Police seize 1 million counterfeit discs in Guatemalan street raid

Why not put that effert in something useful!!!!Global warming,starving children,really whos the Goverment??The music and movie industries?

Yep, too true.

truth is, if they're going to chase anyone for piracy, it's the actual pirates they need to take down, not the filesharers.

job well done, fellas.

Good job harrasing the most liekley poor citizens of this 3rd world country trying to get by. Maybe you should get those 500 police offers handing out food to the poor or something. This kind of things makes me sick - in a poor country of all places. What a useless government we have in the us

true, this shouldn't be a priority, but it's the lesser of two evils to take out people *profiting* off stolen goods rather than take out those who share what they've got.

This is just stupid, what kind of punishements are they gonna give to those burnerns 20 million pays and 10 years of jail ???, WHATS THE USE!

This whole war against piratism is useless just wasting goverment funds this way, what for?... For Big music bisness shit, that make many millions a day... USELESS

Some countries should start opposing this bullshit copyright system!

there's a difference between say, lending someone your car (or buying a car and giving it to someone) and stealing a car to sell through a chopshop or something. this is just like taking down that chopshop.

there's nothing to be enraged about here. yes, it's sad they're not taking down murderers and rapists, but they are enforcing reasonable laws.

the time to get enraged is when torrent servers are raided by police and taken offline. *those* are the actions that made no sense.

*edit*
there's not just one war; there's one against piracy and a whole other against filesharing in general. one is a just cause, and one is fueled by lunacy and greed. you can't lump them together, as they are fed by different factions of society.

I dunno auslander I just got a picture of some poor guatmalen getting busted seeling some disks so his kids can get some food. Maybe its better for this person to have joined the drug trafficking trade instead. Or maybe he lives in a mansion - but thats not the picture I get in my head.

And lets be honest no one here is getting pirated material from some dude in guatelmala - its via BT or other internet sites - or even easier people just rip games and moveis themselves.

outside of the UK and US, it's very easy and common to buy pirated media. that's where the true loss in sales/money comes from.

typically, if the guy has the money for a PC with a crapload of burners or a duplicator, he's not doing it to feed a starving family, he's doing it to add to a livable income or running it solely as an easy business. but he had to have a bit of money to start with, and in poorer countries it's even harder to get that technology.

and you're not distinguishing between true piracy and filesharing; you're making the mistake the media corporations have been brainwashing into the average joe's head: piracy is not filesharing, it is the sale of illegally acquired goods for personal profit, at least in this context. filesharing is what BT and p2p networks are all about--it's sharing, not unearned profiting.

*edit*
and just to add some personal experience, when i sold pirated material, it was not out of need, nor was it with any of my associates--it was because it was an easy way to supplement our incomes.

however, the system works a lot better and a lot few people get screwed when you just share your goodies, which is legal in many nations and should, IMHO, be legal globally. (i work an honest job now). ^.^

Originally posted by Auslander:

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and you're not distinguishing between true piracy and filesharing; you're making the mistake the media corporations have been brainwashing into the average joe's head: piracy is not filesharing, it is the sale of illegally acquired goods for personal profit, at least in this context. filesharing is what BT and p2p networks are all about--it's sharing, not unearned profiting.

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Exactly, the same argument used for music should be applied to movies. And that is, many if not the majority of downloaders would not be buying or renting this material anyhow.
As an example, say you see a movie in a store and it doesn't interest you enough to spend money to rent or buy it. Now say you are invited over by a friend to view the movie. You agree. The movie has generated enough interest to watch for free. But, not to purchase.
Stopping the pirated dvd's and criminals who profit from them is good.
Stopping p2p users, none of whom profit financially is bad.
Lets try and keep the rants aimed where they belong. At the RIAA & MPAA!

amen; and i say again, to further reiterate, this police action, while possibly not prioritized as it should be, is still a good thing. the less piracy, the less ground the media corporations have to base their arguments against filesharing on (as the proof of true cost of sales comes out of the woodwork) and the less they'll be able to stretch their dollars in the futile war, eventually either running themselves out of business or being forced into a realization of the blatantly obvious. :-)

Auslander
*gives you a QUAKE nail gun*
that should help make your points more...pointy!
^^

anyway I cant disagree with what you say

You know, everytime there is something like this done, people complain about them aresting pirates..obviously there is lots of money being lost because of their actions..i dont blame them for doing this.

no one mentioned what those guys were using their profits for?

Im sure they werent using their ill gotten gains
to rob the rich and give to the poor, ala Robin Hood?

1 million disks? ( holymoly thats alot!)
what does THAT look like? OMG!

and does this do any good in a country where they refuse to purchase legit items

no and the owners of these bussinesses will just go out and do it again

I don't mind taking criminals down. But guys bring the over priced goods down and then maybe we will buy legit goods.

the busts were a concession from the guatemalan governement to the american government for other legal infrindgements the guatemalan government has been accused of and is now paying for. do you think the guatemelan govt really cares about piracy? they were forced to do make the busts. why? becuase they robbed the states many times over in other situations. its the way governments equalize themselves without imposing sanctions or going to war.

Well What They need to Do is Come up with a Licensing system and More Realistic prices ! I've never been But i'm Told you can Go to shops in Thailand & other asian countries and buy anything you want -media wise -Movies/DVD games , Software ect... For about $1.00 U.S. or the equivalent in that countries money ! Is it pirated or Bootlegged material ? I would say almost 100% yes ! But That's not the Point ! It cost The Big Entertainment Conglomorates about A Dollar to make a DVD ! it used to cost about the same a few years ago to make a CD ? I'm sure the cost have gone down on the CD"s by now and maybe the dvd's as well ! Lets See ! It cost a Dollar to make ?Then they sell it to You at Walmart for $14.99 That's one hell of a profit margin Huh?Boss! I'm not advocating Piracy Don't get me wrong here? But You Think the oil Companies are raping You with gas @ $2.00-3.00 a Gallon Hello !? Yet nobody screams when Sony or Universal or whoever Is doing The same Thing only worse ?!with DVD's and Puting Spurious software ( RooTkits ) ect... On their Cds ? They Need an equitable Licensing system something like radio maybe ! When you Build a better mousetrap ! It makes the mice smarter ? points to ponder !