The hubris of it all.....


http://www.sg1archive.com/nightmare.shtml


Makes me proud to be an Amuuuurican!!

IF this is all true it illustrates the danger of The Patriot Act. That the act can be used to persecute american citizens in situations that have absolutely nothing to do with terrorism or national security. I would support the act 100% if they would add one sentence stating that "the act can only be invoked in situations of terrorism or national security". Regardless of assurances of supporters of the act that these type of situations will not occur, it can be interpeted as legal for anyone's residence to be searched withourt a warrant, with them not there, and not to even inform them that their residence was searched. I'm willing to sacrifice, but not quite that far.

The Act goes further than that. For example, they can check on you at work, and it is ILLEGAL for them to tell you about it. So you can be accused, and not know about it, and therefore how can you defend yourself?

As for this story, I don't see exactly what he is alleged to have done. Copy DVDs?

Makes me proud to be an Amuuuurican!!
This and lots of other things as well.

<< The charges allege that the website engaged in Criminal Copyright Infringement and Trafficking in Counterfeit Services. The charges were the culmination of a three-year FBI investigation, set in motion by a complaint from the Motion Picture Association (MPAA) regarding the content of the SG1Archive.com website. >>

Where does it say that the "Patriot Act" was invoked?

His online friendship with other Stargate fans across the globe was portrayed as an international conspiracy against the MPAA. And perhaps most disturbing of all, it was later revealed that the FBI invoked a provision of the USA Patriot Act to obtain financial records from his ISP.That whole thing does sound bad. More like outrageous.

And yeah, the Patriot Act is bad legislation that can and probably will be misused (and, gee, remember how the thing passed?).

Still, what exactly is the charge against this guy? The link above is to his own web site, so that's his version of the story. Can anyone independant corroborate it, or shed light on the charges? Not that it's far-fetched, but let's hear the rest.

<< The charges allege that the website engaged in Criminal Copyright Infringement and Trafficking in Counterfeit Services. The charges were the culmination of a three-year FBI investigation, set in motion by a complaint from the Motion Picture Association (MPAA) regarding the content of the SG1Archive.com website. >>

Where does it say that the "Patriot Act" was invoked?

"....it was later revealed that the FBI invoked a provision of the USA Patriot Act to obtain financial records from his ISP. The FBI's abuse of its powers did not stop there."

Right in the middle of the page :)

What the hell is wrong with people? Between the corporate suits, homeland "security" and the crazy fact that it's actually illegal to try to find cheaper medicine for our elderly, we've killed off the "land of the free" and revealed its real face, the land of the "greed".

Okay. Sorry. That was way OT. What kind of a reasonable, rational human being would think this is okay?

yep, I dunno how I missed that sentence, I saw the Macintosh stuff and the bit about the FBI giving the accused the usless paper promises of WHEN he could get his stuff back. I guess the FBI can't do anything well. Talk to the other intel offices, catch hijackers, or illegal aliens, or even tell how many days have elapsed. FBI MUST stand for
F-#%&ing B-latent I-ncompetents.....
Just Like CIA stands for
C-aught I-n the A-ct.

we really need to get some decent law enforcement types who have the right priorities.

Sounds fishy if all the guy did was run a discussion board and fan site. Was he marketing bootleg products?

I noticed he captured the trailers for next week episodes and put them on the site. Technically that would be copyright infringement.

How? He's not charging for them. They're on TV for free.

This was also posted at;

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

But they didn't say what happened.

