Academy screener bootlegger arrested

[GizmoTheGremlin]

And FYI, doctors are just biological weathermen, guessing at everything, and most have less than 6 years of school.

Another FYI, Doctors in the US have 4 years undergraduate, 4 years graduate school, then 3 to 7 years residency depending on the specialty (that's 11 to 15 years total). Finally after racking up $200,000 to $300,000 in debt, they can start a practice and make some real money.

If you want the prices to go down, then you'll have stop some of the crazy lawsuits that doctors have to deal with all the time.

And if you ever have to go to the hospital, you'll probably find that the doctors fees are only a small fraction of what the hospital will charge you.

I know that's off topic, but I'm currently a medical student and the comment kinda struck a nerve.

[lordsmurf]

I personally think you have a very skewed view of the medicine profession in general. Have a look at most doctors, they don't leisurely stroll in for an hour or two from their golf game to check their patients, they are working 12 hour days, sometimes 6 or 7 days a week in very stressful conditions.

I do. I know I do.

But this is the recent trend in the USA. More and more FAMILY doctors DO NOT wrk long hours and DO just stroll in for a 9 to 5 timeframe. Sorry, maybe I should have been more clear on that. These people are a far cry from heart surgeons and the 12-hour-shift ER doctors others were referring too.

(EDIT: Removed words. Too long, off topic, not worth reading.)

[GizmoTheGremlin]

even the internists (recent med school students or CURRENT med students ... ******* STUDENTS) get paid an insane amount to take your temperature

As you can imagine, I take even more offense to that. Just to make it clear, it is costing me about $50,000 a year to take your temperature. No medical student makes a dime.

As for residents, thanks to recent laws in the US, residents are no longer allowed to be worked more than 80 hours a week. Since they are salaried employees usually making around $30 to $35K a year, they could probably make more money working for McDonalds.

If you want a more experienced doctor, don't go to a teaching hospital. But don't complain about how they are ripping you off.

[lordsmurf]

I would ask which school you are attending, because state schools have far cheaper tuition and churn out a great many medical students. Paying you back for school is understandable. You should be paid back. But many doctors are more than just paid back. The system is flawed. That's my point. It's flawed, and I see doctors and lawyer and big corporations as the ones benefitting from it.

(EDIT: Removed words. Too long, off topic, not worth reading.)

[spiderman2k1]

"pacmania_2001" your not getting my point Nintendo put in copy protection no can crack. And alot of old people are buying GameCube now. Who play's it has nothing to do about the copy protection. The Disc they use you can not buy blank's for them and you can not buy a drive to read them.

[GizmoTheGremlin]

I would ask which school you are attending, because state schools have far cheaper tuition and churn out a great many medical students.

I go to a private school. Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, OH. Tuition is 33K per year and a good portion of my living expenses goes toward things such as medical supplies, vaccinations, books, even hospital parking (it's not paid for), etc...

My actual tuition cost is not the point. I don't have any problems if you choose to hate doctors and medical students. I just take offense at such bold statements based on the incorrect information that you've posted here.

It's flawed, and I see doctors and lawyer and big corporations as the ones benefitting from it.

I think that you would have a very different view if you had to walk a mile in my shoes. I personally grew up in poverty and have no intentions of ever being rich. I worked all through undergrad and have never benefitted from any kind of flawed system.

I agree with you that your profession is just as important as mine, and that is why I wouldn't make comments like yours.

[lordsmurf]

You're right, I'd probably understand your side better if I "walked a mile in your shoes" but that works both ways. MPAA/RIAA has never done that, and it is the SOLE REASON bootlegging exists.

(EDIT: Removed words. Too long, off topic, not worth reading.)

[DaBarrister]

Too many of you on your soapboxes use the "theft" angle. Here's the truth (not opinion): COPYING A DVD/CD/TAPE OR RECEIVEING BROADCAST SIGNALS IS NOT PHYSICAL THEFT.

Wrong. That's like saying "murder" is not "killing." When you copy a DVD or intercept an encoded satellite signal you are not authorized to receive, that's theft. You have taken something that does not belong to you. If you sell it or use it in a derivative work, that's infringement. I ought to know since I have to defend people who do one or the other, or both.

I could give you a dissertation on it, but I get paid for that sort of thing so I'm not giving it away for free. 8) Not as much as a doctor, mind you...

To Roundabout - my reference to "moderator" was with respect to lordsmurf's foul language. If he has something to say, he ought to say it with some grace. If he or anyone else here has to resort to profanity to make a point, well, they've lost any intelligent or moral high ground.

