At 92, Movie Bootlegger Is Soldiers’ Hero
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
When kids can have their future ruined because their situation doesn't "warm your heart" and this guy can bootleg for 5 years you know the system is broken.
Note: I'm not defending USA's IP laws. They are very, very broken.
At least they've (so far) decided to let this guy do some good without going after him.
I really hope the MPAA decides that they can let one slip. The real interesting thing is what the politicians will say. It's a catch 22 if I've ever seen one. (Can't be mad, he's helping the troops, can't be happy, he's doing something "illegal".) The answer is that something like this shouldn't be illegal, but who knows if that'll ever happen.
This actually presents a really big challenge to the MPAA. By not actively protecting their copyright (which they aren't if they let this guy off the hook or turn a blind eye) they risk losing other cases because of it. At the same time, if they go after this guy they look awful.
He should be prosecuted, if the law is just.
They have bigger fish to fry - legitimate pirate networks that are making millions. This is simply not worth their time, and they don't have much to lose by "letting him get away with it" as there's no active defense required to maintain copyright, and no legal precedence they are setting that lessens their ability to prosecute in other cases.
"Hi i'm Tom Cruise and I, and everyone else at Sony Pictures, want to thank you for your service. Enjoy the show!"
Have you ever heard anyone in government use the acronym CONUS? It is supposed to stand for Contiguous United States: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States#CONUS....
But it is more commonly used opposed to "United States Interests at home and abroad" - i.e. the imperial United States
Kinda like breeding and releasing a bunch of sterile invasive pests to outnumber what you want to get rid of.
I take issue with that. I don't want to see this guy face prosecution by any means, but selective enforcement is a great evil and a tool of virtually every tyranny that ever existed. If what he does is right, then the law is fucking wrong and needs changing yesterday.
It’s a pretty central part of civil law, actually (making sure – at least in theory – that only if two parties absolutely cannot agree on their own, the legal system has to kick in), and I think it would be downright evil to require people to always sue everyone.
Even state attorneys can pick and chose (to some extent), but to avoid arbitrariness they have to have good reasons for what they do, who they decide to prosecute and not to prosecute. They can’t decide not to prosecute for arbitrary reasons. (I know that’s the case in Germany, I think that's the case in the US, please correct me if I'm wrong.)
The US is supposed to be a "country of laws,not men." That means it is NOT supposed to be up to the opinion of one person whether an act is legal or not. What is legal needs to be decided by our elected officials.
Anyone who wants to see copyright fixed should be pushing to see this blatant scofflaw thrown in jail, maybe that would focus some attention on the problem.
I believe there could be some solution to the US IP legal problems both for patents and copyrights. Have you ever wondered how bands are allowed to "cover" other bands songs, even record and sell those covers? They do not need to seek permission because US law says the owner of the copyright must grant a license to whoever wants to cover the music:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_license#United_State...
The license fee is 1 1/2 cents per minute of recording per copy.
Rather than having completely uncapped damages at stake I can imagine some form of compulsory licensing for patents would stop all this wasted effort on patent lawsuits
> if the infringement was committed [...] by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000
So his infringement might be criminal, depending on how much he actually did.
With an old-fashioned alarm clock on his desk.
This chap reminds me of the volunteer hospital visitors we have in the UK. People go into their local hospital (known to staff) and just sit with the ones who have no visitors that day and engage them a little.
It's amazing, the things we can do to-or for-one another.
What an odd quote. It seems like he thinks it was the right thing to do (as do some of the recipients), or he wouldn't continue to spend so much time and effort doing so.
For the amount of money spent on the war, the DOD could have purchased the rights to the films and made their own copies to distribute to the troops.
"You’re shocked because your initial image is of some back-alley Eastern European bootlegger — not an old Jewish guy on Long Island,” Captain Curran said.
I may not be so familiar with the north american culture, can anybody clarify this for me: Is it a generally accepted fact that bootleggers are east europeans and old jews would never do such a thing?
I certainly have a hard time picturing my 90 year old, very religious, WWII American Veteran grandpa being interested in piracy.
This was great story.
Recently a musician attempted to sue the Army for its use of his music played at very high volumes to 'interrogate' prisoners at Guantanamo. The case was rejected because the US government has a blanket right to use any US copyright material for national security.
So the Army is presumably free to pirate all the copies of 'Two and a Half Men' it needs to keep it's troops in a fighting mood.
Multiple Sources: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=music+played+at+gitmo
I don't think a lawsuit was ever filed. At the time there was speculations as to whether it was considered a public performance and whether it was considered US jurisdiction for copyright.
No such law, in fact explicitly no sovereign immunity.
If you don't agree you are perfectly at liberty to be held indefinitely without trial and be tortured.
I don't remember the latin term but it's approximately "look what a big stick we have"
Or downloaded new music from MegaUpload?
Just because the New York Times didn't write a story about it, doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Don't feel good for him doing this while we can shop at the mall.
The solution is those people should be watching it at home in the comfort of their own homes.
When we have a draft for every military action declared by a single person in charge, then I'll change my mind.
How about giving the well-off the same risk by enacting the draft for all college students when we decide to go to war?
Bet we wouldn't be in another war this century.
Forcing the draft won't do anything to stop war making. You'd have to remove the economic incentive, and that's too painful for anyone to do. Indeed, a Senator would probably sacrifice their own son if it meant keeping the coffers filled.
Perhaps that's worth the cost, but at this point, I would hesitate to say that it is a Complex Problem, which would necessitate a Complex Solution. Intractable, maybe?
Enact the draft for EVERY military action. It's only fair.
I know these are not popular opinions but they are true.
Where are the people sending DVDs to people in the peace corp? They make far less than people in the military.
Obama promised to promote the peace corp and I've never seen one ad, but plenty for the military.
Regardless of what you think of stupid wars, and yes they are all stupid with very few exceptions, we are all still human. And showing humanity in the face of inhumanity is not a bad thing.
Yeah, war really sucks, but I'd focus the vitriol on those who are getting us into these stupid wars, not the 92 year olds who are trying to be human to poor 18 year olds who went to war to pay for college or because they couldn't get a job.
Perhaps because the Peace Corps isn't such a tough sell (you aren't going to war!), so they don't need to advertise to expand. Just more funding. Obama has increased the Peace Corps budget and as such there are more participants. I'm sure they receive plenty of DVDs from their loved ones.