I’ll second that! It’s crazy how little coverage this has got in the media

If you think there isn’t currently a worldwide attack on human rights at the moment you need to do a bit more research.
Look at who holds and controls the money, look at how governments are spending, who they are supporting.
Your rights are being eroded far more quickly than you realise, and it’s never been more visible.
Industry leaders have been shouting from the rooftops about this for god knows how long.
Politicians are a lost cause, they’ve sold out a long time ago, that sign is aimed at the general public.

Maybe not global slavery but certainly debt slavery or is it the same thing? ACTA and SOPA are first and foremost an attempt to quell global unrest due to a lack of democracy and overwhelming austerity. Any issues with protecting artists interests are secondary.

All threats to our civil liberty are introduced under the guise of a fair deal for someone. They can all be used against the general population if and when they suit the powers that be. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. There is no conspiracy anymore. This happens all the time. Global slavery. Debt slavery. Slavery is bloody slavery.

Absolutely ! Slavery is slavery . We are all only allowed to have freedom of speech unless it gets too close to the truth ,then we are labelled delusional etc…

Listen, I’m not saying there isn’t some truth to what is being said by the protestors, but this kind of message often goes unheard.

Ultimately, what I’m saying is, if you want more people to listen to you, then stop sounding like “crazy cat lady”. It put’s people off…..

Funny you should say that Seán. I’m just getting fitted for my catsuit. ;)

Meow ! meow ! Lol :)

Free speech for all Mark. Don’t mind them

You have a right to challenge any and all viewpoints, whether they be left wing, or otherwise. You sound both brave and afraid. This is contradictory in,and of itself. Please clarify the nature
of your situation. The bunker humour is intriguing to a point and displays a healthy psychological trait that otherwise would leave us in a slight despair as to your chances of survival.

Who threatened you Mark? I realise that we have had a few run ins over the last while as we have opposed views on things, but as I’m sure you would have noticed by now I’m against even an ad hominem attack never mind a threat to your safety. I hope you are ok, and like you said, that there’s no tracing to be done!

Holy cow Mark. I didn’t think you meant Shanti. I’m going to retreat to my bunker too Shanti if you’ve got dangerous… ;)

Does he mean me? I certainly hope not.. I would never reduce myself to the level of personal attacks or threats.. I think it’s a crude, vulgar and totally uneccessary way to get your point across – and am more likely to point it out as such than to do it..

I don’t wish to speak on Mark’s behalf but it can least assure you that it wasn’t any of you who have replied to his post.

Phew! Btw Shanti I didn’t think it was you, I was only joking. You’re always a lady.
And Gavan I love the way you pop down here with us peasants. You really should get a pseudonym. :D

Mark Rodgers
That threat against you is absolutely appalling . Do not retreat and do not be afraid to express your opinion. I know we do not always see eye to eye and have different view points , but it is through discussion and sharing ideas that we can sort out the problems facing us in this country.
stand firm and do not retreat.
Eileen.

Phew, I’d feel awful if someone took anything I said as a threat as it would certainly be far from my intention!
Mark, this was one of the reasons I was explaining to you why I use a pseudonym, maybe now you can appreciate it? Chances are whoever it was merely had no better form of argument, was losing, frustrated and made a threat as though that somehow gives them a one up. It’s really quite pathetic, but when you have a Prussian style education system it’s to be expected..

@Mark, that’s terrible, be safe! But your last line of this post highlights part of the problem with these SOPA/ACTA type acts, it’ll become more and more risky to have a view point – and they can track you.

@ Dhakina, there’s no contradiction there, if you’re not afraid then you’re not being brave are you? :-D

Mark, this doesn’t do anything to protect the owners of intellectual property.

Perhaps you don’t understand how the music, games, and movie industries work, for that reason I will attempt to explain.

