SA Customs clears SterKinekor

[ponder]

Wow. Dude, I've rarely seen anyone manage to put both feet in their mouth at once. Congratulations. Judging by your post-count, the law of averages dictates that eventually you will post a stupid post. Sorry to hear about that.

Anyway, before you inflict your unresearched opinion on us, maybe you should take a turn to the safact website at www.safact.co.za and read their annual reports. Maybe you can see what they're doing. And then maybe you can come back and try again.

Juice

Just like a village every forum needs an idiot

 

[Albereth]

Just like a village every forum needs an idiot

Please don't pick on Juice.

 

[LazyLion]

Wow. Dude, I've rarely seen anyone manage to put both feet in their mouth at once. Congratulations. Judging by your post-count, the law of averages dictates that eventually you will post a stupid post. Sorry to hear about that.

Anyway, before you inflict your unresearched opinion on us, maybe you should take a turn to the safact website at www.safact.co.za and read their annual reports. Maybe you can see what they're doing. And then maybe you can come back and try again.

Juice

Wow, Dude, thanks for giving me the link... I was looking for that, since you think we are too dumb to figure it out for ourselves.

OK, so I checked the website. The first thing that jumps out at me is the "Latest News". See the date on the last article? 21 May 2008. Since you are so smart, you wanna tell me how long ago that was? The second thing I notice is that none of those articles have any relevance to South Africa. so SAFACT is tooting somebody else's horn... just like you.

Hmmm, let's click on "Court Cases" ... oops... it has not been updated since 2006! Ooh, bad form SAFACT! We thought you were on the ball policing us and keeping us safe from all the evil pirates!

OK, let's try another link... Statistics. Dang! they have not updated that since early 2008 either. Sheesh these guys must be out fighting crime so much that they have no time to update their website.

Let's look down the right hand side... see all those sponsors? What is the common denominator amongst those? Come on smart boy... yes, well done they are mostly all content producers! Wow, who woulda thought that SAFACT was the lapdog of the big corps. But you sound like a lapdog as well so tell us.. . what's it like being somebody else's pony?

"Annual reports" you say? um, can you give me a link plz... cos I can't find ANY annual reports on that site. Sorry, but all I see is Activites for 2008... and what do you know they raided a few flea markets and siezed some hardware!!! Whoop de doo! Really effective, aren't they?

Now you wanna jump in my car and we drive down to Bruma, or Mondeor, or Lenasia... and within an hour I will show you some guys selling "Slumdog Millionaire" and 100 other movies on fake DVD.

yeah these SAFACT guys are great... really effective. Well done. When did you start working for them?

.. and judging by your post count... you have yet to make one intelligent post. So please, by all means dazzle us with your amazing and intelligent response!

 

[WoW]

Juice due to SAFACT actions prices are high for most media in the country. You do not protect the consumers interests but rather the interests of your funders. Best part is your are fighting a losing battle as 80% of children under the age of 18 now download music opposed to purchasing material which is pure profit.

SAFACT will need to approach the media players and suggest that they change their revenue model to adapt to the new technology used. But the strategic thinking of your board would never allow for such.

The success of torrents is also an indication of how consumers are standing up against greedy organizations.

Juice quick question, if I buy a DVD and borrow it to my brother, am I a pirate because I did not tell him to go buy it himself?

 

[LazyLion]

Here's the problem... all those content producers want SAFACT to protect their income model, but they are too greedy to even give SAFACT the money they need to do their job properly! Now that's what I call irony!

 

[WoW]

Wow, Dude, thanks for giving me the link... I was looking for that, since you think we are too dumb to figure it out for ourselves.

OK, so I checked the website. The first thing that jumps out at me is the "Latest News". See the date on the last article? 21 May 2008. Since you are so smart, you wanna tell me how long ago that was? The second thing I notice is that none of those articles have any relevance to South Africa. so SAFACT is tooting somebody else's horn... just like you.

Hmmm, let's click on "Court Cases" ... oops... it has not been updated since 2006! Ooh, bad form SAFACT! We thought you were on the ball policing us and keeping us safe from all the evil pirates!

OK, let's try another link... Statistics. Dang! they have not updated that since early 2008 either. Sheesh these guys must be out fighting crime so much that they have no time to update their website.

Let's look down the right hand side... see all those sponsors? What is the common denominator amongst those? Come on smart boy... yes, well done they are mostly all content producers! Wow, who woulda thought that SAFACT was the lapdog of the big corps. But you sound like a lapdog as well so tell us.. . what's it like being somebody else's pony?

"Annual reports" you say? um, can you give me a link plz... cos I can't find ANY annual reports on that site. Sorry, but all I see is Activites for 2008... and what do you know they raided a few flea markets and siezed some hardware!!! Whoop de doo! Really effective, aren't they?

Now you wanna jump in my car and we drive down to Bruma, or Mondeor, or Lenasia... and within an hour I will show you some guys selling "Slumdog Millionaire" and 100 other movies on fake DVD.

yeah these SAFACT guys are great... really effective. Well done. When did you start working for them?

