Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown • Hacker News Board

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#81

Post by chmike » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 8:07 AM UTC

tikhonj wrote: post #22

sp332 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally, I want politicians to do things that will make me vote for them!

Voting is one thing. Financial contribution to the campaign is a different thing. I imagine it's the latter that's at issue here. So yes, you want politicians to do things that will get people to vote for them. But you do not necessarily want politicians to do things to get companies to pay for their campaigns.

It's not only a question of finance. A support is much more relevant as has been seen in the French presidential election. If a candidate doesn't have the public media support, election can become a very difficult up hill battle.

The goal should have been to have more justice in this world. What happened there is wrong. The extradition of the UK "pirate" is much worse and a treason of a country against its own citizen.

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#82

Post by joshu » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 8:17 AM UTC

jeremyswank wrote: post #78

heretohelp wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>unless the Obama administration tows the line [2]. It' toes. You toe a line. You put your toe up to the line and stay within that line.

either that, or you have a rope, or "line", attached to something heavy, such as a barge on a canal, and you have to help "tow the line" to get the cargo moving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toe_the_line

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#83

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 10:13 AM UTC

rmc wrote: post #41

roguecoder wrote: post #37

It seems at least as plausible that they were there to discuss ACTA, which was signed three months later. Beside, it wasn't the Executive branch that ordered the Megaupload shutdown: it was the grand jury, followed by an Australian judge (apparently improperly.) Mr. Dotcom doesn't appear understand the US legal system. Or, more likely, he is willfully ignoring it in favor of a story. Given the lack of evidence that t…

Australian judge New Zealand. You might aswell call Joe Biden vice president of Canada.

[deleted]

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#84

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 10:13 AM UTC

rmc wrote: post #41

roguecoder wrote: post #37

It seems at least as plausible that they were there to discuss ACTA, which was signed three months later. Beside, it wasn't the Executive branch that ordered the Megaupload shutdown: it was the grand jury, followed by an Australian judge (apparently improperly.) Mr. Dotcom doesn't appear understand the US legal system. Or, more likely, he is willfully ignoring it in favor of a story. Given the lack of evidence that t…

Australian judge New Zealand. You might aswell call Joe Biden vice president of Canada.

[deleted]

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#85

Post by geekam » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 10:58 AM UTC

rdtsc wrote: post #72

billpatrianakos wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very paranoid. Occam's razor, my friend. They were probably going to do this anyway with timing being a coincidence. People give the US government too much credit for planning devious things. Most of it is a lot of fuck-ups and political favors. Nothing more. I sincerely doubt the Feds did this as so to give the finger to protesters. They've been doing this long before SOPA was introduced and will continue too…

> Most of it is a lot of fuck-ups and political favors. There is a contradiction there perhaps. Political favors includes buckling due to lobbying. Then US govt. is just a proxy for large banking interests, the military industrial complex, pharmaceuticals, large agribusiness etc. So no the govt. might not have really cared about MU but maybe MPAA cared and when they care they line pockets and make promises about futu…

So, the only way out for anyone who wants to survive is to lobby? Seems like the only solution out to me.

I've always had this problem with lobbying. If everyone has to lobby and I guess it mostly requires money these days then how is it not "legal bribing"?

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#86

Post by evilbit » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 11:06 AM UTC

that biden is a stooge for the entertainment industry is no secret, though i doubt he could've made this happen at a drop of the hat, as the article purports.

mpaa chairman chris dodd is an influential democrat with strong ties to the obama administration, biden in particular. entertainment industry has historically had an oversized presence in washington, and the tech industry an undersized one. this is why our copyright debate has been driven by an incumbent-dominated industry rather than the innovator/disruptor one such as ours.

it's telling that we've all so negatively reacted to recent story of washington telling apple to spend more on lobbying, calling it a shakedown - but we'd be wise to think about that more carefully and not dismiss at our own peril.

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#87

Post by RyanMcGreal » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 11:15 AM UTC

cluda01 wrote: post #32

epoxyhockey wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, we don't know that to be the case, yet. I do have to say that implicating Biden in a corruption-feeling scandal during an election year is a great legal strategy.

And a dishonest one at that. He's behaving no differently than the rest of Washington.

If everyone is doing it, is it not a scandal any more?

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#88

Post by jakeonthemove » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 12:49 PM UTC

geekam wrote: post #85

rdtsc wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most of it is a lot of fuck-ups and political favors. There is a contradiction there perhaps. Political favors includes buckling due to lobbying. Then US govt. is just a proxy for large banking interests, the military industrial complex, pharmaceuticals, large agribusiness etc. So no the govt. might not have really cared about MU but maybe MPAA cared and when they care they line pockets and make promises about futu…

So, the only way out for anyone who wants to survive is to lobby? Seems like the only solution out to me. I've always had this problem with lobbying. If everyone has to lobby and I guess it mostly requires money these days then how is it not "legal bribing"?

Lobbying has always been legalized corruption, however it is better than actual corruption because it allows people to monitor the "bribes" (i.e. they're not hidden from everyone's eyes).

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#89

Post by ericd » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 1:06 PM UTC

chris_wot wrote: post #76

mtgx wrote: post #2

MPAA "lobbying" the VP of US, and then the VP ordering the shutdown of a company from another country on behalf of MPAA (illegally it seems, from recent news). I think this would be called "corruption" in any other country but US.

As much as the MPAA appalls me, this really isn't corruption unless a gratuity was offered in return for some sort of political favour. Establish that, then you have corruption - in the U.S. and everywhere else in the world.

I seem to recall that there was a threat of cutting off the campaign contributions if the administration didn't pass the laws that the MPAA wanted passed.

Re: Kim Dotcom: Joe Biden Ordered the Megaupload Shutdown

#90

Post by flyinRyan » Wed, Jul 04, 2012, 1:49 PM UTC

jakeonthemove wrote: post #88

geekam wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, the only way out for anyone who wants to survive is to lobby? Seems like the only solution out to me. I've always had this problem with lobbying. If everyone has to lobby and I guess it mostly requires money these days then how is it not "legal bribing"?

Lobbying has always been legalized corruption, however it is better than actual corruption because it allows people to monitor the "bribes" (i.e. they're not hidden from everyone's eyes).

But then you can't end people's careers when you catch them taking "bribes". Honestly, I can't see how it's any better. Now we just get to watch it happening but we still can't do anything about it.