US Government Pirates Media

[Karloff]

US Government Pirates Media

Members of the House of Representatives have been caught downloading ... Home and Away? Really?

Yes, we need legislation like SOPA [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115384-SOPA-Postponed-Indefinitely] to protect our media conglomerates from filthy pirates, such as, say, that nut in the United States House of Representatives with a Dexter fixation, or the one who ripped Pixar's unreleased animated movie The Good Dinosaur.

A report released by Washington Whispers [http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/01/14/congress-continues-to-illegally-download-movies-and-tv-shows] has revealed that members of the US Congress are among the more persistent illegal downloaders, pirating everything from TV shows to feature films. Though games aren't as popular targets, at least one user was hot for Tron: Evolution on the Xbox 360.

The report covers the period from early October 2012 onwards. It tracks the IP addresses associated with these downloads, but it should be remembered that not every congressional IP address is accounted for. There could be others out there who share one user's addiction to here. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN8M0rjrNu4]

The House of Representatives isn't the only entity that pirates, of course. RIAA and Homeland Security. [http://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-studios-caught-pirating-movies-on-bittorrent-121225/] No wonder the media conglomerates are so worried about torrents; even their friends are pirates.

Source: Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/16/sopa-congress-illegal-download]


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[Baresark]

Let me inform some folks about honesty. 1% of people lie, cheat, and steal their way through everything. Another 1% never lie, cheat or steal to any degree at all. Everyone else is in the middle somewhere. As a whole, people lie, cheat, and steal only so much that they can do it and still feel honest. Smart and intelligent people have an easier time getting away with more because they can more creatively justify it to themselves. If anyone thought there wasn't lawmakers out there that would pirate a movie or a some music, you have a distorted view of the world. I'm certainly no angel, so I would never judge anyone for doing small amounts of these types of things.

 

[Therumancer]

The only point I'd make here is that when your dealing with politicians that accept money and perks from PACs and businesses that it can be hard to determine what they might actually have permission to do. When it comes to the media companies that are anti-pirate, it wouldn't surprise me if some of these politicians have blanket access to their catalogs and any media they might be interested in.

I'd consider it more newsworthy if you actually had a major media company like Viacom accusing members (or even a member) of The House of being a thief. Until that happens it's a clever jibe, but we actually have little evidence that a crime was committed. You could take the information as presented here and spin it a few differant ways. I could for example also imply with this data that a member of The House was bribed through being given the perk of free access to his favorite TV shows.

I suppose if someone wanted to be clever, they could spin this into a "no win scenario" where they could force certain members of The House to admit to being bribed with media access, piracy/theft, or poor security and ultimatly having to hold someone on their staff accountable for those crimes. Of course you'd need to have the resources of say CNN or another major network to really "push" something like that, and even then the enemies you'd wind up making probably wouldn't be worth the short term points being scored.

 

[BrotherRool]

Let me inform some folks about honesty. 1% of people lie, cheat, and steal their way through everything. Another 1% never lie, cheat or steal to any degree at all. Everyone else is in the middle somewhere. As a whole, people lie, cheat, and steal only so much that they can do it and still feel honest. Smart and intelligent people have an easier time getting away with more because they can more creatively justify it to themselves. If anyone thought there wasn't lawmakers out there that would pirate a movie or a some music, you have a distorted view of the world. I'm certainly no angel, so I would never judge anyone for doing small amounts of these types of things.

I don't buy that. Everyone is human but that doesn't make it right. You're only arguing from a populist morality, that if everyone kills then killing is okay.

It's not hard not to pirate, when Hollywood or the enforcement industries pirate, I forgive the coporations because dishonest people sneak into everywhere, that doesn't make it right. Pirating isn't an addiction, it's something where almost everyone has the willpower not to do it and many people start pirating when they're younger and then grow up and stop. I pirated music when I was younger, realised it was wrong. Stopped.

Its really not hard, you just have to not take possession of things you didn't have the money to afford. You pirate either by twisting your conscience into believing it's okay and justified, which is a bad mindset for a lawmaker to have, or by having a disrespect for keeping to the law, which is a bad mindset for a lawmaker to have.

It's not even like speeding, you're in a car every day and it takes an amount of conscious effort not to speed. To pirate something you've got to look up a website, sometimes download a client, search out your media and then download it.

