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Comment by BrandonM | Hacker News Reader

> it's completely ridiculous that DHS is enforcing IP

The Secret Service was created by Lincoln to combat an extremely high rate of counterfeiting currency[1]. When the Department of Homeland Security was created, the Secret Service became part of that department.

I'm sure you will be happy to know that the Secret Service also provides protection for "important" citizens traveling abroad. They also investigate cases involving child pornography and various types of fraud.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secret_Service#Ea...

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Defending currency is NOT anything like defending civil IP. It's not even covered by the same laws, for starters.

Bureaucracies are grown, not designed.

They also rarely stop growing.

"Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy." -- Oscar Wilde

That looks like a paraphrasing of Parkinson's Law[0]

[0]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinsons_Law

Sometimes they grow by themselves, not unlike a cancer.

For example, just found out not too long ago that TVA* still exists!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Valley_Authority

To me that is a prime example of a self perpetuating bureaucracy. It is like a self-aware organ of a larger organism that refuses to die and does all it can to fight back and stay alive.

* For those who are wondering this is the Tennessee Valley Authority. Which was created during the Great Depression to help electrify the South. The South has pretty much been electrified but TVA still keeps on chugging along 80 years later.

It's a government chartered corporation. Like Fannie Mae or the Post Office. I was surprised to also found out they still existed when I got a call for a contracting gig with them. I believe the second sentence out my mouth after the introduction was, "I didn't know you guys were still here!". But it makes sense. It's not like all those dams, powerplants, and electrical lines continue to take care of themself once the installation is done.

Unlike the governments law enforcement apparatus, TVA still works in the domain they were deployed for, managing water and electricity in the areas around Tennessee.

While I agree with you, it is interesting to note that ACTA originally started out as an anti-counterfeiting agreement. But then again, counterfeiting currency might still be under different laws from counterfeiting designer jeans.

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