Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

uk.reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–27 of 27 posts

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#21

Post by seibelj »

ryanlol wrote: post #19
seibelj wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a difference between "wanting other people's stuff for free" and believing that the length of copyright (life of author plus 120 years), the penalties for stealing content (5 years felony conviction plus $250,000 fine for each movie downloaded), and the techniques content owners use to get violators (mass sending of dubious lawsuits based on IP address then immediately offer to settle, similar to extortion)…

>the penalties for stealing content (5 years felony conviction plus $250,000 fine for each movie downloaded So where exactly do you face such penalties for downloading content?

It's actually $500k https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_St...

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#22

Post by slim »

Beltiras wrote: post #20
Beltiras wrote: post #10

I am involved with the Icelandic Pirate Party. I'm a substitute member of the board of Pirates in Reykjavík and a district representative in a new institution of the party, the Information Board, it's role being the production of information for general consumption. Ask Me Anything.

There's a factual error in the article. Birgitta Jónsdóttir is an influential member and won the primary for the capital region (3 districts ran a collaborative primary). She is not a leader of the movement. We aim for as flat a structure as possible. The grassroots are in theory more powerful than our elected representatives. If we are in the position of leading a coalition for government we will see a true test of…

You mean you (personally) are opposed to Burgitta being PM or has this matter been discussed at the party and there's opposition to her?

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#23

Post by Beltiras »

slim wrote: post #22
Beltiras wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a factual error in the article. Birgitta Jónsdóttir is an influential member and won the primary for the capital region (3 districts ran a collaborative primary). She is not a leader of the movement. We aim for as flat a structure as possible. The grassroots are in theory more powerful than our elected representatives. If we are in the position of leading a coalition for government we will see a true test of…

You mean you (personally) are opposed to Burgitta being PM or has this matter been discussed at the party and there's opposition to her?

No. She is interested in being speaker of the house. We have no leaders.

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#24

Post by ryanlol »

seibelj wrote: post #21
ryanlol wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the penalties for stealing content (5 years felony conviction plus $250,000 fine for each movie downloaded So where exactly do you face such penalties for downloading content?

It's actually $500k https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_St...

And how many people have faced criminal copyright charges for downloading movies in the US? (hint: none)

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#25

Post by kbody »

Living the Greek reality of being governed by a populist party of clueless people, I hope that the Pirates' rise is not just a show of public anger, but rather a conscious decision.

I like a lot of things about Pirates (especially from northen countries), but I hope they are taking it serious and are already preparing (/have prepared) not just proposals for new things but also about the boring "everyday" things that are needed when running a country.

In a world of rise of extreme right-wings and clueless populists, I hope Icelandic people will question things more for the improvement of the politicians as well. Judge by policies not by ideologies is still not widely applied (at least speaking for my country).

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#26

Post by seibelj »

ryanlol wrote: post #24
seibelj wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually $500k https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_St...

And how many people have faced criminal copyright charges for downloading movies in the US? (hint: none)

Uhhhh I forgot to respond to this before now, but hundreds every year? Here is one[0]. Another from the Media Institute shows the number of convictions per year through 2011[1]. I don't even understand your arguments. First you didn't believe the penalties were that harsh, then I showed you, then you didn't think anyone actually went to jail, then I showed you. I guess next you'll say no one has ever been executed by the state for downloading movies, so the laws are fine?

[0] https://torrentfreak.com/87-months-in-prison-for-copyright-i... [1] http://www.mediainstitute.org/IPI/2011/052511.php

Re: Iceland's Pirates head for power on wave of public anger

#27

Post by ryanlol »

seibelj wrote: post #26
ryanlol wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how many people have faced criminal copyright charges for downloading movies in the US? (hint: none)

Uhhhh I forgot to respond to this before now, but hundreds every year? Here is one[0]. Another from the Media Institute shows the number of convictions per year through 2011[1]. I don't even understand your arguments. First you didn't believe the penalties were that harsh, then I showed you, then you didn't think anyone actually went to jail, then I showed you. I guess next you'll say no one has ever been executed by…

I don't think you understand. There's a big difference between civil and criminal copyright infringement and it's not exactly easy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

Downloading movies does not carry any criminal penalties, and the possible civil penalties for downloading are minimal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Copyright_Law_in_the_...

>https://torrentfreak.com/87-months-in-prison-for-copyright-i...

Are you suggesting that a prison sentence was unreasonable for someone selling stolen software licenses at a massive scale? This isn't some guy downloading the newest episode of "Suits", but a somewhat large commercial operation.

Post reply on HN