African Drug Cops to Go After Pirates
Written by Ben Jones on August 09, 2008In the past, parallels between narcotics enforcement and copyright enforcement may have been drawn, but in one country parallels are out of the window, as copyright and trademark enforcement will now be treated as drug trafficking.
There is a growing trend towards trying to treat copyright infringement in the same way as narcotics, right around the world. There are restrictions on obtaining large numbers of DVDs, as there is for ephedrine. There are even sniffer dogs looking for pirated CDs and DVDs (although their effectiveness is highly debatable). It was only a matter of time until someone decided to lump it in with drug enforcement. That someone was President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana.
In some ways, Ghana could be the US of the future. Like America, they have a presidential election at the end of the year to replace a president that can not run again, having had two 4-year terms in office. They were once a colony of the UK, and politicians reportedly take bribes, just like the US. At the same time, they are quick to crack down on anything that seems to affect their backers, as a push to deal with counterfeit goods and ‘piracy’ has been proposed by the government.
“This insidious crime of product counterfeiting has become a global phenomenon; it’s no longer the canker of the under-developed or developing world,” president John Agyekum Kufuor said in a recent statement“The developed world is also battling with counterfeiting products albeit at a scale lower than in our part of the world”.
It would also seem that the president had been reading the recent BSA report, and following its (severely flawed) economics, when he noted “that counterfeit products denied genuine products of the rightful market share, costing governments significant amounts in lost tax revenues as well as threatening jobs”. Perhaps he missed how money spent locally stays in the local economy, but money spent on outside goods leaves the country. This money can’t be used elsewhere to generate MORE tax, and keeping jobs going.
What, though, is their ’solution’? As the Ghana News Agency (GNA) put it in a July 23rd report, the Criminal Investigation Department of the police, will “handle counterfeiting and piracy crimes as drug trafficking.”
As anyone that lives in the real world knows, decades of treating drug trafficking as drug trafficking hasn’t exactly limited it. Moreover, while ownership of something like cocaine is illegal pretty much anywhere in the world, and has a distinctive smell, counterfeit goods by their nature look like legitimate items. Piracy is even worse, in that what some consider criminal, others consider a civil offence, and yet others see no problem at all. In some instances what may be an infringement of copyright, may be a legitimate fair use, depending on circumstance.
Can it succeed? As already noted, the approach hasn’t worked for a rigidly defined area such as narcotics, why should it in the legal miasma that is copyright and patent law. What it appears to be is another attempt to treat the symptoms, and although that works in some cases (Cholera for instance), it doesn’t in this case.
Previously: 080808, BitTorrent Meets Art Once Again
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23 Responses
*cries in corner* NOOOOO! Well, at least hope that a change in U.S. could lead to change elsewhere. (edit ernesto, keep it clean ;))
My on my, the world seems to be going down the drain nowadays.
Is it Some kinda JOKE ?
Please stop these kinda BULLSH*TS.
NO Human Touch, what’s going on ?
End of the world ????
LoL….. Nice one there. I’m from Ghana
First of all, John Kufour is a joke! he’s showing the world how dumb he and his advisers are. piracy = drug trafficking LMAO.
Well, they can go on for a week and that will be the end of the so called crackdown.
happy we are getting a new president now, prez John Atta-Mills!!!!
This Planet is Declining faster than its Evolving, Seriously what is planet coming to?!? soon police will beable to raid your house without so much as a freaking warrant, without warning with out so much as a HowdyDo.
Very unfortunate, this. It would seem we are to feel worse for the fortunes of the Weinsteins, Speilbergs and Lucases than say, mmm- the average wage earner in Ghana. Excuse me, but I just can’t keep my lunch down…
Is it kinda joke or what?
Have these cop beame so jobless…
What a lame officers….
Needless to say that they have lost thier minds..
This all seems bizarre. Is it me or do all goverments act simular to ’script kiddies’ when it comes to piracy?
They don’t really know what there doing and they’re just applying the technique for one thing to do another, not looking at anything but there goal, avoiding the knock on effects.
Dogs that can sniff out DVDs, surely that’s just a load of rubbish made up so they have the authority to search more people.
LOL, like we all dont know how corrupt African Drug cops are! LOL, that is too funny!
JT
http://www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com
The foolish president from Ghana must concentrate on the economy of his country and his people than such trivial stuff because these must be first priorities of any president and not privacy.
Looks like MPAA & RIAA has promised him asylum in US of A and paid him bribe.
This gives Africa a bad name.
Dargens anon. BT
Uh, how’s a dog supposed to differentiate between LEGAL merchandise and ILLEGAL merchandise? It all SMELLS THE SAME TO A DOG! This is not helping them a all.
Calm down dear, it’s only corruption!
Just another ’sap’ African country sucking MPAA dick for cash.
Remember what John Lydon pointed out:
“CASH FROM CHAOS!”
P.S. – Osama Bin Laden’s been dead for years. And you expect TRUTH??!!
;o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnychOXj9Tg
It seems the Nazis and the FBI are against us.
Thats good though. I wouldn like to have them on our side.
I love it when the trolls do this sort of spamming… gives us all a good laugh and shows the level of their intelligence.
I mean, c’mon… which side would you rather be on? The side that debates or the side that bullies?
Thanks for making my day spammers… hope you got it out of your system now!
;-D
Calm down !!! No panic !!!
This African means for sure the PIRACY around the African continent´s Ocean´s !!!
Why can these people spam up TorrentFreak, yet when I reply I’m often moderated out for using one naughty word? Ironically, I’m often told that “I’m posting responses too fast” when I haven’t posted the entire day. I guess this only applies to legitimate users and not spammers. TorrentFreak for the total lose.
Sh*t, they’re going after African Pirates? What a nightmare on wax.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZuQZB5InM4
They should focus on 419 related advanced fee fraud since is fooking rampant over there.
J.
and fix the blog I have not posted in 2 weeks… that is not too fast
T.I.A dudes
I HATE when people say sh*t like edit it we need to keep it clean!!!! Are you 5??? Are you allowed out side by yourself???? It’s people like you that are taking every fredom out of amarica!!! You “PC” people are just as bad as the MAFFIA!!! Don’t do as I don’t want you to do because I don’t want you to do it!!!!!! WELL FU*K YOU!!!
don’t they have more important things to worry about like…. aids????
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