[adam]

What in the hell does the importance of a job have to do with its salary? In my opinion the most important job in America is a garbageman and I'm sure they could almost make as much collecting an unemployment check.

For the most part your salary is determined by the demand for your services. Yes lawyers, doctors, movie execs and actors are going to make alot of money under this system. Its not that the system is flawed, its that the system of choice by the majority of the people is that of capitalism. If you don't like it then get the hell out.

Lawyers go to school 7 years, doctors go to school even more, and apparantly Lordsmurf pulls his numbers out of a hat The vast majority of people either cannot or are not willing to invest this much time, not to mention the ~$50-80 thousand dollars, to enter into these types of professions. This is why they are called professionals, because whether you think they are better than you or not the fact is that they are an elite group.

I don't care how much or how little someone makes. I don't care how many years of school they had to attend to make that much. Life is too short to carry a chip on your shoulder. I respect anyone who works for a living, and I never look down on anyone.

Anyway back on topic. Its true the movie industry has done exceptionally well the last couple of years, but does anyone know that the average movie actually LOSES money? Its the big multimillion dollar blockbusters that keep the studios afloat. So its not that they are only going to make $49 million instead of $50 million, its that they are getting less of a return on their overall investments. If you are willing to go and spend 70 million dollars of your money with no guarantee that you will even recoup that much, then go ahead. Until then, you have no place to criticize people for protecting their copyrights.

I don't care how much Warner Brothers makes, I don't care how much Robert DeNiro makes, movies are not a necessity and I do not even believe they are overpriced. If you can't afford a DVD or a movie ticket, or you think the quality of the movie is not worth the investment, than just don't buy it. But don't you dare use this as an excuse to bootleg a movie. That makes you 10 times more of a hypocrite than the MPAA or the RIAA, and no I don't like these organizations any more than the next guy.

I also don't understand why people are so concerned that our tax payer dollars should be going to more serious crimes. Its not like your local cops stopped their patrols to arrest this guy. What this guy did is a federal crime. When federal crimes are committed, and they have a large enough economic effect, than the FBI investigates. How much money do you think the FBI invested in this case? I can tell you its about a millionth of the amount that the MPAA invested in the watermarking system which was the actual method of enforcement that caught this guy. So the MPAA got a a return on their wartermarking system which they spent millions on, what's the problem?

[LanEvo7]

"pacmania_2001" your not getting my point Nintendo put in copy protection no can crack. And alot of old people are buying GameCube now. Who play's it has nothing to do about the copy protection. The Disc they use you can not buy blank's for them and you can not buy a drive to read them.

Its been cracked for Nintendo's Gamecube. You can do it without changing the casing of the Gamecube since last year. For Panasonic's Gamecube or if you want to change the casing, even earlier. Just search the net, there are many many places that can tell you how to do it using the broadband adaptor. In Asia, there are places where you can change the casing of Nintendo's Gamecube and let it boot DVD-Rs.

Its just not popular because not enough people care to do it. There aren't enough extremely good games(targeting teens and adults) to justify going through the hassle of bootlegging them.

[DaBarrister]

I don't care how much Warner Brothers makes, I don't care how much Robert DeNiro makes, movies are not a necessity and I do not even believe they are overpriced. If you can't afford a DVD or a movie ticket, or you think the quality of the movie is not worth the investment, than just don't buy it. But don't you dare use this as an excuse to bootleg a movie. That makes you 10 times more of a hypocrite than the MPAA or the RIAA, and no I don't like these organizations any more than the next guy.

Amen, brother.

[budz]

Whoas! This thread is HOT! Just wanted to say that bootlegging will always be here no matter what the government tries to do. I feel our tax dollars should be used more for education and social services programs for children. When I was a kid I asked our lt. govenor why do we allow these foreign people to come to the good ole USA and they head straight for the welfare office. Her answer to me was it's a federal issue not a state issue. The USA is always there to bail out some other country but we can't take care of our own people. We allow immigrants to migrate to the USA and some end up living off welfare for years. In the last 5 years we have had welfare reform both in the federal and state levels. I am not saying all immigrants head straight for the welfare office so don't get me wrong.

For the government to use tax dollars to chase some bootlegger is a bunch of crock. Tax dollars should be used for education and social service programs. After all it's the children that are OUR FUTURE.