Just because its small doesn't mean its wrong. Pirating does significant harm to major industries in the country they represent and has no legal standpoint. They shouldn't be doing it. I don't think well of my friends when they pirate and there is absolutely no way someone who has taken on the responsibility to represent their people, uphold and create laws, should be pirating

 

[Yelchor]

I shouldn't be surprised. I've seen this pattern all before on a number of different issues. Everything and everyone must be controlled, with no regard to their legal rights.

But the ones who pass those laws and policies? They can do whatever they want, consequences are for the powerless!

There are few other things that I find more repulsive.

 

[Screamarie]

....So...some of the people with HIGHEST salary in the U.S....are pirates...That doesn't make sense. I...I don't have HALF the money they do...and I don't pirate. So...So what the fuck?

 

[Sixcess]

Until that happens it's a clever jibe, but we actually have little evidence that a crime was committed. You could take the information as presented here and spin it a few differant ways. I could for example also imply with this data that a member of The House was bribed through being given the perk of free access to his favorite TV shows.

Interesting theory but quite incorrect. No legitimate internal source is going to use file names like "The.Good.Dinosaur.DVDRIP.XviD-ZEKTORM" or "CSI.NY.S09E04.Unspoken.HDTV.XviD-LOL[ettv]" - those are public or private tracker torrent file names, no question about it.

OT: I'd like to think this would be investigated. I'm not expecting politicians to be whiter than white but if they're stupid enough to use official government IPs for illegal activity (or to employ interns etc who do) then they deserve the discomfort and potential humiliation of an investigation, at the very least.

 

[Aussie502]

The bigger issue here is that Home and Away is still going strong. My family still watch it every night... They really need to put that show down. At least it's not Neighbours. Ugh.

 

[Shinsei-J]

Really...
Home and Away...
If you're going to be caught downloading illegaly at least download something less bunk.

Spoiler: It's so bad the only good thing to come out of it is the fan dub.

 

[thesilentman]

I thought that Congress pirates, but not media. I'd see them pirating Windows and Office as it's freaking expensive for them to maintain all those workstations.

But media? The irony is delicious. I don't even understand why they can't buy what us working people can afford.

 

[danon]

Piracy is primarily a service issue.

 

[Something Amyss]

This just in: politicians are hypocrites.

I wish I was more surprised, but honestly, I'm used to the gay bashing Congressmen who end up caught in a "massage" house.

 

[Slash2x]

I do not buy it.... This article would have us assume politicians.......... are smart enough to know how torrents work? LIES AND PROPAGANDA!!!

 

[Agow95]

Huh, I guess that politicians are crooks, who knew?

 

[Fat Hippo]

Now all that's left to do is what politicians do best: deny everything!

 

[Farther than stars]

....So...some of the people with HIGHEST salary in the U.S....are pirates...That doesn't make sense. I...I don't have HALF the money they do...and I don't pirate. So...So what the fuck?

Ahhh... When I read this article, I thought I would just go into the comments section, not hoping to take part in any kind of rational discussion, but instead just sit back, relax and watch the internet unleash its unbridled rage. Your comment gave me that fix. So thank you for that.

Piracy is primarily a service issue.

This makes me disappointed...

This just in: politicians are hypocrites.

Hey, Zach. Good to see you're still cynical about the world.

Ah hypocrisy, the backbone of democracy.

This... This is actually quite beautiful. Too bad its meter is a little unwieldy for a poem.

 

[Zen Toombs]

Let me inform some folks about honesty. 1% of people lie, cheat, and steal their way through everything. Another 1% never lie, cheat or steal to any degree at all. Everyone else is in the middle somewhere. As a whole, people lie, cheat, and steal only so much that they can do it and still feel honest. Smart and intelligent people have an easier time getting away with more because they can more creatively justify it to themselves. If anyone thought there wasn't lawmakers out there that would pirate a movie or a some music, you have a distorted view of the world. I'm certainly no angel, so I would never judge anyone for doing small amounts of these types of things.

Absolutely. But it's still bloody hilarious if someone who supported SOPA was pirating.

 

[mechalynx]

....So...some of the people with HIGHEST salary in the U.S....are pirates...That doesn't make sense. I...I don't have HALF the money they do...and I don't pirate. So...So what the fuck?

Well, very often those who make a shit ton of money pay less taxes than your average Joe. I once knew a guy that had a yearly income of 3 million SEK and paid zilch. There's a Swedish expression: "Mycket vill ha mera" - "One who has much wants more."

 

[dfphetteplace]

The Good Dinosaur? I went looking for it out of curiosity, and didn't see it on any of the trackers I looked at. They must have some good sources.