Google Pushes Back Against US Copyright Treaty

Hugh Pickens writes "Internet companies led by Google joined groups representing Web users to challenge the Bush administration's bid to toughen international enforcement against copyright pirates. The companies said the US courts and Congress are still working out the correct balance between protecting copyrights and the free exchange of information on the Web and a treaty could be counterproductive. 'There's this assumption that what is good for Disney is what's good for America, but that's an oversimplification,' said Jonathan Band, an intellectual property lawyer representing libraries and high-tech companies. 'There's also what's good for Yahoo and Google.' The US, Japan, Canada and other nations said last year that they would begin negotiations on an agreement aimed at cracking down on counterfeiting of such goods as watches and pharmaceuticals, and the piracy of copyrighted materials, such as software and music recordings. A leaked draft of the deal showed that the treaty could force Internet service providers to cooperate with copyright holders."

Re:WTF?!

[Anonymous Coward]

What about what's good for PEOPLE????!!!!

That went straight out the window ages ago. Didn't you get the memo?

Re:WTF?!

[Kemanorel]

Yeah, I got the memo. I'll be putting the new covers on the TPS reports next time. I just forgot.

Re:Symmetric password is test

[QuantumG]

-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)
Comment: http://getfiregpg.org/ [getfiregpg.org]

jA0EAwMCuBk5bDLsjOVgyVRczylkXHQOoLrTZ4feTOyTgnhGn5NxdGTKQJiXOzt/
HsEG6/73TJGgkRzARmFdOCSIBd/w4+UCrF7zefX031zqAurOsYcLN+mF9ft6UBM1
O9tjvqs=
=Jmbx
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----

Re:Just ask Walt Disney

[David Gerard]

Don't Copy That Floppy!

Re:WTF?!

[maxume]

Remember, as of Oct. the 1st, the blood of a virgin is the only acceptable ink.

Reduction in spam?

[Levocmk1]

"...cracking down on counterfeiting of such goods as watches and pharmaceuticals..."

Does that mean I will stop receiving spam messages for an awesome replica Rolex that will make my penis larger? I mean, it came from a guy called Norman Ledbetter. It just has to be legit.

Re:WTF?!

[dgatwood]

Quick! Everybody hide!

:-D

I miss SCO

[Anonymous Coward]

When Darl spoke we just knew it was evil. When he walked it was with an evil swagger. SCO is an acronym where the S stood SATAN and the rest just didn't matter.

Now here we are with Google who when they do evil it's with good intent and can be rectified by changing the EULA or TOS. When they do good it might just have a little evil intent but they are largely forgiven because it's just a little evil and they still give us monster uber email storage. When they do good it's good and we're supposed to fawn over the company unless someone with a low /. ID says they're evil and then we're supposed to block cookies, advertisements, java script and strawberries.

I miss those simple days where I knew where I stood because /. has taught me to think like everyone else.

There's a new poll suggestion here somewhere.

Re:WTF?!

[calmofthestorm]

Forget people, think of the CHILDREN! If we don't protect intellectual property rights, there could be MICKEY MOUSE PORN!

Re:WTF?!

[superdave80]

To get what? The joke? Or a piece of ass?

Re:WTF?!

[Locklin]

when rule 34 [xkcd.com] and copyright clash...

Re:WTF?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Are there virgins anymore?

Wow. You must be really new here.

Re:WTF?!

[supernova_hq]

This is slashdot, what do you think?

Re:Symmetric password is test

[caluml]

This is not to be decrypted by anyone in the RIAA or MPAA. -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.7 (GNU/Linux) Comment: http://getfiregpg.org/ [getfiregpg.org] jA0EAgMCN3Q5S5K8/stgyW2wpPDp9qolaWLUSeezFjx/U4Qis37YdJcWPiIPC13E DUQfb+94qzZxK7PEWU+GdCUHmCeVf9W1tCsR43HTl1VJKLSIHGwEhcNMT3YQhVSA vt3AIvLVDoMnUff9muZKGdTtVZWzE0/i6BWCgms2 =AUh8 -----END PGP MESSAGE----- This FireGPG plugin is nice!
Hang on - wait - how is this "browser plugin" running programs (gpg) on our local machines?