The U.S. government has joined forces with the entertainment industry to stop the freewheeling global bazaar in pirated movies and music, pressuring foreign governments to crack down or risk incurring trade barriers.
Last year, for instance, the movie industry lobby suggested that Sweden change its laws to make it a crime to swap copyrighted movies and music for free over the Internet. Shortly after, the Swedish government complied. Last month, Swedish authorities briefly shut down an illegal file-sharing Web site after receiving a briefing on the site’s activities from U.S. officials in April in Washington. The raid incited political and popular backlash in the Scandinavian nation.
In Russia, the government’s inability, or reluctance, to shut down another unauthorized file-sharing site may prevent that nation’s entrance into the World Trade Organization, as effective action against intellectual property theft tops the U.S. government’s list of requirements for Russian WTO membership.
Related Posts
- Proof that U.S. Gov’t Involved in Pirate Bay Shutdown
- U.S. pushes Russia in WTO talks to close (AllOf)mp3 Web site
- Russia set to streamline anti-piracy procedure
- ‘Pirate’ iTunes rival enrages music industry
- 12 nations put on copyright piracy list
Loading ...
The US is really pushing people around lately anyone else thinking its gonna backfire eventually when they have pissed off just about everyone in the world. They already have most of the middle east pissed off at them and france now their working towards the rest of europe.
wasnt IP theif also the reason why china couldnt join? im sure the privacy in china is just as bad but since US wants china to lower import taxes/whatnot they let them in anyways its all politics
i dont have a problem with the US telling people to get their act togeter (saddam/iraq) but when you start telling other countries to make laws that do nothing other than benefit us thats crossing a big line there.