Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5011 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 1 of 5 27 January 2012 at 5:31pm | IP Logged |
I realize that this post may be deleted later because of being related to politics but I couldn't resist because it is important. If it is deleted because of being found not appropriate, I am sorry and I will understand and not spam the forums with similar things.
Many people have already found the copyright to be a trouble, for exemple on the recent Assimil translation thread. It is rigid and among other things prevent you from using the "protected" material fully even in case you have bought it fully legally. By some copyright defenders, it seems nearly illegal to lend a book to your friend because he is not paying for it, just as an exemple . It prevents you from translating material or at least your translation lies in the many gray areas of it. But there are huge companies who gain a lot of money due to these laws and fight hard for enforcing.
You have probably noticed recent troubles around the SOPA and PIPA laws. Another such danger is the ACTA agreement which is being signed by most countries of the world. The agreement was prepared under unusual circumstances as it was being prepared in secret for a long time and without discussion. It is stating things which are often opposed not only by Pirate Parties but by many economists, informaticiens and even authors, which are supposedly protected by the agreement. It infridges civil rights in several ways and it reminds of Orwell's 1984 by the ways it will enter our privacy.
Even if you have never downloaded a single book, video or song, the ACTA will touch you. Your computer may and most probably will be searched at any border or airport. Your IP will be tracked by internet providers and information about your using of Internet will be kept and could be used against you.
Please, if you want to know more, find website of your local Pirate Party or other organisation such as Open Right Group or look at this website https://www.accessnow.org/what-is-acta
If you want to join the petition for European Parlament against ACTA, you can do so here. https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/just-say-no-to-acta
Thank you for your patience with me. I know you may have heard enough already but I suppose not everyone knows what is going on because the signing of ACTA is not being spoken about too loudly by signing governements and some media don't pay attention to it at all.
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Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6661 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin
| Message 2 of 5 27 January 2012 at 8:29pm | IP Logged |
Sic transit gloria mundi. Not much more to say.
3 persons have voted this message useful
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Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5347 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish*
| Message 3 of 5 27 January 2012 at 9:27pm | IP Logged |
Already Megaupload along with other treasure troves of resources for language learners were wiped out overnight. And if people continue to purchase ebooks and other digital items which availability is restricted by region, there will come a time soon where learning foreign languages will become pointless as quality, worthwhile materials for learning and enjoying them are limited to a trickle.
It is very sad, but it is a testament to the imbecility of our species that all the culture and knowledge in the world is given away in exchange for the privilege of possessing a piece of electronics.
Until there are no regional restrictions to the access to knowledge and culture, please support physical formats.
4 persons have voted this message useful
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birthdaysuit Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4819 days ago 48 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Swedish
| Message 4 of 5 28 January 2012 at 3:21am | IP Logged |
I was going to start a topic like this!
The first thing that came to mind was how this would affect everyone's languages.
Language learning is difficult enough without the added burden of trying to find
material with which to practice.
I also feel that this whole piracy thing wouldn't be such a problem if greedy media fat
cats didn't impose unnecessary country restrictions on their content. The frustration
one feels upon arriving to a Spanish media website, only to find that "The content is
not available in your country." Well why the hell not?
It's free, but just not free enough...
If/when this is ratified, my stand will be simple: no more going to the cinema, no more
buying CDs, games or any media. I'll bury myself in books and hope everyone else does
the same. Because it seems the only time anyone listens to the people is when the money
runs out.
(Something tells me SOPA and PIPA were used as decoys for this treaty...)
9 persons have voted this message useful
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lindseylbb Bilingual Triglot Groupie ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4934 days ago 92 posts - 126 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, Cantonese*, English Studies: Japanese, Korean
| Message 5 of 5 29 January 2012 at 9:03am | IP Logged |
birthdaysuit wrote:
I also feel that this whole piracy thing wouldn't be such a problem if greedy media fat
cats didn't impose unnecessary country restrictions on their content. The frustration
one feels upon arriving to a Spanish media website, only to find that "The content is
not available in your country." Well why the hell not?
It's free, but just not free enough... |
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Well because media company works regionally. Take grays anatomy for example, it's available freely on ABC website, and ABC sells the Internet broadcasting right to YOUKU, a chinese youtube kind of stuff. But why would youku bother to pay ABC if we we can access the TV show comfortably on ABC website? Thats a lot of money ABC can earn. Another example is World Cup. The CCTV in china bought all the broadcasting rights in china region. another HK cable tv company bought sole rights in HK rigion(which people have to pay to watch). Then even HK citizens who have not cable tv and cant watch World Cup on CCTV because of rregion restriction, have two choice : don't watch, or pay for the tv. So rigional restriction is another tool to catch so called "potential consumers" as against piracy, to protect their interest and earn more momey. Oh right, for national media or sort of things, they can say "We are being responsible for the tax my citizens pay", as BBC. Kindle store turn me down because of damn regional problem. Jesus why they dont want to earn my money!!!(or they just hate china. Still..)
1 person has voted this message useful
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