Seen on Slashdot:
“The FBI has limited resources, so it needs to prioritize what it works on. However, it’s difficult to see why dealing with copyright infringement seems to get more attention than identity theft or missing persons. In the past year, the FBI has announced a special new task force to fight intellectual property infringement, but recent reports have shown that both identity theft and missing persons have been downgraded as priorities by the FBI, to the point that there are a backlog of such cases.”
I’m reminded of the fictional story ‘Greenies’, by Al Steiner. It’s about the process that a Martian colony goes through to free itself from the corruption of its earthbound masters and gain independence. As part of the story, the modern-day equivalent of the FBI is used as a corporate hound-dog to track down “serious” crimes, like piracy and illegal file sharing. It still amazes me that – in real life – large conglomerates will spend millions to try and save a few thousands in losses. The story also talks about the mega-corporations that rule every aspect of life – something that we can see happening now with companies like Cargill (as a side note, do not ever eat a hamburger in the US).
So yeah. Maybe I’m cynical, but I really, really hope the future is more like Star Trek and less like Greenies. Given human nature, I’m expecting the worst.