[spiderman2k1]

This topic is getting old now. People have been bootlegging since the 1930's. In Canada it fine to hack Satellite dish now I read they change that law. For DTV and Dish network. I alway felt like what I think is right and wrong and I do not have to be told what right and wrong. I do what I want to do. No taking a satellite signal and taking it for free. DTV has to keep up with satellite repair and stuff like that. It not cheep to send a rocket in outter space. They put alot of money to get it to work and it piss them off when some take's it for free. Other people will say. i own my dish and box I can do what ever I want with it. I really do not care if some hack satellite dish and I really do not care if the get caught and had to pay $250000.00 dollars it has nothing to do with me.

Sony and X-box are trying to make modchip illegal to put in there machine's. Some people want these chip's to play import game's from Japan and I see no problem with that. Other people use it to play burner's.

One reason I real do not care about bootleg at all companies are stuppit. There's a phone jack in ever satellite box. If I was DTV I would set these box to call in so I can check on what's going on with that box.. Another way they should weld the box so it can not be open and you can not take out the smart card.

Companies want to get product out so fast that they never cover them self in the long run.

Also there are so many way's to get stuff for free or very cheep. One if you want free music take a capture card record from MTV then edit the video and use winamp to encode the video it will take out the audio in to a wave file. Record from FM radio. You want free movie's ever three month or so Starz HBO showtime have three day week end's record them with a DVD recorder or capture card. Free movie's. PVV cost $3.99 for a movie. You can record it with a DVD recorder or capture card.

Now if you want to break the law and you get caught that your problem you deal with it you know the law's.

even thow I like TV and I would say even one on this board does for onereason or another. There are more import thing then wasting time trying to get some thing for free that might not be worth it in the long run.

The one thing that really piss's me off the big network's want to put copy protection onHDTV so you can not copy a TV show from SCIFI cartoonnetwork or FOXNEWS or CNN if your not home. Some time's on friday I'm not home to watch Star gate SG1 and I record it on my Panasonic E80H.

Also when Replay TV had there box's that would not recorded commercial the network went crazy take them to court and ever thing and they gave in now there box's will record commercial. Now I own the box I have a right not to watch what I want.

Pioneer TIVO's if you record a TV show on these TIVO DVD recorder's you are not able to edit commercial's out. That why I went with the Panasonic E80H just like a TIVO just have to set the timer my self not hard to do.

Now when a company pay's for a TV commercial they have to look at it from this point of view. People will only watch the commercial when there home when the show is on. If people fast forword a TV commercial they still see if that commercial is for coke ford and so on it's still in there head not as good if they watch it as it was ment but it's better then nothing. On my Panasonic E80H it skip's ever minute I still see little bit of some commercial still better then nothing. Pioneer DVD TIVO go for $1000.00 dollars and can not edit the commercial this is when big companie's get greedy. And I stop caring about the big guy and stop caring about the small guy as well.

Holly Wood did not even want to support DVD format now they aremaking more money then selling stupit VHS copies.

[lordsmurf]

Lawyers go to school 7 years, doctors go to school even more, and apparantly Lordsmurf pulls his numbers out of a hat

Just a different hat than yours. Different schools, different places, different rules. Not uncommon. I also try to respect all professions, but when a few visits to one person drains more money than a month of rent, I do tend to get a bit angry, yes.

Again, this ties into movies. One DVD can rival a month's worth of necessity for many people in many places. This is why piracy exists, amongst other reasons (availability of the movies/shows).

But just as somebody in this "advanced" society of ours should not be deprived of food and healing services, they should not be deprived of art and culture either. They will get it. One way or another. Instead of fighting these people, everybody should work together for something reasonable. Greed is why this has not happened to date. Who you think think is the one being greedy is your decision.

Great conversion, peace out. (I edited my other posts here because they rambled too much, not really about piracy.)

[MOVIEGEEK]

Whoas! This thread is HOT! Just wanted to say that bootlegging will always be here no matter what the government tries to do. I feel our tax dollars should be used more for education and social services programs for children. When I was a kid I asked our lt. govenor why do we allow these foreign people to come to the good ole USA and they head straight for the welfare office. Her answer to me was it's a federal issue not a state issue. The USA is always there to bail out some other country but we can't take care of our own people. We allow immigrants to migrate to the USA and some end up living off welfare for years. In the last 5 years we have had welfare reform both in the federal and state levels. I am not saying all immigrants head straight for the welfare office so don't get me wrong.

