Source: http://www.macsurfer.com/redirr.php?u=758372
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Wednesday, January 30, 2013
From gulags to dusty donkeys, Google Maps reveals Earth's mysteries
1 day
On Monday, Google officially updated North Korea on Google Maps. Thanks to crowd-sourced data, the area is no longer blank, but instead includes markings for just about everything???right down to the locations of its prison camps. This isn't the first time Google Maps (and its 3-D counterpart, Google Earth) helped reveal previously obscured ??or even unknown ??geography.
In late 2011, Google Maps images called attention to strange patterns etched into the surface of China's Gobi Desert. There were speculations that the patterns were related to weapons-testing sites or even messages from aliens,?but?the?consensus,?according?to?Natalie Wolchover?of?Life's?Little?Mysteries,?was?that?they?were?satellite?calibration?patterns.?
Another pattern found not far from there, a?"Stonehenge-like arrangement of objects radiating outward, with fighter jets parked at its center,"?is?likely?used to test radar from space.
A year later, yet another mysterious pattern was spotted in yet another Chinese desert.?LiveScience's?Tia Ghose?reported?that?these?were?the?result?of?geological surveys for nickel mines.
Google Earth, another aspect of Google's geo project,?has also?helped an?archaeologist discover ancient Egyptian ruins.Much of the excitement over that discovery evaporated though as ? after some initial confusion regarding whether they ruins were previously undiscovered pyramids or other formations ? it turned out that at least some other researchers were already aware of this point of interest.
Thanks to Google Maps' Street View, folks have been exploring areas they may never see in person. For example, thousands of images from Australia's Great Barrier Reef and other coral locales were stitched together into 360-degree panoramas, so that anyone can take a trip from the comfort of his or her own desk.
"This will allow the 99.9 percent of the population who have never been diving to go on a virtual dive for the first time," said Richard Vevers, project director for the Catlin Seaview Survey (which worked in partnership with Google to capture images for these panoramas), told NBC News?when the project was first publicized.
Ancient Mexican monuments such as Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza and Palenque are also included in virtual tours, along with?countless businesses which, as part of an extension to the Google Street View project, allow users to virtually explore building interiors.
Sometimes Google's mapping products can cause controversy. When?a data glitch related to Google Earth's underwater seafloor imagery led to the appearance of a grid-like pattern, some proclaimed it?must indicate the existence of Atlantis. The "evidence" of the mythical city's presence disappeared as soon as Google incorporated fresh data and smoothed over imaging artifacts.
At least one mapping controversy ended with new research, however.?When a Nicaraguan general?alleged that Google Maps displayed erroneous borders between his country and Costa Rica. The secretary general of the Organization of American States was sent in to examine the area and resolve the cartographic drama.
And then there was that time a?Google Street View car ran over a donkey ? or at least appeared to. ?"Over the last 24-hours concerned members of the public and the media have been speculating on the fate of a donkey pictured in Street View in the Kweneng region of Botswana,"?wrote?Google's?Kei?Kawai?in?a?blog?post.?Fortunately?for?Google,?the?car?took?many?photos,?and?a?review?of?them?clearly?showed?the?donkey?moving?aside?safely.?"I'm pleased to confirm the donkey is alive and well."
Google's not above showing us what's behind the curtain in its own data centers, either. Thanks to Street View tours of the interiors of the company's previously unseen buildings, we now know that Stormtroopers and R2 units guard our precious data.
Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.
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Corporate taxes have a significant influence on the balance sheet ...
De Socio, Antonio and Nigro, Valentina, Does Corporate Taxation Affect Cross-Country Firm Leverage? (November 29, 2012). Bank of Italy Temi di Discussione (Working Paper) No. 889. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2206357
Abstract:
"We evaluate the relation between firm leverage and taxation of corporate income using a dataset of mostly unlisted European corporations, highly representative of medium-sized and large firms. We use a correlated random effect approach in order to take into account unobserved heterogeneity and to assess the contribution of cross-sectional variation of the regressors. We also apply quantile regressions to evaluate a possible differential impact of taxation on leverage across firms. Our results suggest that corporate income taxation is positively related to leverage and explains part of the cross-country variability, showing a stronger effect for less levered firms. In accordance with the theory of the debt tax shield, the relation between debt and taxation is stronger for highly profitable firms. These findings are robust to the inclusion of different measures of the financial development and characteristics of the legal system of the country where firms are located."