Music-
Major record label decides to sign a girl group, they spend a fortune on advertising and publicity, pay for them to record the album etc, the girls sign a deal saying that they must make x amount of albums.
The girl group goes global, sells millions of records, number 1 all over the place – they’re loaded right?
Except all the money spent on promoting them, all the studio time, the agents, the staff, the travel etc has to be paid back to the record company, who already took at least 90% of the revenue from the album sales.. Manager takes 10% of the measly figure the artist gets.. (see TLC filing for bankruptcy while CrazySexyCool was number 1 worldwide)

Then the girls “intellectual property” is sold out for use to whoever pays the record company for the rights, if the artists Object to a certain person or company using their song, their rights are of no consequence, the record company took revenue for the use, and the artist doesn’t matter (see the Dave Grohl / John McCain presidential campaign dispute)

Some artists have their creativity stifled by record label imposing restrictions on their work. And if they do not wish to go in the same direction their label wants, if they are sill under contract they are obliged to release albums they do not wish to (See Kylie Minogue, Slipknot etc)

In fact, Kanye Wests record label claimed copyright over Kanye West himself when he tried to advertise Megabox, a service that would have provided a much fairer deals to artists for their intellectual property (they removed ads from YouTube claiming copyright over Kanye West himself, same goes for Snoop Doggs record label)

All musicians make more money from concerts and merchandise than they do from their album sales – how wrong is that?

Movies-
If a studio decides to take a writers idea on, they are under no obligation to make it, but the writer cannot pitch it to another company as the studio owns the rights.

Writers and directors get a one off fee, royalties from replays, cinema tickets and dvd and merchandise sales all go to the studio. It’s the writer and directors intellectual property, but the studio claim the rights to it. Remember George Lucas waived his directors fee for the merch rights? He made a lot more money that way..

And sometimes they sorta pirate books, did you see the travesty that was the Golden Compass? I’ve read his Dark Materials, they butchered it. They can’t make a sequel now because they completely changed the story (and it was woeful)

I’m sure you have seen the actors guild rising up against the way the movie industry works..

Games
Same as the movie industry, games production companies will take the concept of a game and sit on it, holding the rights so that the creator doesn’t always get anything..

So.. Here we have legislation designed to protect the interests of those major industries which routinely screw over the owners of intellectual property. And I agree
the owners of these rights should be protected, but they are not. This regulation will not do anything for them.

As long as the ability to record has existed people have copied things. It never killed the industry before.. They said the same about cassettes, Betamax, VHS, CD, DVD, Minidisc, and now the Internet..
In reality what’s killing the industry is its own greed. Independent labels and production houses are the way forward. They have evolved alongside the digital revolution and embraced it. The Internet is allowing unsigned bands get the coverage they couldn’t get before – and to make money from their work whereas before they could not.

ACTA is only about protecting the rights of overpaid middle men who ignore the rights of those who make the product.

I agree there is something very wrong with a world where a handbag can be a status symbol rather than just a thing to hold your stuff, solely because of the logo it is emblazoned with. And where medical treatments are denied to the poor because of “property rights”. Something very wrong indeed.

@Shanti Om

Holy tl;dr, Batman!

@Muc Beag, eh?? I’m sorry didn’t understand the lingo.. Excuse my ignorance lol!!

tl;dr = too long;didn’t read

Presume you know what “Holy [noun], Batman!” comes from.

LOL @Muc, I thought that when I first saw Shanti’s comment as well. It’s a good one though, you should consider tackling it.

Lol Sorry Muc Beag, I do suffer from being long winded!!
And thanks Random :)

Your cynicism is understood. Your humour has been duly noted. Your back to the bunker comment is a sign of a healthy humorous mind. What is your fight? It is not clear.

Ind

It’s not justification for piracy Mark, you’ve got me wrong. It’s the justification for opposing ACTA. Because the bills don’t protect the owners of the intellectual property as you thought they did, they protect the interests of the guys pimping them out.

What I said about piracy was that as long as the facility to copy has been around so has piracy, it hasn’t killed the industry yet, and it won’t either. They can still afford to promote the hell out of Jedward and other similarly talentless acts. Perhaps the answer would be to stop funnelling so much money into mediocre talent?

I can not understand why any of us should get red thumbed. We all have the right to freedom of speech/

red thumbs are a form of expression too ya know! :-D

I know Paul , but I usually speak my objection along with the red thumb ….
Or I ignore the comment !
thats me !