Comments on: FileSharing - When the left and right hold hands

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 21:56:02 +0000

Helsinkian

“File-sharing is one issue where such a distinction can???t be made, as I believe Phil has been correct to point out.”

In what sense does “being appointed by a U.S. democrat president” as opposed to “being appointed by a U.S. republican president” concerning judges of the “supreme court” of the U.S., reflect itself upon the political spectrum ranging from LEFT to RIGHT? I see no difference between democrats and republicans, at least not given a classical left-right spectrum as the one in Finland. And when it comes to foreign policy, there just isn’t any difference. All the whining about the idiot Bush is pointless. The “democratic” alternatives would have been the same.

By: Helsinkian

Helsinkian — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 09:15:02 +0000

It is not true that left-wing justices are always Democrats and right-wing justices Republicans. Seven of the current justices are Republican appointees and only two Democrat. Because law guides them more than political affiliation, Republican justices tend to drift to the left and Democratic justices to the right. Byron White (a JFK appointee) was at least in the abortion issue a hardcore social conservative in the mould of Scalia and Thomas whereas the Clinton appointee Breyer is sliding toward the right in the issue of the separation of church and state. Right-wingers want to unite church and state, left-wingers want to separate them, this is the way it is in America today. File-sharing is one issue where such a distinction can’t be made, as I believe Phil has been correct to point out.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 20:49:53 +0000

“Thomas - the left-wing justices and right-wing justices agreed on this issue.”

Left-wing justice = U.S. Democrat view of justice.
Right-wing justice = U.S. Republican view of justice.

????????????

You can keep complaining about Finland as much as you like, but the truth is: Very few people in Finland are as NARROW-MINDED as you Phil.

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 03 Jul 2005 21:17:09 +0000

Thomas - the left-wing justices and right-wing justices agreed on this issue.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 19:34:05 +0000

In what way do the LEFT and RIGHT (whatever these words mean in your mind) “join hands” in this issue?

By: Mikko Sandt

Mikko Sandt — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 15:16:38 +0000

So the artists just got pissed off or just jealous?

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 07:04:15 +0000

I agree with everyone but I believe this court case was not really about the software itself, but the fact that they were making millions off advertisements built in to the software.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 06:43:04 +0000

I disagree on the blow to innovation. This will on the contrary boost innovation. We need secure and de-centralized networks that are finally going out of the reach of legislators. We need encryptions strong enough to take some distance towards any government entity trying to snoop into our privacy. It is our duty as citizens to educate and protect public.

Sure, ok, having illegal mp3’s is bad M’kay - but technical surveillance on your computer equals to technical monitoring (following you on the street with camera) or house-search without warrant. In finnish law it is applied only in hard crime: Treason, Espionage, Murder, Terrorist Conspiracy, Aggravated drug offense. So you want to include warez on this list ?

By: Antti

Antti — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 02:44:24 +0000

I think this is a serious blow to innovation in itself - how many innovations will not see daylight because the creators fear of being sued by the entertainment industry. I think it’s sad that one industry gets this much attention and power in affecting the law - what if the defence or weapons industry got to pass all it’s laws through, what about the cigarette industry?

By: Mikko Sandt

Mikko Sandt — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 23:49:19 +0000

These programs let people trade whatever they have - legal and illegal stuff - and therefore it’s the users who’re doing the illegal thing - not the program or the people behind it. That’s why the decision is wrong. I say track down the worst sharers out there - not the programmers.

By: Eino-Kalevi

Eino-Kalevi — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 21:39:42 +0000

That Yahoo article is funny, you get the picture like p2p is nothing but music. I don’t know much about Grokster, I think it’s de-centralized network? But for ED2K, torrent and other systems there are many small (often non-profit) open source programs available, I wonder what the courts would decide for them.

Also it’s interesting to see what the reaction will be, if the new secure anonymous p2p systems (like Mute or Freenet) grow popular.