"Attention FBI: A screwdriver is not a prybar. It is intended to loosen the screws holding the computer together. You insert that flat (or cross shaped) part at the tip into the correspondingly shaped recess in the screw, press inward gently, while rotating counter-clockwise. Repeat until the screw can be removed. Then the computer can be taken apart for inspection, and more to the point, reassembled afterwards.
Next week; we learn to tie our shoelaces. "

How? He's not charging for them. They're on TV for free.
that doesnt matter. if he "rebroadcast" them without permission, he's infringing.

y'know, its a perfect "worst case" example of the "thinking" of the thimble-brained bean counters that run the major movie studios. they are so afraid of one thin dime escaping their pockets that they cannot see when someone is doing them a favor. hopefully an insightful judge will throw this out of the court as the farce that it is, and it will backfire on mgm as badly as possible.

my rant as to how the bush administration used 9/11's aftermath to yank as many precious freedoms as it could and has been activly trying to cement a corperate ogliarchy in this country can wait. notice how the patriot act was invoked to get records when this man was not accused of doiing anything against the government! (the mpaa and mgm are private organizations) also this shows how overly zealous the feds are in prosecuting any percieved lawbreaking that involves the internet, probably in hopes that they will set precendent for future cases.

guys, its time to circle the wagons and protect the true ideals and values of this great country against those that would destroy them in the name of their own power and control.

You don't have to profit to violate copyright. If you make a copy of a dvd and give it to a friend you've violated the law.

the thing to do to cure this is: watch one episode of each stargate series. take note of who the sponsors are. e-mail each sponsor (and forward a copy to mgm) putting them on notice that you are boycotting their product until such time that mgm stops its harassment of this fan, and makes ammends to him. (unfortunatly, now with the feds involved it might be out of mgm's hands)

just not watching the show, or any mgm product, isnt good enough. you need to hit them in the pocketbook (where their hearts are), via the sponsors, and let the sponsors know exactly why you are taking such action.

hey for any legal eagles out there, since when is an e-mailed cease and desist order good enough (as opposed to a registered letter)? im wondering if now that the feds have trashed his computer if he has any proof that he never recieved that email.

this whole thing stinks to high heaven........

I'm not willing to give up ANY freedoms in the name of 'security'. If the weak-kneed politicians were SERIOUS about security, they'd put the military on the borders (as called for in the Constitution) evict ALL illegal immigrants, and end student visas.

Instead, since the corporations pay the politicians a lot to turn a blind eye to illegals in their chicken plants and other places, they decide that the way to provide security is to be able to pry into the lives of ANYONE in the U.S. Tyrants act like bullies. They take the easy way out picking on the easy targets instead of actually trying to accomplish something.

Common sense would say: 'CLOSE OUR BORDERS TO ILLEGAL TRAFFIC!' in the face of terrorism. However, there's too much trafficking in drugs and cheap labour that benefit those who deserve it least. Meanwhile, the common citizen is left in the lurch.

The Act goes further than that. For example, they can check on you at work, and it is ILLEGAL for them to tell you about it. So you can be accused, and not know about it, and therefore how can you defend yourself?

That settles it! I am NOT voting for the Cardassians.

Jim

There was a time when I did iron on T-shirt designs. We constantly put beer botles and cars and such on them. it was considered kosher as it was free advertisement for the products. One would think that MGM owes the guy some money for all the free advertisement!! I am worried that the freedoms we have cherished and taken for granted are being trampled. There were other times in which people were rallied against an enemy (supposed or not) and used to erode their freedoms. This is just very disturbing.

There is quite a bit of advertising on his website. I don't know how these things work, but if he's making money from the ads, I'd say he's in trouble.

Heard on the news that the brothers who run Jib-Jab.com are being sued for copyright infringement over the Bush/Kerry "toon" they put together. Didn't hear who was doing the suing.

Maybe South Park?

I wouldn't blame the entire "Bush Administration" but I sure would hammer at the judges and the fbi. PerfessorCoffee is right about the messed up priorities, and our lack of border controls will get us over and over until we actually start killing illegal aliens and keeping the relatives away from the corpse until the birds have had their fill. The mafia controlled leader of mexico is also to blame for encouraging his countrymen to illegally enter the US.

The ones that need to be spammed are the politicians who sit on those committes and who need a wake up call. Tell MGM and the politico's that they are all to blame and no more bucks to MGM or contributions to their campaigns until they fix it!

