US piracy watch list: 'stop being poor'
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 1st May 2012 21:17 UTC
Legal The US Trade Representative has released its Special 301 Report again, the document the US government uses to mafia poor countries (and Canada) into enacting stricter IP laws. "Perhaps the most shameful inclusion in this year's report are a series of countries whose primarily fault is being poor. [...] Moreover, with repeated complaints against countries seeking to ensure adequate access to medicines for their citizens or access to books in schools, this year's report hits a new low. It demonstrates the failure of the enforcement agenda and stands as an embarrassment for one of the world's richest countries to prioritize its IP rights over human and economic rights in the developing world." Infuriating. And people wonder why I consider the current IP legislation and lobby entirely unethical and strictly evil.
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UglyKidBill
Member since:
2005-07-27

Too many times USA´s "charity" resembles more of an investment, many of those countries surely don´t have too much to be thankful to the US.

Edited 2012-05-02 21:00 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2

galvanash Member since:
2006-01-25

I didn't say it was charity... Its financial aid. Much of it is explicitly asked for the the recipient country, some of it is even loans and/or debt forgiveness. I excluded military aid because for the most part I feel military aid benefits our strategic interests more than the recipients - if I had included that the numbers would have been far higher for a few of these countries (Pakistan, Egypt, etc.)

My only point was that the US does offer financial aid to these countries regardless of policy disagreements when it comes to intellectual property.

Also, I realize this is a touchy subject... Financial Aid is given to the government of these countries. While there are often strings attached to direct the use of the funds, governments can get quite "creative" with how they report these things. It is often misspent - there is little the US can actually do about it unfortunately...

Edited 2012-05-02 22:08 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2

Soulbender Member since:
2005-08-18

Financial Aid is given to the government of these countries. While there are often strings attached to direct the use of the funds, governments can get quite "creative" with how they report these things. It is often misspent - there is little the US can actually do about it unfortunately...


I really do think the supposedly most powerful nation on earth has what it takes to put the required pressure on these governments. If you wanted to, that is.

Reply Parent Score: 2