For the government to use tax dollars to chase some bootlegger is a bunch of crock. Tax dollars should be used for education and social service programs. After all it's the children that are OUR FUTURE.

Amen,brother.

[Supreme2k]

Wrong. That's like saying "murder" is not "killing." When you copy a DVD or intercept an encoded satellite signal you are not authorized to receive, that's theft. You have taken something that does not belong to you. If you sell it or use it in a derivative work, that's infringement. I ought to know since I have to defend people who do one or the other, or both.

Just another attempt at sidestepping the issue to make it an emotional one. Please come back and post once you're on the same planet where muder is not the same as piracy/copyright infringement. If you take a picture of someone, then you "murder" that picture, that's called effigy, not killing.


Keep your dissertation. Maybe you should spend more time defending your (unfortunate) clients from copyright infringement, rather than letting them cop to a theft or burglary charge (or even murder?)

[Moloko_Plus]

Gamecube games are pirated, stored on Minidvdrs and then streamed into the GC via your pc. Its pretty neat too.
Downloading one off the newsgroups is simple, you get an iso file and you either keep it on your pc or burn it to a minidvdr or even a dvdr if you want to store it. Then stream it from your pc using a workaround in phantasy star online, just network into it
Theres a whole scene for it, and there are quite a few cool games for it too.

Someone had posted that CNN was the original source..Well i posted two other links that said there was no mention of them being sold. CNN always has a way of distorting the facts, its like a sewing circle, a really big one. He is not being charged for selling them, at all. What happened was carridi gave him the screeners, the person encoded them to dvdrs, sent copies to a few people, then gave the screeners back to carridi..Its on p2pnet.net and even ircspy.com has it. So far You are the only one whos said he tried to profit from them.

[johns0]

I can't believe that FBI would even waste their time with this. Its very true that it is "stealing," but come on our taxes are being used to stop piracy to put money in the hands of some rich fat executive at Sony and Warner Bros.? I've seen a few downloaded movies, and they look like crap, I always buy the commercial DVD for the dts audio and extra features. We have so much real crime in our nation and the FBI goes after people who are stealing movies that are probably not even worth the silicon they were pressed from.

Moderators....pay attention.

Are you serious?

[VCDHunter]

After all it's the children that are OUR FUTURE.

An all time crock o'shite - even for this forum.

[vitualis]

For some context, I'm a doctor.

I did my medical training at the University of New South Wales which is a 6 year undergraduate course.

In Australia, I have to complete (and just have) a year of internship before getting full registration.

Full registration generally means squat, however, as I will still have to complete years of post-graduate training before I'm anything. The quickest route will be into general practice (i.e., family medicine) which will at the quickest take about 4 years. If I want to specialise into a medical or surgical subspecialty, that will be anywhere from 6 to 10 years.

In essence, if I want to become a GP in Australia, it takes a minimum of about 11 years (of which 6 years are as an unpaid full-time student) of training.

Over the last pay period (fortnight), I worked a total of 134 rostered hours (normally 40 hour week should equal 80 hours per fortnight) -- though that is admittedly unusual.

For those curious, I earn a base wage of about $AU 21 an hour last year (which is less than what I could have earnt as a maths/science tutor right after high school).



adam is absolutely correct when he says that a job isn't paid for its "importance", but rather from supply and demand. If you think that any one group of workers is unnecessarily overpaid, then that is rarely the fault of the workers themselves (unless there is some form of price fixing/collusion which is usually ILLEGAL in most countries). It is usually a problem with the system and that is what should be fixed.

@ adam: it is somewhat curious how the term "profession" has taken on the meaning of a "job/career" with "elitist" overtones. A "profession" in the true sense refers to a job/career where the members entering have to swear an oath or "profess" to something... e.g., lawers, doctors, clergy, etc.

Regards.

[DereX888]

Also there are so many way's to get stuff for free or very cheep. One if you want free music take a capture card record from MTV then edit the video and use winamp to encode [...]

well there are ways to do it much easier, i.e. just use direct cable from your tv/vcr straight to your computer's audio line-in and record directly in mp3 format if thats your desired format...
but
thats an excellent example: We ARE allowed to record radio/tv broadcasts on cassettes, tapes and whatever media we choose.
If one person is able to record all of the songs by say Madonna (she is a good example - I hear her crappy music all over North America on every Easy/Pop stations; Im sure one would be able to collect her entire discography within a day or less - of off radio waves). If I have "taped" it on a cassettes and lend it to my friends I am not breaking any law (non-commercial time-shifted recording, fair use, whatever is the description - it is LEGAL to archive any broadcast for personal use, and that includes lending it to a friend). But if I "tape" it in mp3 and give all my friends access to a server with them songs - I am breaking a law!
Where is the logic? Its the same activity, only type of "media" is different.


