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Originally Posted by Steven Lake
Guys, I'm no fan of piracy in any measure. In fact, I actually preach pretty strongly against it. However, I also don't think the federal government has any authority to do what they're doing. The job of policing copyright is up to the corporations, not the federal government. Now if this was Baen or Warner Brothers or someone else shutting down those sites, I wouldn't say anything. But when the Fed steps into an area outside their jurisdiction, then I complain.
And before you say it, my reasonings are simple. The more we allow government to go where they're not supposed to, the more they'll take from us until there's nothing left to take. Government is already overstepping its bounds now. Allowing it more power is just suicide. Now since this discussion is likely to quickly devolve into political mudslinging, I'll leave my comments at that.
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I both agree and disagree. The Fed has far over stepped it's bounds, but I'm not sure that this isn't a case where it has rightful authority. As far as some of the sites are concerned, some of the sites (Torrent-Finder.com being the major one) weren't hosting illegal files, just providing links to or being a search engine for the files. I would question if that is technically illegal (it probably is but I don't know). The Constitution does grant Congress the right to create and enforce copyrights.
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Originally Posted by Article 1 Section 8
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
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However, it also puts a small check on the copyright laws. They are to; 1. Promote the progress of science and useful arts (writing books, etc), 2. to be for a limited time, and 3. Be for the author or inventor. Current copyright laws (as concerns books and music) only partially fits the first, it can be argued that it doesn't fit the second, and certainly doesn't fit the third.
So, it could be argued that the government didn't have the authority to do what it did. Also, is the ICE the right department to do it?