.. and judging by your post count... you have yet to make one intelligent post. So please, by all means dazzle us with your amazing and intelligent response!

+1
I went through the site and it clearly shows they target the poorest and exist only to support the greedy media companies.

As internet prices drop and bandwith increase sharing media will be become even more of a breeze.

So Juice what do you guys really do besides running after hawkers?

"It is criminal if it is not original" Are you serious? Get your lawyers to look at that slogan again.

 

[Freshy-ZN]

pWNED

 

[Mouse]

"It is criminal if it is not original"

I went to watch a movie at the cinema and Leon Schuster come on during the adverts as Mr. Bones and he said that.
My first thought was "I want to pirate Mr bones because Schuster's talking ****"

 

[dakeyras]

The response that I posted:

I happen to deal with imports on a daily basis with the work that I do, so have to deal with customs/sars quite often.

While it sucks that fellow gamers had their goods confiscated, you have to realise that customs has an important job to do. They are there to make sure that legal things get into this country. True, they seem to fail more often than not, but it doesnt change the fact that it is their job. Getting personal and rude to someone just doing what they are paid to do is completely unnecessary, and we can hardly expect them to know if it is possible to do something or not (aka counterfeit PS2 games in this case). Asking them to google it is hardly reasonable, because we all know what **** float around out there. Also add the fact that it would be mostly pirate sites that would have the info on whether it is possible to pirate or not... Hardly the most reliable sources of knowledge.

 

[Sackboy]

The response that I posted:

I happen to deal with imports on a daily basis with the work that I do, so have to deal with customs/sars quite often.

While it sucks that fellow gamers had their goods confiscated, you have to realise that customs has an important job to do. They are there to make sure that legal things get into this country. True, they seem to fail more often than not, but it doesnt change the fact that it is their job. Getting personal and rude to someone just doing what they are paid to do is completely unnecessary, and we can hardly expect them to know if it is possible to do something or not (aka counterfeit PS2 games in this case). Asking them to google it is hardly reasonable, because we all know what **** float around out there. Also add the fact that it would be mostly pirate sites that would have the info on whether it is possible to pirate or not... Hardly the most reliable sources of knowledge.

I put it to you, that the actions of SK and FACT are nothing to do with piracy, but a failed attempt at discouraging grey imports of overpriced software and in turn wasting the time of overworked customs officials.

 

[Freshy-ZN]

And I concur wholeheartedly with Sackboy.

SAFACT and SK are not doing us a favour by policing incoming packages. They purely have their own selfish interests at heart. I am more convinced than ever that the whole bollox story about how: "18 suspect packages arrived with a few days from the same source" is a feeble attempt to cover up what is really happening here and that is profiteering.

 

[Kilgore_Trout_Redux]

+1
I went through the site and it clearly shows they target the poorest and exist only to support the greedy media companies.

As internet prices drop and bandwith increase sharing media will be become even more of a breeze.

So Juice what do you guys really do besides running after hawkers?

"It is criminal if it is not original" Are you serious? Get your lawyers to look at that slogan again.

Unfortunately if artists and distributors don't get paid then they stop producing the goodies you so like to steal

Against all the evidence I'm going to make the assumption that you are an adult and ask how you would like to suddenly not get paid for the work you do?

 

[LazyLion]

Unfortunately if artists and distributors don't get paid then they stop producing the goodies you so like to steal

Against all the evidence I'm going to make the assumption that you are an adult and ask how you would like to suddenly not get paid for the work you do?

Brendan, I hate to burst your bubble. It is not the artists we want to deprive. But it IS the evil distributors. The Internet makes it easy for the artists to bring their music and movies directly to us. This is what we want them to do. But companies like Ster Kinekor and Industry Watchdogs like the MPAA and the RIAA want to protect themselves as the middle men and the distributors.

Their sales model is an old archaic dying one. The days of physical distribution via middle men are dying fast because people can now either download their games/movies/music or buy/source them from the cheapest most reasonable distributor (shop.to in this case) anywhere in the world.

The middle men like Ster Kinekor are actually harming the industry immensely through their racketeering, profiteering and price controls. Both the artists (who only get paid a fraction of the sale) and the consumer (who has to pay a premium for packaging, delivery and protection costs) are suffering because of them. They want to tell you where and when you have to buy it and just how much you have to pay for it. It is greed, plain and simple. That is what we want to see changed.

We don't want the artists to suffer at all. I would much rather pay the artist directly for his work, than have 70% of my sale price go to the middle man. That is not to mention the other costs for DRM, lavish promotions, etc.

I don't have a problem with SAFACT's going after the local pirates at all. I think it is a good thing. But it is a drop in the ocean compared to the real problem. The real problem is that there are bigger pirates in the waters than the little guys. Pirates who run multi-national corporations which are in the business of ripping off consumers and artists alike. These are not like your little Somali pirates in speed-boats. These are pirates who control entire shipping lanes and have their own navies and aircraft carriers.

