SOPA is Back!!! MFC models & users beware

[LadyLuna]

The USA has no right to create laws which are supposed to apply to other countries.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

The USA has no right to create laws which are supposed to apply to other countries.

Well countries engage in extradition negotiations all the time, it is pretty common for Latin American drug lords to serve time in US prisons. If you order a hit on a US citizen from Columbia, I am rather glad that US government sends time and money bringing the murderer to justice even if the crime was committed else where.

In the case of copyright laws they have always been subject to extensive international negotiation. The Berne convention on intellectual property protection date back to the 1860s, when Great Britain not the US was the international super power. A lot of whining about the US and copyright laws, ignores the fact the almost all country are signatures to the Berne treaties. By and large there isn't a lot of difference between international law and US laws on the subject.

 

[Sevrin]

The USA has no right to create laws which are supposed to apply to other countries.

That's a pretty broad statement. What about war crimes?

 

[Shaun__]

The USA has no right to create laws which are supposed to apply to other countries.

That's a pretty broad statement. What about war crimes?

War crimes and the USA? I do not think my government knows what those things are.

The United States is not a participant in the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC is a permanent international criminal court, founded in 2002 by the Rome Statute to "bring to justice the perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humankind – war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide", especially when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.[1]

As of September 2012, 121 states are members of the court and 32 countries have signed but not ratified the Rome Statute.[2] Other countries that have not signed or ratified the Rome Statute include India, Indonesia, and China.[2] On May 6, 2002, the United States, in a position shared with Israel and Sudan, signed the Rome Statute but formally withdrew its intent of ratification.[2]

Positions in the United States concerning the ICC vary widely. The Clinton Administration signed the Rome Statute in 2000, but did not submit it for Senate ratification. The Bush Administration, the US administration at the time of the ICC's founding, stated that it would not join the ICC. The Obama Administration has subsequently re-established a working relationship with the court.[3]

 

[Sevrin]

The USA has no right to create laws which are supposed to apply to other countries.

That's a pretty broad statement. What about war crimes?

War crimes and the USA? I do not think my government knows what those things are.

The United States is not a participant in the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC is a permanent international criminal court, founded in 2002 by the Rome Statute to "bring to justice the perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humankind – war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide", especially when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.[1]

As of September 2012, 121 states are members of the court and 32 countries have signed but not ratified the Rome Statute.[2] Other countries that have not signed or ratified the Rome Statute include India, Indonesia, and China.[2] On May 6, 2002, the United States, in a position shared with Israel and Sudan, signed the Rome Statute but formally withdrew its intent of ratification.[2]

Positions in the United States concerning the ICC vary widely. The Clinton Administration signed the Rome Statute in 2000, but did not submit it for Senate ratification. The Bush Administration, the US administration at the time of the ICC's founding, stated that it would not join the ICC. The Obama Administration has subsequently re-established a working relationship with the court.[3]

Canada has legislation that allows us to prosecute war criminals from other countries, even if no Canadian nationals are involved. That has nothing to do with the ICC.

 

[Shaun__]

Canada has legislation that allows us to prosecute war criminals from other countries, even if no Canadian nationals are involved. That has nothing to do with the ICC.

Your link says that is used to prosecute people physically in Canada.

 

[Sevrin]

Canada has legislation that allows us to prosecute war criminals from other countries, even if no Canadian nationals are involved. That has nothing to do with the ICC.

Your link says that is used to prosecute people physically in Canada.

Yes, it does. The point was that there is precedent for countries passing laws regarding acts which took place in other countries. Geography doesn't mean what it used to, anymore. Money doesn't respect boundaries, and neither do citizens, and neither do their governments. There was a time, we couldn't fap to what a person on the other side of the globe was doing in real time, so it's not all bad.

 

[Jupiter551]

Look up Mark Emery sometime, a Canadian citizen extradited and jailed for years for allegedly selling marijuana seeds online - except that isn't against the law in Canada, and he never set foot in the USA.

Have you looked him up? Just read the wiki article on him. Looks like a long time offender with a history of arrests in Canada for the exact same thing he was extradited. I'm thinking he deserved more. From what I read he's kind of scum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Emery

Dude what the fuck are you talking about? I even read the wikipedia article, he's not scum, he's not violent, and he's not even a criminal as far as many people are concerned.