Bootlegging appears when there is demand for it. Bootlegging is a form of competition where one side does not obey copyright laws. It is also clear indication that the original product is overpriced (since someone else can make it cheaper) and it should give a clue to the owner of original product that there is greater demand of their product, but at *lower* price.
In the past if Joe the Shoemaker made great boots and sell them too expensive, another John the Shoemaker would make same boots cheaper, thus Joe would have to lower his price as well. Market used to regulate itself. Nowaday Joe the Shoemaker would just go the court and sued John the SHoemaker for stealing his design etc - and he most likely would win (unles John the Shoemaker would be richer). Anyway what Im trying to say is that there is no real free market anywhere anymore. No person can compete with corporations that actually are considered a "personalities" on its own (according to the US law - Geez, did no one paid attention when this had happened?...)
Video market is dominated by few studios, who wont let anyone new in to share the pie. They all ought to be treated as a one giant monopoly, thats right.

How many non-hollywood-crappy movies have you seen in the stores?
How many non-RIAA indepedent albums have you seen in the stores?

They are not available not because public don't demand them (how they could demand something they dont even know it exists lol), they are not available just because profit of off them would go somewhere else than to MPAA/RIAA bunch of companies, and they simply won't allow it.

Back to bootlegging. Obviously had they priced product (DVDs, CDs) right, there wouldnt be no bootlegging at all.
You all know (or shouldve know by now) RIAA was overcharging us - buyers - for years. In plain language: RIAA WAS LEGALLY STEALING FROM US FOR MANY YEARS.
Where is my RIAA's refund check? I have bought 1000+ CDDA albums in past 10 years, this is not pocket change to me. WHERE IS MY MONEY?

Now who can assure me that MPAA is not ripping us all with DVDs? In few years we may hear about same case as it was with RIAA.
Anyone remember what they used to say at the dawn of DVDs? "They are expensive now, because it is new format, but because they are cheaper to make than VHS is, in few years time movies on DVD should cost less than VHS movies cost now". Well, dont need to guess - just go to any store and see for yourself. DVDs are same or more expensive than VHS used to be, and it aint gonna change. Im SURE sooner or later MPAA will face similar court case as RIAA had.

Obviously the current model of RIAA/MPAA system isn't working at all. It doesnt work for consumers, and it doesnt work for most of the artists either. It is just status-quo existing for and to uphold major market share and supremacy on the market of few studios who are backing it up.

Anyway I dont say it is excuse for stealing (as in a case described in original post of this thread), that guy clearly did it for profit since he was selling them - but as I said earlier: I oppose and disagree with RIAA and MPAA on the subject of copying the CD or DVD for personal use (which both RIAA and MPAA say is what hurts them the most - the "casual copying").
We are currently allowed and should always make a backup copy of every CD or DVD we buy, since no studio or label is willing to replace it for free or for the cost of media (pennies) in case it turns bad. Why would you want to make them richer by buying same movie/album twice? And Im not mentioning that many of us have already paid for many movies twice when we bought same movies on VHS before and on DVD now.

I could go on with it, but this thread ia already huge off topic.

It just pisses me that no one talks about all the rip-offs done by the studios to the consumers. Where is FBI on this? Oh yeah, I forgot - they all chasing either bin laden, or guarding rich studio's property...


_____________
Trust me on this:
America's fall won't happen due to or by any foreign threat. Its the american lawyers and lawmakers who WILL bring it down.

[spiderman2k1]

"DereX888" The reason I like to use a capture card is that it make it alot easier to edit the video's so I can make the track's. So far I have only made on CD for MTV and VH1. I would rate the audio a 8 next to the real CD that's a 10.

[DereX888]

vitualis wrote:

adam is absolutely correct when he says that a job isn't paid for its "importance", but rather from supply and demand. If you think that any one group of workers is unnecessarily overpaid, then that is rarely the fault of the workers themselves (unless there is some form of price fixing/collusion which is usually ILLEGAL in most countries). It is usually a problem with the system and that is what should be fixed.

