh, very well....it's common knowledge -- but some won't believe until it's shoved under their noses. Sometimes, even that's not good enough." "Anyone that's halfway informed on the subject would know this." and "Anyone that's halfway informed on the subject would know this." what do you do if someone asks you directions in the street? spit in their face for not knowing? obivously you do.. outta here.

at last. The Economist! a real acredited source of information. thanks Mateo! (sorry xeno, but a linux magazine and a website are not acredited news agencies, and therefore are not hard proof of anything but the ego's of those that publish them)

Salon magazine is well-known in the news industry. It's often cited by other news bureaus. In fact, as Salon is a completely left-leaning internet mag -- it's inclusion as a source material should make some individuals very happy.

I'll be glad to provide you with other "non-offensive" news sources later.

BTW - if you want someone to politely provide you with directions, then your approach to them shouldn't be: "Can you tell me how to get to Maple Street, or are you being offensive?"

If one desires a civil response, then one should ask a civil question.

Personally, I tend to respond in kind.

At the moment, I don't have the time to go 100% at this thread.

I'm glad that you've gotten your answer.

Message edited on: 03/09/2005 15:32

Please note that several posts (not mine) have been deleted from this thread.......

heh! It's like listening to a cellphone conversation on a train :)

Ok all lets stick to the subject and not start pointing fingers. SndCastie

I hate it when posts are deleted, it makes it absolutely impossible to follow a thread. Why were they deleted? Because someone doesn't believe there's wide-spread piracy? I've been to Manila several times and can tell you first hand about software piracy and movie piracy. You can go to the street markets and buy nearly anything. I was offered MS Office 2003 Pro for ten bucks, nicely packaged and the registration requirement removed. Want a game? $3 will get you the game and hack, and instructions on how to use the hack. Want a freshly hacked XP Pro? $5. Want the latest movies? $2 a piece. You name anything, its there right on the sidewalks and the government does nothing to stop it. It's a way of life for those people; it's how they make money. The government doesn't give a flying squat about piracy. I'll even go so far as to say the government there couldn't provide a valid license for 90 percent of what's on their own machines. My step-son visits Hong Kong frequently on business. Same thing goes on there. And no, I've never purchased anything, it would be nearly impossible to get it past customs. The U.S., western Europe and Canada are probably the only countries enforcing such laws. The rest of the world...no, and probably never will.

"In fact, as Salon is a completely left-leaning internet mag -- it's inclusion as a source material should make some individuals very happy."

That's untrue. In fact, Salon.com has featured conservative writers, viewpoints, and even better, intelligent commentary and reportage by those who recognize that reality can't be divided into a (false) either/or construct of ideology. If you had said that Salon has a reputation for being left-leaning in general, I'd agree, but the use of the word "completely" renders the statement inaccurate.
[edited for typos]

Message edited on: 03/10/2005 14:16

"Well.....last that I heard, we aren't planning on invading Red China in order to shut down pirate factories. Factories that are endorsed, and even run, by the Chinese government." You can buy CDs for few cents each, of course with quantities of 100,000 or 500,000. You only need to send them the matrix and of course, the money.

If you had said that Salon has a reputation for being left-leaning in general, I'd agree, but the use of the word "completely" renders the statement inaccurate.

Oh well, then I suppose that the fact the the Washington Times carries an occasional liberal commentary excludes one from accusing them of being "completely" conservative. In spite of their overall editorial policies.

Likewise, Fox News.

I love playing semantic games like this.........

;-)

NONE of this wil have any real effect on P2P thats based on the old original "napster model" whereby each user just leaves files in his shared folder and others access them 24 hour a day via free client softwre like morpheus or KAZZA.

Accuracy of claim and precision of usage are not semantic games. A polite correction of an inaccurate claim is not a semantic game. Nice try. :-)

Accuracy of claim and precision of usage are not semantic games. A polite correction of an inaccurate claim is not a semantic game. Nice try. :-)

shrug

I have no problems in referring to Salon magazine as being "completely left-leaning". And I will continue to do so.

If one leans to the left, then one does so completely. Beyond this, it's merely a question of degree.

And Salon's degree is far enough to merit the correct label. Which I've given to it.

;-)

But, I'll grant you this much -- your "correction" over a very minor point was polite. Thank you.

Sorry for picking nits. As I think you know by now I sometimes react to what I see as either/or constructs, but it's really not so important. :-)

Sorry for picking nits. As I think you know by now I sometimes react to what I see as either/or constructs, but it's really not so important. :-)

XO -- I still think that you're one of the more reasonable ones. Intelligent, to boot.

No matter what they say about you. ;-)

Of course -- the things that some say about me would probably get them banned if they ever posted it directly here in the forums.

Oh, well -- c'est la vie.

I am just looking forward to getting my copies of Vue Infinite, and of P6.

100% legally, of course.

.