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If true, this has to be one of the more bizarre ways to counteract piracy I have ever seen. I don't know what percentage of piracy is enabled by people carryin

If true, this has to be one of the more bizarre ways to counteract piracy I have ever seen. I don't know what percentage of piracy is enabled by people carrying hard drives full of pirated movies across borders, but I'm sure it is vanishingly small - that is, after all, what pirates use the _internet_ for.

scotty79 15y ago
It is not to stop piracy. It is to detect and punish people who have pirated content in their possession. You can't invade people's homes but you can search them thoroughly while crossing the border. People are used to having their privacy invaded while crossing the border.
- molmalo 15y ago
  Yep, They may think "let's just punish a few thousands and will make an example of them, showing that we are serious about this now." Can somebody tell me if this is expected to be enforced only to citizens from countries that actually signed ACTA, or also to everyone else?
- Iv 15y ago
  The problem is that I have signed a contract with my company that says I must keep the data on my company laptop private and encrypted. There are trade secrets in there. What should I do ? Only have blank laptops to cross the border and download everything through ssh once on the other side ? Talk about a waste of time.
  - robocat 15y ago
    If from overseas, would it help to have a business own the laptop, and its data? You can then legitimately say the business owns the illegal data, or deny knowledge of a hidden partition, or say you have no access to a key? [Posted using my own account... not a US citizen and not hoping to travel there. If I were extradited i guess i wouldnt take any equipment or data!]
- newhouseb 15y ago
  An interesting question is that if someone were to travel (non-commercially) across borders with a fake gucci bag, could that person could be held liable under ACTA for the case that a) they were aware of the product was counterfeit and/or b) the case in which they were unaware?
  - maigret 15y ago
    Yes. Near the French / Italian border there are targeted controls for counterfeited products. Common sense should tell you you can't get a Gucci bag for 200$, or anywhere outside of a luxury shop ;) And yes, you are also liable if you were unaware - but most people are actually aware.
    - mayanksinghal 15y ago
      - What if a person bought a fake Gucci bag for 50% of the price of original bag? - What if it was a gift? - What if he is not aware of the brand and thought it was just another bag?
      - muuh-gnu 15y ago
        Who cares. IP protection trumps basic common sense and basic human rights. And even though we all have to abide by inane protectionism schemes, we should not be allowed to directly vote on them, because direct democracy would make uninformed people make impulsive decisions and possibly introduce theocracies everywhere. So to prevent theocracy, we have to prevent direct democracy, which means we cant vote on copyright, which means we have to swallow down our pride and just abide by any IP protectionism scheme the informed overlords make in agreement with the industrial stake holders. There sadly is no middle way. It is either theocracy or IP protectionism. Pick one.
        treo 15y ago
        The swiss have a direct democracy and are not a theocracy.
    - 15y ago

scotty79 15y ago

It is not to stop piracy. It is to detect and punish people who have pirated content in their possession. You can't invade people's homes but you can search them thoroughly while crossing the border. People are used to having their privacy invaded while crossing the border.

molmalo 15y ago
Yep, They may think "let's just punish a few thousands and will make an example of them, showing that we are serious about this now." Can somebody tell me if this is expected to be enforced only to citizens from countries that actually signed ACTA, or also to everyone else?
Iv 15y ago
The problem is that I have signed a contract with my company that says I must keep the data on my company laptop private and encrypted. There are trade secrets in there. What should I do ? Only have blank laptops to cross the border and download everything through ssh once on the other side ? Talk about a waste of time.
- robocat 15y ago
  If from overseas, would it help to have a business own the laptop, and its data? You can then legitimately say the business owns the illegal data, or deny knowledge of a hidden partition, or say you have no access to a key? [Posted using my own account... not a US citizen and not hoping to travel there. If I were extradited i guess i wouldnt take any equipment or data!]
newhouseb 15y ago
An interesting question is that if someone were to travel (non-commercially) across borders with a fake gucci bag, could that person could be held liable under ACTA for the case that a) they were aware of the product was counterfeit and/or b) the case in which they were unaware?
- maigret 15y ago
  Yes. Near the French / Italian border there are targeted controls for counterfeited products. Common sense should tell you you can't get a Gucci bag for 200$, or anywhere outside of a luxury shop ;) And yes, you are also liable if you were unaware - but most people are actually aware.
  - mayanksinghal 15y ago
    - What if a person bought a fake Gucci bag for 50% of the price of original bag? - What if it was a gift? - What if he is not aware of the brand and thought it was just another bag?
    - muuh-gnu 15y ago
      Who cares. IP protection trumps basic common sense and basic human rights. And even though we all have to abide by inane protectionism schemes, we should not be allowed to directly vote on them, because direct democracy would make uninformed people make impulsive decisions and possibly introduce theocracies everywhere. So to prevent theocracy, we have to prevent direct democracy, which means we cant vote on copyright, which means we have to swallow down our pride and just abide by any IP protectionism scheme the informed overlords make in agreement with the industrial stake holders. There sadly is no middle way. It is either theocracy or IP protectionism. Pick one.
      - treo 15y ago
        The swiss have a direct democracy and are not a theocracy.
  - 15y ago