Keywords: Firm Leverage, Leverage, Corporate Taxes, Capital Structure
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013
10 personal finance tips to keep you on track | Finance Guider
Making a resolution to enhance your financial situation is acceptable at any time of the year. Many people find it very simple and easy to manage at the beginning, but they fail to continue their resolution due to improper financial plan. Most people struggle a lot to manage their personal finances. All age groups of students to pensioners may look for various easy ways to manage their personal finances. The following 10 tips help you track finances and could make you a successful money manager.
Pay liabilities on time: You should pay your bills on time to avoid late fees. Liabilities such as property taxes, credit card payments, car payments and loan payments have to pay before their due date to escape unnecessary charges. You can set up payment reminders to pay bills regularly on time. This strategy can also help to improve your relationship with banker; this may be useful to get loans approved with low interest rates.
Keep an eye on monthly spending: Many people who have no idea on how much amount they are spending on housing, clothing and entertainment should maintain every record of their expenses. Whether you are buying with your credit card, debit card or directly through cash, you should track your monthly spending.
Review your credit report: Credit report is the best way to manage your personal finances. It will have great influence on your financial future. Ask your banker to review your record I you are seeking to borrow loan.
Track your credit score: Maintaining a good credit score is essential to get various types of benefits from your banker. Your credit score will explain how well you are in managing your personal finances. You can improve your credit score by applying pay day loans and contacting nationwide credit reporting agencies.
Remove the credit card debt: It is tough to manage your personal finance when you have piled up with credit card debts. If you have credit card debt, stop using credit cards until you clear all your existing debts.
Plan a household budget to follow: When you track your monthly spending budget, you will get a clear picture of your expenses. Tracking can help you to plan for a household budget. Sit with your family to draw down the monthly budget within your financial status.
Savings: Savings are essential to meet emergency situations and unforeseen financial needs. According to business experts, you should save at least 30% of your monthly earnings to be on the safe side.
Take benefits of free money: Contact your employer to know more about health savings account, retirement savings and provident fund, which are the free form of money. These benefits are very important to secure your future after retirement.
Make use of legitimate financial institutions: It is always advisable to manage your money transactions with a legitimate financial institution.
Analyse your insurance policies: Insurance is considered as the best option to protect your future against financial uncertainties. Ask your insurance provider to get a policy which has more benefits in the long run.
Author Bio: Hi I?m Michelle; a tech writer from Manchester, UK, My passion is writing articles on numerous topics, for example Technology, finance, health,? Payday Loans and some other topics.
Source: http://www.financeguider.com/10-personal-finance-tips-to-keep-you-on-track/
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Activist investor Peltz cuts State Street stake: WSJ
(Reuters) - Trian Fund Management LP, founded by activist investor Nelson Peltz, has partially sold its stake in State Street Corp
It was not clear how much Trian still owns of State Street, the world's No. 2 stand-alone custody bank. The size of its stake is likely to be disclosed next month as part of the New York investment firm's overall holdings, the Journal said. (http://link.reuters.com/dus55t)
While Trian made a profit on the sale, the move came at a per-share price far below what Peltz and the firm's two other founding partners said State Street would be worth if it followed their "action plan," the newspaper reported.
Trian is State Street's eighth-largest investor, owning about 2 percent of the company's stock based on the reporting date of September 30, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Custody banks lend stocks, track mutual fund prices and collect and distribute dividend and interest payments for investors. Trian could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours.
(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/activist-investor-peltz-cuts-state-street-stake-wsj-033859242--sector.html
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PFT: Lovie Smith plans to sit out 2013 season
Getty ImagesEagles running back LeSean McCoy has made headlines for his Twitter use before, but there?s a big difference between trash talking with Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora and what happened between him and the mother of his son over the weekend.
McCoy lobbed volleys toward the woman, whose Twitter page identifies her only as Steph, in what seemed to be an argument about requests for money. USA Today has some of the tweets from McCoy?s account, which has been deleted, as well as the woman?s replies. Those replies included accusations that McCoy performed a particular sexual act to her to get out of paying child support and that McCoy?s current girlfriend had slept with one of his best friends.
