theinquirer.net wrote:Piracy worse than Child Pornography
THE NEW look Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) seems to be giving the world an unusual moral code.
Details of the upgraded act, which has the blessing of the music and film industry and the Bush administration, are now coming to light. It appears that the DMCA will have a maximum sentence of ten years inside for the crime of software and music piracy. It will also give the FBI the powers to wiretap suspected pirates.
Although sentencing varies in the US, the new law does send a very strange message as to what the government considers 'bad' in the 21st century.
For example assaulting a police officer will get you five years, downloading child porn will get you seven years, assaulting without a weapon will get you ten years and aggravated assault six years.
So in other words if you copy a Disney CD and sell it you will be in the same league as a paedophile who is distributing pictures of sexual attacks on children.
If you copy Craig David's CD you get ten years, but if you punch him in the face and pummel him into a seven day coma you will only get six. You are more likely to get the respect of the prison population with your six year sentence as well
For example assaulting a police officer will get you five years, downloading child porn will get you seven years, assaulting without a weapon will get you ten years and aggravated assault six years.
Pathetic. There's something real screwy about the judicial system. There was a judge in Virginia a couple months ago that gave a confessed child molester/rapist only 60 days in jail! I can try to find the article if you hadn't heard about that. Pretty disturbing. Priorities are all out of whack. Some judges seem to care more for the convicts than they do for the victims.
Here's an article on it. To be fair, because of an outcry from angry citizens, he resentenced the man to 3-10 years. Still not close to what he should serve, imo.
Claiming he no longer believes in punishment, a Vermont judge issued a 60-day sentence to a man who confessed to repeatedly raping a girl over a four-year period, beginning when she was 7 years old.
Judge Edward Cashman disagreed with prosecutors who thought Mark Hulett, 34, of Williston, Vt., deserved eight to 20 years in prison, reported WCAX-TV in Burlington, Vt.
Cashman said he's more concerned now about rehabilitation.
"The one message I want to get through is that anger doesn't solve anything. It just corrodes your soul," Cashman told a packed Burlington courtroom made up mostly of people related to the victim.
Prior to the decision, Chittenden Deputy Prosecutor Nicole Andreson argued punishment "is a valid purpose."
"The state recognizes that the court may not agree or subscribe to that method of sentencing but the state does," she said, according to the Burlington TV station. "The state thinks that it is a very important factor for the court to consider."
Cashman said he wants to make sure Hulett gets sex-offender treatment.
Under Department of Corrections classification, however, Hulett is considered a low-risk for re-offense, which means he doesn't qualify for in-prison treatment.
Cashman, therefore, issued a 60-day sentence and ordered Hulett to complete sex-treatment when he gets out or face a possible life sentence.
The judge said that when he began 25 years ago, he handed down tough sentences but now believes "it accomplishes nothing of value."
"It doesn't make anything better; it costs us a lot of money; we create a lot of expectation, and we feed on anger," Cashman explained to the people in the court, WCAX reported.
Members of the victim's family were outraged.
"I don't like it," the victim's mother told the TV station, in tears. "He should pay for what he did to my baby and stop it here. She's not even home with me and he can be home for all this time, and do what he did in my house."
Judge Edward Cashman of Vermont changed the sentence of Mark Hulett, for molesting a 7-year-old girl for 4 years, from 60 days to 3-10 years. Still a ridiculous sentence. Mark Hulett will more than likely get out on parole in 3 years. His sentence will not even be as long as he molested the 7-year-old girl for and the sentence of a life of psychological damage he has given her.
I gather from our discussions that you and I are on different ends of the political spectrum, but despite that I'd vote for you. You seem to have a good, logical head on your shoulders. It'd be nice to have that in Washington for once in my lifetime.
Cafe Home
Fantasy Baseball
Fantasy Basketball
Fantasy Hockey
by Slingblade » Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:26 pm 