There was a time when I did iron on T-shirt designs. We constantly put beer botles and cars and such on them. it was considered kosher as it was free advertisement for the products. One would think that MGM owes the guy some money for all the free advertisement!!

Therein lies the problem. The lawyers are afraid the guy will come back to MGM and demand money someday, so they're trying this "retroactive abortion" tactic. It doesn't occur to them that he set up the site for free, and uses whatever money he makes from ad sponsors to pay for the costs of running the site.

The lawyers arbitrarily assume that since MGM is a billion $ company, that everyone else is, too.

They're in such a rush to be right about something, to force their superiority down someone's throat, that they don't stop to look at the size of the battle they're fighting.

This whole story is akin to trying to kill a fly with a nuclear missile.

What was that movie where _______ ________said "greed is good"? I was just wondering as sit here in front of my _______ computer, loaded with ______ software, sipping on an ice cold glass of_______ thinking about ordering a pizza from_______.:freak:

______!

Wall Street! Gordon Gecko should've been skinned and made into a pair of boots! Corporate greed actually makes my head hurt! What ever happened to the days of pulling together for the common good? Why are we all on different teams these days?

Okay, enough whining...

im with ya 1000% perfesser. we are being invaded by a hostile occupying force, with conquest as their long term goal, and doing nothing about it. and our government seems to be in cohoots with them.

y3a, we do have to blame the bush administration, cause they are the ones that intitiated the stupid patriot act to begin with, as well as handing the keys to the kingdom to the corporations.

and y3a, kill the illegals? um thats a little extreme. imprisoning them for a few years in harsh conditions before sending them back, and charging their countries of origin a fee for it, would be much more productive (mexico's #2 source of income is $ sent back from the united states)... if they knew coming over that it wouldnt be all sunshine and lollipops if they get busted, it might stem the flow.

back onto the topic, i repeat, the way to stop this is hit them in the pocketbook via the sponsors. let the sponsors of mgm programs know that yoe are not buying their products, and why.

paramount has occasionally tried this sort of thing (not to this degree of severity), but the public backlash has caused them to back down. ive never seen lucas attack his fans in this way, though lord knows he could. he's just smarter than that.

The next step is A) Big TV/Movie company sells T-shirt license to T-shirt maker, B) T-shirt maker sells T-shirt with picture obtained from said license to you, C) Big TV/Movie company sues you for not having a license to wear said picture on your person.

Is kit-bashing a model infringing on copyright?

About a decade ago or so I read an article written in Newsweek, I think, by a lawyer of some sort about copyrights. It stated that technically it would be illegal to alter an action figure of a copyrighted property. Not that any studio would actually send police into your home but they could.
The article went on into lots of other things but I just remember the action figure part.

In the area of copyright infringement:

During the whole Napster fiasco (The true origions of copyright prosecution) it was argued that listening to a song purchased legally from a licensed dealer in public would "In Lue" be copyright infringement since you are allowing unauthorized individuals to listen to said music.

I'm actually waiting for a publisher to step in and try to attack Doctors and Hairdressers about having their publications in the waiting rooms for anyone who did not buy the publication to read for free.

During the whole Napster fiasco (The true origions of copyright prosecution) it was argued that listening to a song purchased legally from a licensed dealer in public would "In Lue" be copyright infringement since you are allowing unauthorized individuals to listen to said music.
Hmmm, therein lies a way to stop those damn cars-cum-boomboxes-on-wheels from blasting their bass through my floor from ten blocks away - just sic the copyright lawyers on 'em for "illegally distributing copyrighted material".

Years ago, back when the Simpsons was still new, some kid won a prize in a local contest with an entry he made himself depicting Bart. Lawyers for either the show or the network stepped in and forced the kid to give up whatever the prize was: he'd profited by using their copyrighted character. C'mon, man, a little kid in a dinky local contest. Amazing these bloodsuckers don't try to shut down Wonderfest.