McCoy originally deactivated the account by saying that his account was hacked. It?s a familiar explanation for unsavory content, but McCoy took the unusual step of admitting he made up the hacking story as part of a larger apology for the whole situation.
?In light of the recent events that played out over Twitter this past weekend, I would like to express how deeply sorry and remorseful I am to my family, the?Philadelphia Eagles, my fans, and every young person who views me as a role model. This is not who I am as a person, nor the image I ever wanted to portray of myself. It?s definitely not the example I want to set for my son,? McCoy said in a statement, via CSNPhilly.com. ?My Twitter account was not hacked. I take full responsibility and I apologize for trying to make it seem like it was not me. Due to my bad judgment and frustration, I allowed a very personal matter to be played out on a social network, of all things. It was immature and unprofessional for me to do so and to encourage others to join in.?
Anyone who follows athletes on Twitter can tell the ones who are doing it for themselves and those who are doing it with help as part of developing their ?brand.? The latter approach is boring and inauthentic, but it?s a lot less likely to get you in trouble for flying off the handle in full view of the public.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/28/lovie-smith-plans-to-sit-out-2013-season/related
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LINDSAY LOHAN TO GIVE BIRTH TO NEANDERTHAL | Weekly ...
Scientists were searching for a woman willing to give birth to a Neanderthal child. Lindsay Lohan volunteered.
Scientists were searching for a woman willing to give birth to a Neanderthal child. ?Lindsay Lohan ?has volunteered.
Scientists wanted a??woman to offer her body as a way to test the abilities of modern science to clone a caveman.
American geneticist George Templar?said that he was ?ready to clone a Neanderthal, but he needed a woman for the project, who could bear and deliver the unusual baby.
Lindsay Lohan read about the idea and said she would do it. ?Templar was ecstatic that she wanted to take a change. ?Then, Lohan?s agent demanded seven figures for using her body ? and the scientists agreed to pay her.
So, Lindsay Lohan will be the mother of a neanderthal.
Some think the Lohan Neanderthal will look like this:
Others think the baby will look more like this:
Lohan will receive an embryo with the Neanderthal DNA, ?placed in stem cells. Templar told WWN that the actual birth would be significantly different from what women usually experience. The birth canals of Neanderthal mothers were significantly wider than those of modern women, so their babies did not have to turn to get in the canals. In addition, the head of the Neanderthal baby is expected to be larger than that of normal children.
But Lohan, feels that she is ?big? enough to have the baby.
It?s a risk, but one Lohan is willing to take in order to keep her fame and ? dwindling fortune.
?If it works out ? ok, if it doesn?t ? ?and it?s disgusting ? well, at least I?ll have money and will keep my name in the press.?
Templar said that this could be the greatest scientific expert ever done.??We may see the creature ? I do not even want to call it a human being ? that will have a poorly developed left part of the brain. It will understand that it was born in this society, to this mother, Lindsay.?
If medics find abnormalities in the fetus of a woman, they will recommend that Lindsay terminate the pregnancy. ? But Lindsay will still get her millions. ?So, she?s ?good? either way.
The Lohan Neanderthal is expected to make its debut in January 2014.
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Source: http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/54269/lindsay-lohan-to-give-birth-to-neanderthal/
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Egyptian youths, police clash in fourth day of violence
CAIRO (Reuters) - Police fired teargas at dozens of stone-throwing protesters in Cairo on Sunday in a fourth day of street clashes that have killed at least 42 people and compounded the challenges facing President Mohamed Mursi.
In the worst violence, security sources said 33 people died in Port Said on Saturday when protests erupted after a court sentenced 21 people, mostly from the city, to death for their role in a deadly stadium disaster last year.
Thousands of mourners joined funeral processions for the dead in Port Said on Sunday, a witness said by telephone, adding that he heard gunshots and the sound of emergency vehicle sirens. But there were no immediate reports of new casualties.
Mursi's opponents have also taken to the streets across Egypt since Thursday, accusing him and his Islamist allies of betraying the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
"None of the revolution's goals have been realized," said Mohamed Sami, a protester in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday.
