To all of you who are writing things along the lines of "it's just 3 years, doesn't seem so bad, considering the heinous crime", something to tell you:
unless you've personally done 3 years, or, in fact, any time, kindly STFU. I have not served any time, so I can not speak from experience on how bad it is. All I know are witness accounts.
After 3 years in jail, your life is over. Period. You are permanently unemployable (no one wants to hire an ex-con). You are facing a choice of flipping burgers for the rest of your life, or becoming a hard-core criminal. You can never vote again (as an ex-felon, anyone with >1 jail time). Your psyche will be permanently altered, and most likely destroyed. You will be abused by whoever happens to be bored. If you resist, you will get beaten and then abused. And by abused I mean serially raped anally and orally. All of your conceptions of decency, honesty, and goodwill of all men will get crushed. Your personality may potentially survive somewhat intact if 1) you are phenomenally, exceptionally strong inside, and 2) you don't turn into a raving maniac as a self-defense mechanism. The chances of surviving as something close to your former self - almost 0. You will leave prison a burned-out husk, a grey shadow of your former self. Don't let the kindly, heartwarming prison movies fool you. You will turn into the most dreaded image of yourself, a living, breathing zombie that's totally dead inside. That's the good case. The bad case is you'll become a hardened criminal with no regard for human life, and will spend the rest of your pathetic existence taking advantage of normal people as a means of psychological revenge.
I base my comments on descriptions of prison life both in the US and the former USSR, as written by inmates who have survived.
So, this debate is essentially the following: is sharing a movie worth destroying a person's life? It is contended that their actions result in financial loss for some company. The exact amount, or even the fact of loss is *highly* questionable, and is disputed. Is the action of sharing a movie sufficiently grave that we see it fit to strip the offender of their humanity as punishment? What this law contends is that someone who infringes on a copyright has rejected the social contract to the same extent as, say, a rapist, a child molesterer or a murderer. 3 or 10 isn't relevant, guys. The person's just as dead either way. Longer sentences are a means of 1) isolation, or 2) giving the inmate more of a chance to become a hardened criminal. So the question stands: is the loss of corporate profit a grave enough offence to remove someone's humanity?
You forgot the great education inmates get while their from other more hardened criminals. Like all the best ways to kill and how to break into homes whats the best way to bypass alarms and how to hotwire/steal cars etc....
Yep great educational system in prision. By the time you're out you know a lot more about how to make life harder on common folk. But hey at least now your not stealing from the fatcats anymore and thats what really matters right?
I base my comments on descriptions of prison life both in the US and the former USSR, as written by inmates who have survived.
I have no doubt that such things go on in prisons in the US and around the world. But I really wonder on the frequency of them. From your post, it seems like you think these sorts of things happen to everyone who goes to prison for a certain period of time or more. That may be the only accounts of prison that you read, but have you ever thought that it is because the inmates who
Wow... are you trying to be willfully ignorant? Information about the prevalance of prison rape is pretty wide spread.
If I gave you a chance to win a lottery of one in five, would you take it? I would... those are great odds. And that's the conservative figure. One in five men sent to prison gets raped. One In Five, and that's the Nice estimate.
No conclusive national data exists regarding the prevalence of this phenomenon, but the most recent statistical survey, published in the Prison Journal, revealed
Wow... are you trying to be willfully ignorant? Information about the prevalance of prison rape is pretty wide spread.
I never said it wasn't. Are you trying to willfully misinterpret what I said?
One in five men sent to prison gets raped.
And while I agree that this is a number that I wouldn't want to take a chance on, 21% is hardly a certainty, which the original poster seemed to claim.
You: I have no doubt that such things go on in prisons in the US and around the world. But I really wonder on the frequency of them. From your post, it seems like you think these sorts of things happen to everyone who goes to prison for a certain period of time or more.
Me: Wow... are you trying to be willfully ignorant? Information about the prevalance of prison rape is pretty wide spread.
