full article from harold on mpaa and "pretexting"

[Mawaki Chango]

Yeah, those folks mean that we need to become terrorists to fight
terrorists or, as an 1980s' French interior minister put it, we have
to terrorize the terrorists... in a democracy (and/or republic.) Is
this all what we are left with?

Mawaki

--- Carlos Afonso <ca at RITS.ORG.BR> wrote:

> http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/750
> 
> MPAA Demands "License To Lie," But Wants To Make You 'Fess Up On
> WHOIS
> 
> Submitted by Harold Feld on December 4, 2006 - 12:35pm.
> 
> I say this for the Intellectual Property Mafia; they do not allow
> either
> consistency or scrupples to get in the way of what they want. Like
> characters out of too many mob movies, “it’s just business” whether
> you
> need to disclose your real identity or not. Unsurprisingly, the IP
> Mafia
> reserve the right to lie to themselves, while wanting big time
> penalties
> for everyone else who tries to mainatin anonymity.
> 
> According to this article, the MPAA lobbied hard to kill an
> anti-pretexting bill proposed in the California Legislature.
> “Pretexting,” as folks who followed the recent scandal over at HP
> know,
> is pretending you are someone else in order to gain access to that
> other
> person’s personal information.
> 
> Why would the MPAA fight hard to kill a pro-privacy, pro-consumer
> protection bill? Because they assert they need to use pretexting to
> investigate allegations of piracy. And if investigating into
> possible
> piracy means puting consumers everywhere at greater risk for
> identity
> theft or other violations of privacy? “Sorry, it’s just business.
> Ya know?”
> 
> On the , consider the never ending flap over WHOIS data at ICANN.
> The IP
> Mafia have continued to press for requiring all registrants of
> domain
> names to provide completely honest information about the identity
> of the
> registrant and contact info. No use of third parties to shield
> privacy
> interests, despite very real concerns from individuals and free
> speech
> organizations in countries that routinely imprison and execute
> critics
> (or, in light of recent events involving the apparent poisoning of
> Putin
> critic Litvinenko, concerns about their personal safety abroad).
> 
> Back in July, the Software Information Industry Alliance told a
> Congressional Committee that organizations concerned about their
> privacy
> just shouldn’t bother to register domain names. In other words
> “We’re
> sorry our policy gives you a choice between exercisin’ your Free
> Speech
> rights or putting your personal safety at risk. But hey, it’s just
> business. Ya know?”
> 
> I hope the folks attending the ICANN meeting in Sampa, Brazil this
> week
> will ask the defenders of a wide open WHOIS why the MPAA and the
> rest of
> the intellectual property mafia fights so hard for a license to lie
> for
> themselves, while demanding that everyone else espose themselves to
> identity theft and personal risk.
> 


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