Don't give 'em any ideas, man.

Don't give 'em any ideas, man.

well, i remember a couple of chiller theatre shows where the ambulance chasers were there handing out cease and desidt orders to garage kit dealers...if wonderfest were held closer to either nyc or l.a. id expect the same thing to happen

charles schulz sued a school once because the yearbook contained a photo of one of the students who happened to be wearing a snoopy shirt when the pic was taken.....

I love those kind. A person buys a product, then gets sued for wearing it. Legal to buy, not legal to own.

The trouble is that too often lawyers are calling the shots who know all about the law but nothing about human nature. It's like those medical malpractice or product liability cases where the company won't offer an apology because it would make them liable, even though most people would be satisified with an apology. Yes, letting anyone use your intellectual property will devalue the product, but so will alienating fans.

One of my favorites stories involving this:

http://www.snopes.com/disney/wdco/daycare.htm

Another reason to dislike the Disney company.

I bet if you pulled hard enough on a lawyer's ears his mask would come off and you'd find a Ferengi underneath.

No, if you pulled on a Ferengis ears a lawyer would be underneath.

What do you guys have against Ferengis?

If all the technical professions (doctors, car mechanics, computer types, etc) would STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH LAWYERS (or at least charge them 20 times the normal rate) I bet some of them would calm down and be less of ambulance chaser types, but I think we will end up having to kill all the lawyers. The worst of them become politicians.

ok a small (very small) defense of disney in the daycare case. they dont want unauthorized uses of their characters in those situations because if siomething unsavory occured at that location, the image of their character might get tied to it in the publics mind.

right now theres a case of a disney performer who allegedly groped a woman while on the job as tigger. the lawyers for disney asked the court if they could alter the tigger suit when it is presented in court so that it no longer resembled the character.

a few years back i was commissioned by rubies costume co. to prototype a ronald mcdonald latex mask (they had just aquired the mcdonalds licence for a line of costumes). i did so and everybody loved my finished piece. however, it never saw the market, because someone realized that it might not be such a great idea. lets say that some schmuck bought one, put it on, and then went out and robbed a bank or worse yet molested a child. the headlines about the incident wouldnt read "man in ronald mcdonald mask robs bank". no, they would read "ronald mcdonald robs bank". this is why you'll never see a licensed adult sized mask of the disney's core characters, the muppets, barney, and a lot of others that are held dear by children.

so on that one, im on the studios side. however on the rest of it, the studios lawyers seem to be running down the implicatons of the copyright laws to ridiculous lengths, as well as forgetting the concept of "fair use".

Is kit-bashing a model infringing on copyright?
It could be, that's why I'm calling my Stargate an "Opening in the fence to get to the Sun thingy..." furthermore, I'm not using naquada, I'm making mine out of plastic, wood, paper, and styrofoam. :p

But Seriously, it doesn't matter how much the creators, producers, cast and crew support the site, MGM owns the rights and it's their call. And my guess is that if this really did happen, this person did something to warrant the attention.

Let's be honest, MGM isn't going out of their way to make money off Stargate. There are no models, technical books, or toys like there were with a couple of other "Star..." franchizes.

I only wish there was so I wouldn't have to scratch build... I mean, want to scratch build a Stargate Gateroom Dio.

Don

Well they do have that lighted replica of the StarGate in the $400 and change range.
You can also get that spiffy Jafa weapon for like 1400 or so. :eek:

Regardless of what is within the pervue of MGM to go after this guy, the fact that the Patriot Act was used is what's scary. When liberals say that things like this will be used for the wrong reasons and erodes a few basic freedoms, they are poo-poohed as being alarmist and these days (in a grand return to McCarthyisms) 'unamerican'. There are many ways that MGM et al could have gone about this, but to use an anti-terrorist measure in a domestic case is alarming and in itself unAmerican.