You are correct, its the system's fault, not the people's.
However 'system' is created by people.
The whole group of unions, federations and such is nothing else than a legalized mob (mafia), simply saying it is just The Law that says "these unionized guys can squeeze more monies out of average Joe, and those mafia guys can't". Both cases - unions and mafia - are after getting more profit for limited group of members, *at the expense of the rest of society*. This system led to deviations like i.e. wages of $40/hr to unionized bus drivers (!!!), while in the same time a highly skilled but non-unionized professionals can't even count on more than a half of unionized driver's wages.

No one as a person can fight it. And there is no will in the society itself to change it either. It is pointless even complaining it - just join a union in your profession if you can. Or else - a mob perhaps? (j/k )

[pacmania_2001]

The flow on effect ends up eating away at any supposed gain they get from unionization in terms of increased pay.

[DereX888]

spiderman2k1:

The reason I like to use a capture card is that it make it alot easier to edit the video's so I can make the track's. So far I have only made on CD for MTV and VH1. I would rate the audio a 8 next to the real CD that's a 10.

...which is probably no audible difference at all if you transfer both your MTV recordings and CD to same mp3 format.
I too have transferred some LPs and cassettes to CDs (and mp3s to listen in a car) myself in the past. I too capture some music videos to SVCD/VCD and I agree with you on transferring audio track of off music videos to mp3 would give great results if youre into mp3s.

[adam]

We ARE allowed to record radio/tv broadcasts on cassettes, tapes and whatever media we choose. If I have "taped" it on a cassettes and lend it to my friends I am not breaking any law (non-commercial time-shifted recording, fair use, whatever is the description - it is LEGAL to archive any broadcast for personal use, and that includes lending it to a friend).

Yes you are breaking the law, and no the right to time shift does not include lending the backup to your friend. However innocent it may seem, this is distribution plain and simple. You have a right to time shift because you have access to the broadcast and thus you have a right to watch it anytime you want. So you can back it up for personal use. If your friend wants it they have to back it up themself off of their own broadcast.

[GizmoTheGremlin]

So I'm getting the impression that most people here say throw the book at the distributer and even more so if he's trying to make profit.

My question is, how does everyone feel about the actual people who are watching these bootleg copies? they're obviously breaking the law too, even if they did pay for it. Should these people be thrown in jail or get fined a quater mil? (I admit that I have no idea what the actual fines are)

And remember, this includes everyone from the average kid who downloaded a couple of mp3's to the guy who has a bootleg collection of a thousand movies.

[pacmania_2001]

If someone has just downloaded a couple of films or some music then I don't think they should get the book thrown at them and face huge fines or jail time.

[GizmoTheGremlin]

I'm kind of surprized that people don't have stronger opinions about this.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,112364,00.asp

Copyright law allows the court to set fines between $750 and $150,000 per copyrighted work infringed

If this is true, then people caught with illegal drugs face smaller fines than those who have downloaded a little music (Assuming the drugs aren't being sold). You may say that I am comparing apples to oranges, but I just don't think that this is balance at all. Personally I would much rather my tax dollars go to getting the drugs off the street.

I realize that the RIAA and MPAA aren't exactly kicking down doors to see if you've got any illegal copies, but the fact they are able to take pretty much everything you own really bothers me.

I know that the solution is to simply not download music/movies illegally, and I certainly do not. But it just bothers me that the RIAA and MPAA has so much power in the government. I think that there should be penalties for breaking the law, but a max of $150,000 for 4 minutes of music seems a little much.

[Ripper2860]

Steps up on soapbox ...

As it relates to the severity of punishment for some crimes as opposed to others. Unfortunately -- it is the power of lobbyist and campaign donations at work. They have access; are vocal; and have lots of money.

How many here voted in the last election? Who here knows who their congressman or woman is? Senator? What is their position is on DMCA, copyrights, etc? How many have actually ever written their Congressperson or Senator?

Lobbyist eat, live and sleep in congress. They know what position the legislators take on these matters. They meet with our legislature and make contributions; sponsor "events", etc. They have their attention and their ear.

Granted we have the vote. But many, many have no idea what they are voting for. Sure they know WHOM they are voting for, but know little about WHERE the person they are voting for stands on these matters. We all pay attention to Presidential campaigns, but the President does not enact law. Congress does. He can veto, but he can be overridden.

Even if we know the positions of our elected officials on these matters and vote them into office based on those positions -- the power and persistance of the lobbyist organizations will eventually persuade them to see things their way. After all money is as powerful if not more powerful than the vote.

Steps off soapbox ...


** Boy -- writing this sure did depress me !!