"Prices are going up. The blood of Egyptians is being spilt in the streets because of neglect and corruption and because the Muslim Brotherhood is ruling Egypt for their own interests."
On a bridge close to Tahrir Square, youths hurled stones at police in riot gear who fired teargas to push them back towards the square, the cauldron of the uprising that erupted on January 25, 2011 and toppled Mubarak 18 days later.
The latest protests were initially timed to mark Friday's anniversary of that revolt.
The U.S. and British embassies, both close to Tahrir, said they were closed for public business on Sunday.
The violence adds to the daunting task facing Mursi as he tries to fix a beleaguered economy and cool tempers before a parliamentary election expected in the next few months which is supposed to cement Egypt's transition to democracy.
It has exposed a deep rift in the nation. Liberals and other opponents accuse Mursi of failing to deliver on economic promises and say he has not lived up to pledges to represent all Egyptians. His backers say the opposition is seeking to topple Egypt's first freely elected leader by undemocratic means.
DIVISIONS
The army, Egypt's interim ruler until Mursi's election in June, was sent back onto the streets to restore order in Port Said and Suez, another port city on the Suez Canal where at least eight people have been killed in clashes with police.
In Port Said, residents had reported gunshots overnight and shops and many workplaces were shut on Sunday. Residents said the city had been tense ahead of the funerals amid fears the burials could set off further violence.
Many Egyptians are frustrated by the regular escalations that have hurt the economy and their livelihoods.
"They are not revolutionaries protesting," said taxi driver Kamal Hassan, 30, referring to those gathered in Tahrir. "They are thugs destroying the country."
The National Defence Council, headed by Mursi, has called for a national dialogue to discuss political differences.
That offer has been cautiously welcomed by the opposition National Salvation Front. But the coalition has demanded a clear agenda and guarantees that any agreements will be implemented.
The Front, formed late last year when Mursi provoked protests and violence by expanding his powers and driving through an Islamist-tinged constitution, has threatened to boycott the parliamentary poll and to call for more protests if a list of demands is not met, including having an early presidential vote.
Egypt's transition has been blighted from the outset by political rows and turbulence on the streets that have driven investors out and kept many tourists away, starving the economy of vital sources of hard currency.
Egypt's defense minister who also heads the army, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, called for the nation to stand together and said the military would not prevent peaceful protests. But he called on demonstrators to protect public property.
Clashes in Port Said erupted after a judge sentenced 21 men to death for involvement in 74 deaths at a soccer match on February 1, 2012 between Cairo's Al Ahly club and the local al-Masri team. Many of the victims were fans of the visiting team.
There were 73 defendants in the case. Those not sentenced on Saturday will face a verdict on March 9, the judge said.
Al Ahly fans cheered the verdict after threatening action if the death penalty was not meted out. But Port Said residents were furious that people from their city were held responsible.
(Additional reporting by Shaimaa Fayed in Cairo and Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/riots-over-egyptian-death-sentences-kill-least-32-005245042.html
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Monday, January 28, 2013
Jet delivered just 3 weeks before battery fire
3 hrs.
WASHINGTON?--?Federal investigators say the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that experienced a battery fire earlier this month was delivered to Japan Airlines less than three weeks before the fire.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday in an update of its investigation of the incident that the airliner was delivered on Dec. 20. It had only recorded 169 flight hours and 22 flights when the fire erupted in one of the airliner's two lithium ion batteries on Jan. 7.
The fire occurred at Logan International Airport shortly after the plane landed. NTSB said the battery was manufactured by GS Yuasa of Japan in September 2012.
A second battery incident led to an emergency landing by another 787 in Japan on Jan. 16. The 787 fleet worldwide has since been grounded.?
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/boeing-787-delivered-just-3-weeks-battery-fire-1C8124836
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Robert Amsterdam: Strange Bedfellow With Legal Nihilists
One of the primary reasons I became interested in Russia was the Khodorkovsky prosecution. ?(The expropriation of Shell?s Sakhalin II was another.) ?My writing about Khodorkovsky brought me in contact with Robert Amsterdam, a member of his legal team. ?Amsterdam was one of the first to link to my blog, and add me to his blogroll. ?I broadly agreed with his highly critical views of Russia, and Putinism in particular. ?I have met him once, and conversed on the phone several times. ?Although I concluded that he was likely fairly progressive in his leanings, based on his views about Russia and his work in Thailand, and some of his writings about resource nationalism, I believed that he believed in the rule of law, applied impartially, and that he believed that private property is a bulwark of liberty.
