[...] What’s most hilarious about this is the fact that the embassy is citing the DMCA as a ten year
success. Bruce Lehman, the architect of the DMCA, acknowledged as far back as 2007 that the
DMCA was failure where blame solely rests on the shoulders of the RIAA for failing to adapt
to a modern marketplace. It’s very unnerving the idea that not only was the US basically
lobbying New Zealand to implement very bad laws, but also citing unrelated examples and
casting failed policy as success stories. It defies logic. [...]
[...] The good news is, the citizens of New Zealand were not alone with receiving this kind of
attitude from their own government. Just look at the attitude given to Canadians when they
discovered that they didn’t like what they saw in the copyright laws being pushed by American
interests.[...]
[...] Overall, I think it is infuriating the way the US has conducted themselves on copyright
on the international stage. In New Zealand, they are even pushing the country to implement
laws even the US wouldn’t dare pass themselves because of it’s over-restrictiveness. I think
Americans would be equally offended if, say, Chinese diplomats went to the US and dictated
what laws should be passed on, say, internet laws for instance. If the US government wants
to know why there is so much resentment directed to the US, maybe they should look at how the
US is dictating law-making in other countries as one example why people in other countries
are so fed up with American influence in the first place. With revelations like this, you’d
think that governments all over the world exist only to pander to US interests at the expense
of their local populations. I think, for many people in countries outside of the US, it
should be shocking how little governments utilize their sovereign rights to control what goes
on in their own countries.
This is completely shameful for the USA government, and indicates a total failure on the legislative branch's part. The citizens of the USA need to vote more carefully. The USA also needs some kind of effective campaign reform, to prevent the elected officials from ending up beholden to major campaign contributors.
