Lets spend a billion of tax payers dollars to fight P2P!
Mikey 5 comments
USA: Washington Senator Joe Biden reckons police need custom software to help monitor P2P traffic for illegal file sharing activity - and he wants to spend $US1 Billion of tax payers money to make it happen. Sigh...
I reckon $US1 Billion dollars can buy a lot of resources for schools, hospitals, and the other sectors constantly requiring funding. You know, the sorts of things that help the public. In any event, it's hard not to agree the money could be better spent elsewhere, considering anyone with half a brain knows no amount of spending tax payer dollars is going to make file sharing go away. If Senator Biden's idea gets off the ground the only people being helped will be ones who need it a lot less, like movie, music and game studios.
Hacker
Friday 18th April 2008 | 03:08 PMI agree - the money could be better spent elsewhere. How much was spent on cyclone Katrina I wonder?
Gong
Friday 18th April 2008 | 04:22 PMIt always seems like American law makers only want to protect the interests of the ultra rich.
CT
Friday 18th April 2008 | 11:56 PMThats the most ignorant thing I've read this week. He must be in the hip pocket of the RIAA.
Gillon
Saturday 19th April 2008 | 09:20 AMMichael, I laud your efforts to bring attention to the open, festering, mortal wound that is American government. As an American living in Mexico, I can tell you that this type of Democratic government is exactly why I have left. I am also able to assure you that this is not an exceptional bit of politicking. No, rather its the rule in the states.
The term pork barrel is more commonly used as a political metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for projects that are intended primarily to benefit particular constituents or campaign contributors. And in this case, the contributors would be the music industry. Its nothing new though; Pork Barrel spending has been going on since about 1873.
It really is par for the course however. I doubt a single one of your readers can name one pro active/constructive bill our lawmakers have passed in the past 8 years. And even if you could find a single law passed that actually helped people, you would find that if you took a closer look, you would find more alternative motive that you could ever imagine.
America no longer does things for the right or altruistic reason. Important things are not issues. Health care, education, hunger, homelessness, desperately needed maintainence and upkeep of infrastructure of all types avoided. Our veterans are treated as third class citizens, and are unable to get the most severely needed help. Some vets are actually being punished for being wounded, and some vets who have been severely wounded are being returned to active duty. The principals and ideals that the country was founded on have been long lost.
To think that taxpayer dollars are being mis-spent is a bit naive though. Let me see if I can explain.
1) Our income taxes (the total amount collected from every worker who pays taxes on his or her wages in America) does not even make the interest payment on the money that our government has borrowed from the.
2) Federal Reserve which is a private company, no more federal than Federal Express. The Federal Reserve is a private company that prints U.S. currency, and loans it to the government at interest.
3) Years ago, our currency was gold, or if it was paper money it was backed by gold.
4) That got changed to This note is redeemable for silver on demand
5) Today, our money is Legal Tender in other words, its worth nothing.
6) So the reality is: its not even our fake money their spending, its our grandchildrens.
This is long and complicated, and most Americans dont get it. The reality is that the American Government can do no right. NOT ONE THING.
Im sure many of your readers have seen what could be done with the money that is being spent on the phony bullshit war in Iraq. All this crap about weapons of mass destruction, fight them over there so we dont have to fight them over here, we are bringing democracy to Iraq. They just wont admit it, its for the oil, and the need for the oil is powered by among other things, GREED.
Sadly, its not the politicians that are ignorant, its the public. And thats what the politicians want, an ignorant public. If your country has few enough critical thinkers, you can sell almost line of shit on T.V. the saddest part is, that our leaders look us straight in the face and lie to us. Elections are no longer fair, but rigged. The electronic voting machine and other clever tactics make a true democratic election impossible. What do we do??? Watch American Idol.
Dont imagine that this big election coming up is going to change anything. It wont. We are a nation doomed. All so a very few can protect their way of life. Watch from where ever you are as the American Dream, and way of life goes down the shitter in the next few years.
Jay
Friday 18th April 2008 | 10:52 AMAgreed, that money should go where its needed most.