 

[I am Penguin]

Brendan, I hate to burst your bubble. It is not the artists we want to deprive. But it IS the evil distributors. The Internet makes it easy for the artists to bring their music and movies directly to us. This is what we want them to do. But companies like Ster Kinekor and Industry Watchdogs like the MPAA and the RIAA want to protect themselves as the middle men and the distributors.

Their sales model is an old archaic dying one. The days of physical distribution via middle men are dying fast because people can now either download their games/movies/music or buy/source them from the cheapest most reasonable distributor (shop.to in this case) anywhere in the world.

The middle men like Ster Kinekor are actually harming the industry immensely through their racketeering, profiteering and price controls. Both the artists (who only get paid a fraction of the sale) and the consumer (who has to pay a premium for packaging, delivery and protection costs) are suffering because of them. They want to tell you where and when you have to buy it and just how much you have to pay for it. It is greed, plain and simple. That is what we want to see changed.

We don't want the artists to suffer at all. I would much rather pay the artist directly for his work, than have 70% of my sale price go to the middle man. That is not to mention the other costs for DRM, lavish promotions, etc.

I don't have a problem with SAFACT's going after the local pirates at all. I think it is a good thing. But it is a drop in the ocean compared to the real problem. The real problem is that there are bigger pirates in the waters than the little guys. Pirates who run multi-national corporations which are in the business of ripping off consumers and artists alike. These are not like your little Somali pirates in speed-boats. These are pirates who control entire shipping lanes and have their own navies and aircraft carriers.

Whats has Somalia to do with the topic?
Must the SA customs now control those pirates? Pfft. Some little dreamers. What sales model do you propose? Hmmm the one of "free for all downloaders"
So you want the artists not to suffer. Tell me how much you contributed to their income for all the downloads you made, for free! Hmmmmm.

 

[LazyLion]

Whats has Somalia to do with the topic?
Must the SA customs now control those pirates? Pfft. Some little dreamers. What sales model do you propose? Hmmm the one of "free for all downloaders"
So you want the artists not to suffer. Tell me how much you contributed to their income for all the downloads you made, for free! Hmmmmm.

... if you can't figure it out then never mind. I think this topic is probably beyond your intelligence level. Go back to playing with your little Blu-Ray collection!

For those who are interested (and have more than three brain cells) here is an article that perfectly illustrates what this is all about...

http://torrentfreak.com/top-artists-strike-back-at-greedy-music-labels-090311/

 

[Kilgore_Trout_Redux]

That site isn't exactly unbiased.

Also the argument that publishers and labels rip artists off has nothing to do with this discussion. It is a Strawman. Nodbody uho uses this argument can tell me how stealing the work of artists frees them from the clutches of the evil publishers. I do agree that more energy needs to be put into targeting the large syndicates though. Individuals importing goods are a soft target though.

 

[LazyLion]

That site isn't exactly unbiased.

Also the argument that publishers and labels rip artists off has nothing to do with this discussion. It is a Strawman. Nodbody uho uses this argument can tell me how stealing the work of artists frees them from the clutches of the evil publishers. I do agree that more energy needs to be put into targeting the large syndicates though. Individuals importing goods are a soft target though.

Biased because it defends the Torrent technology? Um, ja. I think that is so given that they are called "Torrent Freak" ... but there is nothing wrong with the technology. They fiercely defend that technology as is their right. Brendan, everyone is biased. There is no such thing as a "free agent". We all have our bias.

Their political views are probably close akin to mine though. We oppose anyone who mislabels consumers as pirates while trying to pass off their own money-making greed as "concern over legality". Some of us don't like being ordered around or restricted.

copyright issues are all well and good, but there is also the issue here of consumer freedom and market freedom. These guys hate that. They want you to buy from them... at their prices. I don't have a problem with paying (despite what some idiots say ... my own music and movie collection is proof of that). I do have a problem though with people telling me to buy the content (that they did not even create) according to their terms and controls. I would much rather buy it direct from the artist, or from a distributor who is willing to sell it to me at a reasonable price in an unrestricted form.

 

[WoW]

Unfortunately if artists and distributors don't get paid then they stop producing the goodies you so like to steal

Against all the evidence I'm going to make the assumption that you are an adult and ask how you would like to suddenly not get paid for the work you do?

BrendanD, here is film producers response http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlAB0v8wHdc

Before their was the greedy media companies do you think there was no music or movies because the artists would not make money?

You have a skewed view on media.

The business model of the future will be free content and artists will make their money from live performances.

 

[I am Penguin]

... if you can't figure it out then never mind. I think this topic is probably beyond your intelligence level. Go back to playing with your little Blu-Ray collection!

For those who are interested (and have more than three brain cells) here is an article that perfectly illustrates what this is all about...

http://torrentfreak.com/top-artists-strike-back-at-greedy-music-labels-090311/

Put it this way; your comments clearly indicate your pre-neatherdal abilities.
So you have at least three brain cells. What an achievement.

 

[EtienneK]

Piracy is not stealing.

Media in the future will be free. Companies and artists will have to figure out other ways of making money.

It's already happening. Live with it.