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Music Pirate Walks Short Plank

  Last week in the US, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mother of four was ordered to pay 1.92 million dollars for illegally downloading 24 songs. Equating to $80,000 per copyright infringement. The rights and wrongs of illegal music downloading is immaterial in this case, what will be remembered, especially by the single mother, is the amount she's been ordered to pay. That absolutely breathtaking, bank-account breaking amount- By Sean Maguire

  What separates a progressive democracy from stagnant authoritarianism is proportionality, we know that littering isn't equal in effect or damage to murder, so the punishment is proportioned to match that. We also know that in America all people should be equal before the law, with concrete evidence deciding a trial, in a situation where justice is blind from any outside influence that may affect a decision.

This case seems to break all three of these precepts, for one, the figure of $80,000 per song seems over-the-top for the crime. Two, it was openly admitted by the prosecutor Tim Reynolds that the above figure was chosen to make an example of Thomas-Rasset. And then to cap it off, the evidence of the crime seems based on very shaky waters. For one, the Record Industry Association of America (basically an affiliation between the biggest and most powerful record companies in the world) hired a company called MediaSentry to prove that the accused was guilty of copyright infringement. The company MediaSentry has been in hot water before; their tactics of attaining information can be described as dubious, at best.

Two years ago MediaSentry, again hired by the R.I.A.A, attempted to investigate students in various universities around the US. Their techniques of proving that students were guilty, involved MediaSentry visiting file-sharing sites, finding the posters of the material, then sending a ‘pre-litigation' letter to the University. These letters were not legally binding but were intended to be sent to the accused students, asking them to visit https://www.p2plawsuits.com/ where they could quickly pay $3500 for their infringement and settle their debts by credit card. Helpfully avoiding the pressures and openness of the legal system.

However, the University of Oregon fought back, refusing to send out the pre-litigation letters, and going further to allege that MediaSentry was ‘obtaining private, confidential information unrelated to copyright infringement'  . A scary precedent for a company that had no license for private investigation, a must for this kind of operation.

With Thomas-Rasset, MediaSentry did the same thing. They visited the file-sharing site Kazaa, posed as any other user and then downloaded 24 songs that the plaintiff had posted. That was the sum-total of the evidence the prosecutor relied on. As Steve Karnowski from Associated Press writes

‘Although the plaintiffs weren't able to prove that anyone but MediaSentry downloaded songs off her computer because Kazaa kept no such records, Reynolds told the jury it's only logical that many users had downloaded songs offered through her computer because that's what Kazaa was there for.'

Is that how we'd like our justice system to operate? Dishing out judgments and fines, based on assumption rather than evidence? This idea sets incredibly dangerous precedents for future trials of copyright infringement. It could easily result in a first time user to a file-sharing site, posting material that only one party downloads then being lumped in with much bigger and more established posters. Proportionality, it seems is disappearing into a very sticky Web.  

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As "revelations" emerge that the Defence Department has been wasting billions, I ask you, is anybody surprised?

As we are constantly told in international relations, security is the central concern of all governments. Without it, society can't function.

So in turn, governments, especially American governments, throw billions into blackhole budgets in an attempt to keep us safe, or feeling safe.

And just to make it all the sweeter, secrecy is essential- meaning transparency is of course impossible.

So just like the story that British Ministers have been getting greedy with their entitlements, the only person to blame for this is yourself.

Because, as long as we're happy blindly throwing power, money and guns to shady people we shouldn't be surprised that they use them for their own benefits.

 

 

 

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We thought the Bale de Rua was aweful. Choreography was terrible - set design, music and costumes were lacklustre. The dancers however were very athletic and graceful. - Jules

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Re: In Praise of Mediocrity

I just wonder who decides if what ever you chose to do in life, is mediocre or not. Sounds like with standards like yours, this article with its poor structure and soap box appeal may also be considered by many as, in-fact, mediocre. - Khedra

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Re: The Assassins of Langley

Yes, Mr. Neville. Odious, heinous assassins sold body and soul to Luciferian entities who pull the strings (the last of them, I want to believe) from the shadows. Philip Aggeee and John Stockwell portrayed them quite well. They are NOT heroes, nor are the gangbangers of East Los Angeles who spray grafitti in Iraq, where they most certainly train for urban warfare on our streets. Good riddance to them all!

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A hero's welcome for the famous Iraqi shoe thrower

Terrorist! Please do your research first before writing such dangerous things, we was insulting Bush by throwing the shoe as he was disgraced with him, not trying to topple the largest super power in the world by throwing a shoe. I cant believe you have put those words up. Ashamed

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Re: How to Report the News

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Re: Killing Indian Students: Australia's Favourite New Sport!- by Sean Maguire

How about the indian guy who slashed his wife's throat, is still australia to blame for?..may be , for accenpting them to move over!I am an immigrant myself but I love this country, there is no perfect place on Earth but australia is one of the best! - Michael

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This entire fiasco is an incredible over reaction. Australia is an easy target. Why? because we are honest, transperant and we talk about our failings. Is there aggression and iolence in Australia? Sure, like any country. But we face it head on and we work to eliminate it. What about the stories of the 100’s of thousands of Indian workers who are treated as slaves in the middle east and nobody says anything? What about the fact that India still has entrenched pedophilia in terms of child brides? What about the crushing poverty embraced by more than 60% of the Indian people while this nation runs around building nuclear warheads? A storm in a teacup, an over reaction, and a diversion from some the really bad issues facing India. What is really happening here is that students are being unnecessarily frightened. meaning they will miss out on what could be the opportunity of their lifetime. - Daryl
 
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I couldn't agree with Sean Maguire's article more on the recent Indian attacks. For all those who like the pretend the attacks are merely based on coincidence, try to imagine how we would react if the boot were on the other foot and an uncharacteristic number of Australia's had been murdered in India. Would you push for a travel ban? Would you be scared for your children in a seemingly hostile environment so many miles away?  - Kara Jensen-Mackinnon

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