SA Firefighter
General Discussion => Other Government Agencies => Topic started by: CFS_Firey on April 08, 2008, 06:47:16 PM
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http://torrentfreak.com/aussie-police-pirate-080407/
A recent audit of computer systems belonging to the South Australia Police has found that hundreds are being used to “share” films. In a move smacking of hypocrisy though, officers involved will not be charged.
According to The Australian, during an audit of computer systems by the South Australian police force’s IT branch, police computers belonging to hundreds of police officers were found to contain movies.
The origin of these movies is not clear, but it is probable that they’ve been downloaded via p2p at some point, either on these systems, or on the personal systems of officers and transferred over.
Senior officials of the SA police force have been made aware of the findings, including its commissioner Mel Hyde. However, police sources have told press that there will not be any investigation into this, citing the large numbers of police officers involved.
The Australian Federation against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has said it will write to the commissioner to seek an explanation, presumably as to why the police officers are being let off with what it considers a heinous crime. Quite ironically, AFACT boasts of “working closely with police” - perhaps this closeness has shown the police officers involved just how unimportant and meaningless this so-called ‘crime’ is in the grand scheme of things.
If the officers do go unpunished, it could create a favorable precedent for filesharers in South Australia. If police officers, who are expected to be held to a greater level of accountability regarding the law, show this level of contempt for the current copyright laws, are unpunished, it will make it harder to convince a court that regular citizen should be punished for similar acts.
On the other hand, if the officers are punished under the law, which allows for upto AUS$60,500 (About US$55,700 or 35,500Euro) per infringement and up to 5 years imprisonment, the ability to effectively police the state will be severely diminished.
Either way, this case will bring to a head the vastly disproportionate penalties for an act that, as yet, has never been proven to be even financially damaging. One thing is certain, when even the police officers join large numbers of citizens in flouting such laws, the law’s place in society should be called into serious question.
The South Australian police force had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
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Very amusing....
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Of course the police copy "movies" - somewhere in the state, on a SAPol computer, movies are copied every day.
Problem appears to be that computers have been searched for "movies" - the search being based on the file extension.
Thing is, security footage often has the same file extension. Police are required, under their procedures, to make a copy of the footage, and to then store the original , and use the working copy for viewing.
So the media beat up of police illegally copying illegally obtained movies, in reality, is no where near as much of a scandal as the story tries to make it out to be....
Pip
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That makes it even more amusing!
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Whats this got to do with SAFIREFIGHTING / FIREFIGHTERS...
NEXT ! ...
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Whats this got to do with SAFIREFIGHTING / FIREFIGHTERS...
Nothing - that's why its in the general board :)
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Exactly.. SAFIREFIGHTER-General.. - This would suit an offtopic/police board..
-If SAAS /SES stuff is posted in the general board, it is quickly whisked into its appropriate area..
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Its like we need an "Other government agencies" board, or something...