I was therefore extremely dismayed to see that he has joined the Kim Dotcom legal defense. ?Amsterdam offers several justifications for this choice. ?First, that the prosecution is ?essentially bogus.? ?Second, that the US government, with the complicity of the government of New Zealand, utilized excessive force in arresting Dotcom. ?Third, that the US government took this action for crass political reason, namely, to retain the political and financial support of the motion picture industry.
I find none of these persuasive. ?The crucial issue-without which none of the others would arise-is the legitimacy of the prosecution. ?That is, is there a legitimate basis for the charges brought against Kim Dotcom and his (alleged) co-conspirators?
Here?s what Amsterdam says:
The prosecution?s case is essentially bogus. ?Kim?s lawyer Ira Rothken has picked apart the allegations?in a number of?interviews, exposing the flaws in every point of the indictment. ?As an Internet services intermediary, Megaupload diligently complied with takedown requests to remove infringing materials, and went even further to allow some 180 content-producing companies direct access to the servers to delete infringing materials themselves, which was unprecedented for any cloud storage provider. ?Despite never once having been sued by any movie studio or record company, the DOJ wants to hold Megaupload liable for infringement via third party cases of piracy by users ? however there exists no federal criminal statute for secondary copyright infringement, so essentially they are trying to unlawfully apply civil law in a criminal law context. ?As Rothken has argued, the aggressive persecution of Kim Dotcom and other Megaupload founders has been full of ?dirty tactics? by U.S. prosecutors.The prosecution?s case is essentially bogus. ?Kim?s lawyer Ira Rothken has picked apart the allegations?in a number of?interviews, exposing the flaws in every point of the indictment. ?As an Internet services intermediary, Megaupload diligently complied with takedown requests to remove infringing materials, and went even further to allow some 180 content-producing companies direct access to the servers to delete infringing materials themselves, which was unprecedented for any cloud storage provider. ?Despite never once having been sued by any movie studio or record company, the DOJ wants to hold Megaupload liable for infringement via third party cases of piracy by users ? however there exists no federal criminal statute for secondary copyright infringement, so essentially they are trying to unlawfully apply civil law in a criminal law context. ?As Rothken has argued, the aggressive persecution of Kim Dotcom and other Megaupload founders has been full of ?dirty tactics? by U.S. prosecutors.
Here is the indictment. ?Compare and contrast with what Amsterdam writes.
It alleges that although Dotcom and Megaupload took some actions to remove copyrighted material from their sites, it provided financial incentives for users to upload copyrighted material; failed to terminate access from known copyright infringers; made no significant efforts to identify or remove copyrighted material, or prevent it from being uploaded; impeded copyright holders from identifying those using the sites to upload copyrighted material; did not delete material they knew to be copyrighted, even after being informed by the copyright holder; ?complied selectively with obligations to remove copyrighted material, but failed to do so when it was in their financial incentive to do so; falsely represented to copyright holders that they had removed copyrighted material, when in fact they had only removed a subset of the links that provided access to that material; monitored law enforcement surveillance of Mega sites, and took active measures to conceal copyright infringement taking place on these sites; personally uploaded pirated copyrighted material; and on and on.
Let?s not pretend like we all fell off the cabbage truck. ?It is more than obvious that Megaupload was created to facilitate the uploading and distribution of pirated copyrighted material. ?That?s what it was used for. ?Megaupload profited from this by selling premium subscriptions and by selling advertising to those who visited the site to view copyrighted material. It?s not hard to connect the Dotcoms here, though Amsterdam pretends there are none to connect. ?Megaupload had a direct financial stake in facilitating the uploading and downloading of pirated material. ?That?s what brought people to the site. ?That?s what induced them to pay for premium subscriptions. ?That?s what brought the eyeballs that paid for the ads. ?That?s what the indictment alleges. ?That it was, in essence, a fence of stolen property. ?Intellectual property, yes, but property nonetheless-under United States law. ?(More on this below.) ?An entity that facilitated the marketing of stolen property, and made money for providing this service.