You: I never said it wasn't. Are you trying to willfully misinterpret what I said?
As trivia, economists generally value a human life at $5 to 10 million. This doesn't address moral concerns (which is why there is no death penalty attached to the DMCA), but is used in cost/benefit calculations, etc.
Seen on a button at an SF Convention:
Veteran of the Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force. 1990-1951.
3 years "not so bad" (Score:4, Insightful)
unless you've personally done 3 years, or, in fact, any time, kindly STFU. I have not served any time, so I can not speak from experience on how bad it is. All I know are witness accounts.
After 3 years in jail, your life is over. Period. You are permanently unemployable (no one wants to hire an ex-con). You are facing a choice of flipping burgers for the rest of your life, or becoming a hard-core criminal. You can never vote again (as an ex-felon, anyone with >1 jail time). Your psyche will be permanently altered, and most likely destroyed. You will be abused by whoever happens to be bored. If you resist, you will get beaten and then abused. And by abused I mean serially raped anally and orally. All of your conceptions of decency, honesty, and goodwill of all men will get crushed. Your personality may potentially survive somewhat intact if 1) you are phenomenally, exceptionally strong inside, and 2) you don't turn into a raving maniac as a self-defense mechanism. The chances of surviving as something close to your former self - almost 0. You will leave prison a burned-out husk, a grey shadow of your former self. Don't let the kindly, heartwarming prison movies fool you. You will turn into the most dreaded image of yourself, a living, breathing zombie that's totally dead inside. That's the good case. The bad case is you'll become a hardened criminal with no regard for human life, and will spend the rest of your pathetic existence taking advantage of normal people as a means of psychological revenge.
I base my comments on descriptions of prison life both in the US and the former USSR, as written by inmates who have survived.
So, this debate is essentially the following: is sharing a movie worth destroying a person's life? It is contended that their actions result in financial loss for some company. The exact amount, or even the fact of loss is *highly* questionable, and is disputed. Is the action of sharing a movie sufficiently grave that we see it fit to strip the offender of their humanity as punishment? What this law contends is that someone who infringes on a copyright has rejected the social contract to the same extent as, say, a rapist, a child molesterer or a murderer. 3 or 10 isn't relevant, guys. The person's just as dead either way. Longer sentences are a means of 1) isolation, or 2) giving the inmate more of a chance to become a hardened criminal. So the question stands: is the loss of corporate profit a grave enough offence to remove someone's humanity?
The answer is left as an exercise for the reader.
Re:3 years "not so bad" (Score:1)
Re:3 years "not so bad" (Score:1)
Yep great educational system in prision. By the time you're out you know a lot more about how to make life harder on common folk. But hey at least now your not stealing from the fatcats anymore and thats what really matters right?
Re:3 years "not so bad" (Score:2)
I have no doubt that such things go on in prisons in the US and around the world. But I really wonder on the frequency of them. From your post, it seems like you think these sorts of things happen to everyone who goes to prison for a certain period of time or more. That may be the only accounts of prison that you read, but have you ever thought that it is because the inmates who
Prison Rape was "not so bad" (Score:2)
If I gave you a chance to win a lottery of one in five, would you take it? I would... those are great odds. And that's the conservative figure. One in five men sent to prison gets raped. One In Five, and that's the Nice estimate.
Re:Prison Rape was "not so bad" (Score:2)
I never said it wasn't. Are you trying to willfully misinterpret what I said?
One in five men sent to prison gets raped.
And while I agree that this is a number that I wouldn't want to take a chance on, 21% is hardly a certainty, which the original poster seemed to claim.
Apology (Score:2)
Me: Wow... are you trying to be willfully ignorant? Information about the prevalance of prison rape is pretty wide spread.
You: I never said it wasn't. Are you trying to willfully misinterpret what I said?
I guess that's fair. I took "I rea
Re:3 years "not so bad" (Score:1)