July 4th, 2011 
AstroNerdBoy Its that time of year again, when in theory, we Americans remember declaring our independence from Great Britain for self rule and a smaller, less intrusive, less tax-mad government.Β How time flies.
To those of you who have off, I hope you have a great weekend. For those of you who have to work, I hope you have an easy time of it. ^_^
Happy 4th!
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BTW, just to be clear here — I love our British cousins so no slam was intended to those across the pond. ^_^
Belated Independence Day to America there… Too bad I’m not American though but I thank them because they helped my country’s struggle during World War 2. THANK YOU !!! π
LoneWolfx03-]===-
And based on what both of my grandfather’s told me, they were glad to help.
I’m not sure why, but rereading the full text just now reminded me of a lovely bit of irony I saw on July 4th… apparently we’ve come full circle from the Declaration of Independence.
One of the many grievances listed therein was thhat King George was “transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences” – i.e. extraditing Americans to the UK if it seemed likely that US courts/juries would refuse to convict someone.
Welcome to 2011. We’re now trying to extradite UK citizens for running servers (also in the UK) that even list links to torrents or streams hosted elsewhere. In the UK, simply listing links is free speech – only uploading or downloading can be prosecuted. So we’re trying to bring them here for trial… on the grounds that if the domain name was registered in the US, they committed a crime in the US. Yes, really. =/
By the laws of the UK, it’s a “pretend offense”. But by US law (which we can thank both parties for passing and implementing), it’s fair game.
~
If you ask me, Akamatsu-sensei is looking more and more like a genius for his attempt to bridge the gap between publishers and online consumers before it gets as polarized as it has here. It’s ultimately self-destructive for them to buy laws that set them up as the Empire against the Rebel Alliance… but don’t tell US publishers that.
By the laws of the UK, it’s a “pretend offense”. But by US law (which we can thank both parties for passing and implementing), it’s fair game.
Yep, both parties. Money talks.
If you ask me, Akamatsu-sensei is looking more and more like a genius for his attempt to bridge the gap between publishers and online consumers before it gets as polarized as it has here. It’s ultimately self-destructive for them to buy laws that set them up as the Empire against the Rebel Alliance… but don’t tell US publishers that.
Considering his is a Japanese initiative, it makes what Akamatsu-sensei is doing more impressive. The Japanese tend to have a resistance to anything outside the established box.