[séamuis]

It turned out I could rip the disk without trouble though and then burn the resulting audio files back to CD to play on the Philips player

a similar method of burning files to a CD and then re-ripping them was how most people got passed the RIAA's protection on iTunes files before the switch to no DRM.

[mikemike]

BBC News - Megaupload file-sharing site shut down

Between the great firewall of china, various other countries run by closed minded regimes, and the US I think the free and open internet is in its death throws. There are a few well developed things such as tor and some in their infancy and may just be a pipe dream like the hackerspace global grid - information wants to be free... Long live the open internet.

The scary thing is that you have non-US and non-NZ nationals being arrested for possibly facilitating an information crime in a country where they may have never set foot. If the US were as accommodating as NZ many, many US businessmen would be arrested for example I know that Turkey has a warrant out for the arrest of Google's chief counsel because youtube refuses to take down some video's Turkey's government finds offensive.

here are some info on Kim .com's exploits over the years:

- According to The Guardian of London, Dotcom once changed former German chancellor Helmut Kohl's credit rating to zero.

Inside Megaupload's Megamind: Kim Dotcom's Playboy Bunnies, Russian Nuclear Vessels, And Private War On Terror | Fast Company

[jolepp]

It would seem that the Kim character (& al.) is into plenty of due process. What bothers me is that the users of the service simply found it gone without any. That is, it would have seemed proper to have the alleged perpetrators tried first and if found guilty of running an illegal operation then shut that down with the inevitable collateral damage.

[Welfl]

Hi, Adam. As I wrote to you last week, people "should be careful which country [they] choose, because our [U.S.] government has a knack for "encouraging" other governments to follow their lead, although most appear not to need any encouragement." I was thinking of Europe -- and its unelected body of banksters and communists that comprise the European Parliament -- when I wrote that. Well, it appears that it is happening already: Forget SOPA, Europe is about to ratify its bigger brother ACTA.

Combine this with how the U.S. criminals recently, illegally took out MegaUpload -- in New Zealand! --, and you have a recipe for a real prison planet (no pun intended with regard to Alex Jones' web site).

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Last edited by Welfl; 01-23-2012 at 10:35 PM.

[jolepp]

ACTA apparently originates from the US. It seems that a severe blow to it was dealt by the European parliament, who

"Deplores the calculated choice of the parties not to negotiate through well-established international bodies, such as WIPO and WTO, which have established frameworks for public information and consultation",

"Considers that in order to respect fundamental rights, such as the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy ... the proposed agreement should not make it possible for any so-called ‘three-strikes’ procedures to be imposed, ...; considers that any agreement must include the stipulation that the closing-off of an individual's Internet access shall be subject to prior examination by a court;" and

"Emphasises that privacy and data protection are core values of the European Union, recognised in Article 8 ECHR and Articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which must be respected in all the policies and rules adopted by the EU pursuant to Article 16 of the TFEU;"

(Texts adopted - Wednesday, 10 March 2010 - Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) - P7_TA(2010)0058).

This has apparently left the US pushing it on individual countries (with success, it seems: BBC News - Polish sites hit in Acta hack attack). The European Parliament is actually elected and it is hardly "comprised of communists and banksters" (which would make strange bedfellows anyway ).

[jolepp]

[Welfl]

The European Parliament is actually elected and it is hardly "comprised of communists and banksters" (which would make strange bedfellows anyway ).

Hi, Jolepp, I appreciate such a well informed and courteous reply. Thank you.

First, my apologies. I should have been more careful in my statement about the unelected members of the European Union. The members of the EU parliament are elected, but the members of the European Commission and the European Central Bank are not elected. The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union; thus, it has a significant amount of control over the legislative process and over undemocratic processes (please see the video at the end of this comment). Nigel Farage, an outstanding member of the European Parliament, is just one of my sources for this information. He is an outspoken critic of the unelected element in the EU (again, please see the video).