He's a political prisoner. He legally sold cannabis seeds in his home country, he donated the proceeds to marijuana reform advocacy groups and the DEA admitted (scan below) that they had him locked up for political reasons - that his business: for which he paid Canadian tax every year - donated its proceeds to anti-prohibition lobbies. Of course, it's the DEA's job to target foreign nationals engaged in fair political process right?

They even put him in fucking solitary confinement for three weeks for broadcasting a podcast to the internet...

At least read what he, and his well-wishers (and there are millions) have to say about him, and the disgusting travesty of justice that continues.

http://www.freemarc.ca/

FACTS ABOUT MARC EMERY:

• Marc Emery is a Canadian citizen who never went to the USA as a seed seller.

• Marc Emery operated his seed business in Canada at all times, with no American branches or employees.

• Marc Emery declared his income from marijuana seed sales on his income tax, and paid over $580,000 to the Federal and Provincial governments from 1999 to 2005.

• Marc Emery is the leader of the British Columbia Marijuana Party, a registered political party that has regularly participated in elections.

• Marc Emery has never been arrested or convicted of manufacturing or distributing marijuana in Canada, as he only sold seeds.

• Marc Emery gave away all of the profits from his seed business to drug law reform lobbyists, political parties, global protests and rallies, court litigation, medical marijuana initiatives, drug rehabilitation clinics, and other legitimate legal activities and organizations.

• Marc Emery helped found the United States Marijuana Party, state-level political parties, and international political parties in countries such as Israel and New Zealand.

• Marc Emery has been known as a book seller and activist in Canada for 30 years, fighting against censorship laws and other social issues long before he became a drug law reform activist.

• Marc Emery has been a media figure for 20 years with regards to marijuana and drug law reform. He is very well-known to Canadian, American and international news media organizations.

• Marc Emery operated his business in full transparency and honesty since its inception in 1994, even sending his marijuana seed catalogue inside his magazine "Cannabis Culture" to each Member of Parliament in Canada every two months for years.

 

[IP-Police]

Not sure if anyone read this or not, but there was an interesting court ruling that happened this week where the MPAA won a ruling against Hotfile (formerly one of the biggest Cyberlockers which has kinda fallen out of popularity in the last 18 months for whatever reason).

Hotfile is hosted in a data-center in Florida, also the residency of Hotfile's owner Anton Titov who was found personally liable for the infringement. While this news is slightly off-topic to this thread's recent discussion of foreign based piracy, this ruling does set a major precedent moving forward as this will likely be established as solid U.S. Case Law. Here is a link to the article that we tweeted a few days ago if anyone is interested: MPAA: Piracy Hub Hotfile Found Liable for Copyright Infringement

While I do not want to get engaged in political discussion I would like to provide a couple of interesting links related to a couple of topics:

1. Canadian Laws relating to file sharing have in years past been very liberal in comparison to most other modern countries. However bills passed by the Canadian Parliament in 2010 & 2012 both shifted towards adopting much of the American's DMCA.
   Source: Wikipedia: File sharing in Canada
   
2. The Berne Convention is an international copyright treaty which first became active all the way back in 1887 and currently is joined by nearly every nation on the planet (only about a dozen third world countries are currently not participants). So the U.S. isn't exactly dictating our own Copyright Law to foreign nations as this treaty was created to handle foreign copyright infringement.
   Source: Wikipedia: Berne Convention
   
3. The Kim Dotcom/MegaUpload case certainly has been an interesting one leaving a lot of problems to be solved given the transpondence of events:
   • Kim Dotcom was a German national at the time of the 2012 raid.
   • He has since become a Kiwi (New Zealander).
   • The servers that MegaUpload were operating were leased out of a datacenter in the State of Virginia.
   • The New Zealand High Court did rule that the initial raid of Kim Dotcom's estate as being invalid.
   • Several delays regarding Kim Dotcom's extradition have been issued, currently the hearing is now set for April 2014 so it will be interesting to wait until then to see what unfolds next.
     Source: Wikipedia: Megaupload legal case