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A 21st Century Great Plague?

Fascinating account of the purported "Stuxnet" computer virus that apparently disrupted the Iranian nuclear program.  Someday we'll likely learn the whole story, just as we learned after the Cold War about many espionage and other covert actions.

The question for the moment is--if we, or someone, can do this to the Iranians, can't we please do it to the Norks, too?  At the very least pre-load their iPods with Team America?
Categories > Foreign Affairs

Discussions - 2 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsvRDrweYKQ

If the U.S. government preloads Ipods with Team America, wouldn't they have to pay Paramount "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."?

If an american individual created a virus that preloads Ipods with Team America he would be sued by Apple and Paramount and end up in the 9th circuit. After filling for bankrupcy he would probably be hired for technical acumen, depending on the sophistication of his virus.

In part to fight copyright violators Apple can take infringeing copies off certain ipods that have internet access, a la Amazon Kindle vs. Harry Potter. In North Korea however internet access is severly contrained.

So as far as California is concerned the great plague is piracy.

But the Norks don't have Ipods, first of all because most of them are starving to death. Even the Sorks(south Koreans) don't have Ipods, that is they might have Ipods, and they might have the identical Ipod that is made in China...but this ipod is technically not an apple product in the United States. Also the Sorks probably have Team America, but it isn't Team America that would be commerically acceptable in the U.S.

That is the Sorks are already preloading their "fake" ipods with "fake" Team America, and it is almost certain that some of these are ending up in the hands of Norks, if they aren't comming by way of China.

Apple and Paramount would like to stop it, but the 9th circuits long arm only stretches as far, as the hide bound originalism of the other circuits allows the 14th ammendment to go.

Assuming the Norks have "Ipods", which they pick up from the Sorks and Chinese, it seems possible that a lot of them have pirated copies of team america on them.

I suppose Kim Jong still buys into the tyrannical(Platonic view) that ideas matter, and thus he wants to restrict content. So Kim Jong is worried that Team America and the naughtiness of Trey Parker will forment revolution, by casting him in a bad light? Because starvation itself has no impact?

The "New Communist" Chineese view is fair use/pirating friendly in a nationalistic context. The more they pirate California the richer they are. So China (or its street vendor entrepreneurs) wants to preload Ipods with every paramount movie they can. If it costs California 300 million to make a movie, and it costs the guy in China 10 cents to make copies...

I mean from time to time you get an old school communist, who wants a content based restriction, but the new school simply agrees, not necessarily because YouTube is contributing to piracy, copyright violations or poisonous ideas, but because Google is an american company, and if they limit what Google can do in China, but don't limit what Baidu can do in China, then they give Baidu an advantage that is good for Chinese Nationalism(in a content neutral economic sense). Taking seriously the broader idea lurking behind the charge that Google spreads american ideas, would put a serious cramp in the piracy industry(some of which is legit and is only piracy because of american law).

So what Hollywood needs to do is make more american propaganda movies, or make movies where the censorship interest of China exceeds its economic piracy interest.

The thing is that even in the case of Trey Parker and Team America, the piracy interest of China exceeds the ideological content based interest.

Also if you look at what you can buy on the black market in Scania Iraq (porn, any movie or telivision show ever made in the US, South Park was popular(in part because US troops were the market). The Haji's running the stores told me the goods came from Syria, Iran and China.

You get the sense that content is not the problem, or the ability to filter content and exercise censorship(for the sake of preserving Islam, Christianity, is.) That is, it is impossible...the stronger the ideological content based interest the greater the piracy interest.

When exactly is the message(content) more important than the means?

Will Al-Queda spread pirated versions of South Park and american porn in the middle east in order to fund itself?

As Sarah Palin says: You Betcha.

But even Sarah Palin isn't too happy with folks spreading her message or content(unfortunately she got wise and settled.)

As far as I can tell pirateing american intellectual property is something of a sport in China, when and where it is not indistinguishable from manufacturing the good itself.

Do the North Koreans allow much Internet presence in their country? Any at all? And would their nuclear equipment be anywhere near it?

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