The indictment?s allegations flatly contradict Amsterdam?s claims that Dotcom and Megaupload were ?diligent? in their efforts to protect copyrights. ?In contrast, the indictment alleges that these efforts were perfunctory, and intended to feign compliance as a means of covering a concerted scheme to facilitate the distribution of pirated copyrighted materials. ?Read some of the emails in the indictment. ?It is clear that Dotcom and the others indicted were aware that copyrighted material was being accessed via Mega, that making money off of providing access to these materials was the essence of their business model, and that they took some actions that gave the illusion of compliance while taking other actions to protect the business model. ?Sort of reminds one of a fence that runs a legit pawn shop on the side, and from time to time turns over stolen property to the cops.
It is interesting to note that Dotcom?s defense?s attempts to dismiss the charges focus on the very narrow issue of the service of the indictment on Megaupload, rather than the substance of the charges.
Let?s also not pretend that Kim Dotcom has no history. ?He has a very long and disreputable history, in fact. ? Hacker. ?Inside trader. ?Fraud. ?More than a history, a rapsheet-complete with a conviction. ?What?s more, he revels in his outlawry. ?Flaunts it, in fact. ?For going on two decades, he has reveled in breaking the law and profiting from it.
Dotcom also operates in a milieu that denies the legitimacy of most intellectual property law: some, in fact, deny the legitimacy of any IP law. ?These people rationalize that since it is costless to copy, copies should be costless. ?That is the socialism of the wired fool (or is it ?efool? or ?iFool??). ?What is copied has to be created. ?If it is copied for free, it is far less likely to be created.
This is the fundamental tension in intellectual property. ?It is hard to balance the incentives, but these ?copyleftists? (as Catherine Fitzpatrick trenchantly and accurately characterizes them) don?t even recognize there is any need to balance. ?This is, quite frankly, idiocy. ?I could give lectures on the subject. ?Oh. ?Wait. ?I have.
But the copyleftists self-righteously?(how?s that for irony?) shriek that any attempt to constrain their ability to access IP is an unconscionable infringement of freedom. ?From this, it is a short step to rationalizing the taking of intellectual property. ?If you believe ?(intellectual) property is theft? there is no moral bar against appropriating it-?liberating? it. ?And from there, it is a shorter step still to believing that any attempt to enforce intellectual property law is a gross injustice, and that the enforcers are the corrupt creatures of the real thieves-those who claim for themselves what should be freely available to everyone.
And that is exactly what Robert Amsterdam is buying into when he defends Dotcom. ?If you believe that copyright is legitimate property, and recognize that there laws-including criminal statutes-to protect this property, then you have to acknowledge there is a legitimate basis for the prosecution of Dotcom.
But in arguing that US prosecutors are the corrupt creatures of Chris Dodd and the movie industry, Amsterdam buys into the whole IP as theft meme. ?Lord knows I am no fan of the guy who put the Dodd into Frankendodd, but in this instance he is representing a legitimate interest that expects and deserves that its property be protected by law enforcement.
Let me put this another way. Amsterdam has been a vociferous critic of legal nihilism in Russia. ?With considerable justification, and I am in agreement with him on this. ?But Dotcom and his defenders are total legal nihilists. Some of the copyleftist community are nihilists on what they consider to be principled grounds: the IP is theft principle, to be specific. ?Aaron Swartz fell into this category. ?Dotcom is a legal nihilist for purely mercenary reasons: to support his .1 percent lifestyle. ? But the motive is not really material, even when it is materialistic. ?A nihilist is a nihilist. ? These people want to annihilate IP law. ?For different reasons, but they want to annihilate it. ?By signing onto the Dotcom defense Amsterdam is abetting the same legal nihilism that he excoriates in Russia. ?There are legitimate means to change the law: breaking it isn?t one of them.