Second, I will admit that I was intentionally being provocative when I stated that bankers and communists are working together in the same organization. I must also admit that I would never have made such a seemingly "crazy" claim (my word, not yours) if I didn't have ample evidence to back it up. The research I've been doing for the past few years has been very enlightening (I'm happy to say I finally began putting my history degree to serious use in 2005, thanks entirely to the internet). There are many pieces of this massive, worldwide jigsaw puzzle that link bankers and communists together; however, those pieces, when viewed one (or a few) at a time, may not always seem significant.

Anyway, I am now attempting to put together that reply. The hardest part is knowing what to include and what not to include. I'm not very good at that. But, for the sake of being as brief as possible, I will try my best.

P.S. I certainly wasn't thinking ahead when I wrote that provocative comment. I should have anticipated all the work I would be creating for myself if someone were to challenge me on it. Now I have to overcome my considerable lethargy and get to work. Ha?

In your subsequent comment, I had to laugh as soon as I saw the name "Lamar Smith" in that woman's Facebook comment. I knew then that she had obviously had a rude awakening.

You Tube

You Tube

[mikemike]

I wanted to turn my radio off when Obama let loose the fundraising line directed at the MPAA about copyright enforcement in his SOTU address.

[Welfl]

Jolepp:

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 27, 2012:

"In December, the Council of the European Union—one of the European Union’s two legislative bodies, composed of executives from the 27 EU member states—adopted ACTA during a completely unrelated meeting on agriculture and fisheries. Of course, this is not the end of the story in the EU. For ACTA to be adopted as EU law, the European Parliament has to vote on whether to accept or reject it." Source

Regarding the above: Three days ago, when I posted my previous comment, I also wrote (but decided to delay posting) the following:

The EU government seems to be a Jeckyll-and-Hyde organization. They mimic the U.S. government one day and then seem enlightened the next day. As for their codified claim that they intend to keep the internet free and uncensored, I hope you are right, but I fear they cannot be trusted. Case in point: In 2005, the citizens of France and the Netherlands voted against ratifying the new EU constitution (watch the video). Since the vote had to be unanimous (among 27 countries), the constitution was officially dead; however, the EU leaders refused to listen. Instead, they wrote the "Treaty of Lisbon," in which they supposedly "amended" the constitution. In 2008, the citizens of Ireland joined those of France and the Netherlands in rejecting the Constitution/Treaty. The EU ignored these three countries and adopted the Constitution/Treaty anyway.

Another case in point: The EU also has a law that, in essence, forbids the European Central Bank (ECB) from printing excess money out of thin air in order to "bail out" member states. Some sources report that the ECB may be ignoring this law. The ECB is also bypassing that law by accepting trillions of dollars in bailouts from U.S. taxpayers, courtesy of the unaccountable Federal Reserve (thus further destroying the value of our dollar).

I will be thrilled to admit I am wrong if the EU Parliament votes against the EU Council's ACTA treaty.

You Tube

You Tube

Read the expanded description section.

[mikemike]

This is my favorite video of Nigel Farage tearing into someone. American Idol should hire this guy as a judge.

You Tube

You Tube

This guy is probably a huge advocate for monetary sovereignty

You Tube

You Tube

[GeneV]

I wanted to turn my radio off when Obama let loose the fundraising line directed at the MPAA about copyright enforcement in his SOTU address.

Let's be honest. You wanted to turn your radio off as soon as he began.

Which part of this speech do you mean? http://www.npr.org/2012/01/24/145812810/transcript-obamas-state-of-the-union-address

Do you think this part was fundraising from MPAA? That is the only sentence in an hour-long that even mentions the word "movies," and there is no mention of the words "copyright," "patent" or "intellectual property" anywhere.

Now, I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products. And I will not stand by when our competitors don't play by the rules. We've brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration – and it's made a difference. Over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires. But we need to do more. It's not right when another country lets our movies, music, and software be pirated. It's not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours only because they're heavily subsidized.

[jeffkrol]

This is my favorite video of Nigel Farage tearing into someone. American Idol should hire this guy as a judge.

Nigel Farage harangues EU President Herman van Rompuy - YouTube

This guy is probably a huge advocate for monetary sovereignty

'Who the Hell You Think You Are?' Nigel Farage throws egg in Eurocrat faces - YouTube

That guy's fun.............

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

Youtu.be