There is further Russia-related irony here. ?Who has been among Dotcom?s most vociferous defenders? None other than The Media Outlet Formerly Known as Russia Today. ?Yes, that RT. ?The Kremlin agitprop operation. ?An operation that is, shall we say, hardly Khodorkovsky friendly, and which is the puppet of Khodorkovsky?s main tormentor: Vladimir Putin. ?RT loves-loves-Kim Dotcom. ?Mikhail Khodorkovsky, not so much. ?Does your strange bedfellow steal the covers, Robert?
And further the we-didn?t-fall-off-the-cabbage-truck theme. ?Russia is one of the main sources of pirated material, and one of the main consumers of pirated material. ?Each VKontakte user watches an average of 8.5 hours of video a month, virtually all of which is pirated. Russia is notorious for its IP piracy-and for the studied refusal of the government to do anything about it. ?Indeed, it is equally notorious that the security forces provide the krysha for all varieties of cybercrime, including piracy.
As the operator of the largest market for pirated material (and by market, I mean a venue where buyers and sellers can interact to engage in exchange), Kim Dotcom was in a highly symbiotic relationship with such types. ?Highly symbiotic: Dotcom provided a venue-an exchange, if you will-where these types could sell their ill-gotten goods, and made a very lucrative living by doing so.
Meaning this was not a Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon sort of association between Dotcom and the Russian security services. ?There are far fewer degrees of separation of Kim Dotcom from the very people who persecute (by his own characterization) Amsterdam?s most famous client: the client who propelled Amsterdam to international prominence (and large billings), yet who continues to rot in a jail cell in Chita. Losing any sleep with your new bedfellow, Robert?
One last point. ?Amsterdam makes a big deal out of the fact that Megaupload/Dotcom were ?never sued by any movie studio or record company.? ?A similar claim is heard repeatedly in regards to JSTOR, MIT, and Aaron Swartz.
Please. ?Presumably Amsterdam makes this point to insinuate that the movie studios or record companies didn?t believe that Dotcom was costing them any business: if they did, why didn?t they sue? ?But how can he possibly reconcile this insinuation with his other claim: that the movie industry collectively pursued Dotcom with Javert-like obsessiveness? ? If movie companies were individually unharmed by Megaupload, why would they fund collective action to force the government to prosecute him? ? You can?t have it both ways.
Moreover, taken at face value, Amsterdam?s claim (and similar claims made regarding Swartz) would imply that there is no need for state civil or criminal enforcement of any property right. ?Just leave everything to private right of action. ?If that?s his position, I would like to hear his defense of it.
There are in fact strong arguments on the other side.
For one, economies of specialization in investigation and enforcement are one reason to have state enforcement.
Free rider problems are another. ?Indeed, the Dotcom case illustrates that point clearly.
Amsterdam mentions 180 content providers. ? The efforts of any one of these firms to force Megaupload to cease operations, or to operate in a way which protected IP, would redound to the benefit of the other 179. ?There is a public good problem/free rider problem here, and given this (severe) problem purely private enforcement leads to too little effort to enforce property rights. ?Public enforcement internalizes (at least partially) an externality.
It is interesting to consider what Amsterdam brings to this case. ?His law firm?s website does not disclose any experience in US criminal cases, or intellectual property law. ?Instead, it primarily touts its expertise in political defense and political advocacy. ?That?s quite telling, and of a piece with the efforts of copyleftists and the hacking underworld to politicize every attempt to enforce laws relating to copyright and computer security. ?There?s an old saying: if the law is on your side, argue the law. ?If the facts are on your side, argue the facts. ?If neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the table. ?In computer and IP related legal matters, the last sentence of the aphorism should be modified to read: ?If neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the politics.? ?That is likely to be Amsterdam?s role in this case.
But in playing this role, he is associating with a very dubious character who facilitated massive theft, and profited therefrom. ?Making a political cause celebre of Dotcom will play well with Anons, the EFF crowd, the Googlesphere and others in the anti-IP precincts of the left. ?Precincts that are quite well-heeled, by the way, and spend large sums on political influence in order to advance their economic interest-just like the movie industry. ?But in so doing, Amsterdam gives ammunition to Putin and his ilk, who will no doubt smirkingly point to Dotcom and say that Amsterdam is willing to defend wealthy guilty-as-sin crooks by politicizing their cases-thereby discrediting his advocacy of Khodorkorkovsky. ?And they?ll have a point.
Source: http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?p=6984
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