Jailed for having a birthday party - What is the world coming to

Just when you thought the overly litigious nature of Western Civilisation couldn't get any worse, I present you with this horror story

"A 22-year-old Chicago woman faces up to three years in prison after being charged with illegally recording "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" using her camcorder at a theater.

The woman brought her camera to the theater, because that's where she set up her sister's surprise birthday party. During the celebration, she took photos and recorded video with her digital camera, capturing a few minutes of family members singing "Happy Birthday" and a few accidental shots of the screen that was playing "New Moon."

She was grabbed by a theater worker, who saw her shooting video during the movie. Managers contacted police, who examined the camera, finding that the woman had taped "two very short segments."

The theater managers insisted on pressing charges, which resulted in the woman being arrested and spending two nights in jail before being released. She plans to fight the felony charges in court because she says she did nothing wrong — and certainly didn't try to secretly tape the movie. "It was never my intention to record the movie," she said."

This is actually one of the more publicized of several recent events of a similar nature. At a time when the "West" is poking China for a being a dictatorship, it's a case of delicious irony when the US et al behave in a similarly appropriate manner.

Another crazy story is as follows

"A pub owner in the U.K. has been fined £8,000 (about $13,183) because someone unlawfully downloaded copyrighted material over its open Wi-Fi hotspot, according to the managing director of hotspot provider The Cloud.

Graham Cove told CNET sister site ZDNet UK on Friday he believes the case to be the first of its kind in the U.K. However, he would not identify the pub concerned, because its owner--a pub that is a client of The Cloud's--had not yet given their permission for the case to be publicized.Cove would say only that the fine had been levied in a civil case, brought about by a rights holder, "sometime this summer." The Cloud's pubco clients include Fullers, Greene King, Marsdens, Scottish & Newcastle, Mitchell & Butlers, and Punch Taverns.

The law surrounding open Wi-Fi networks and the liability of those running them is a grey area..."

Given that typically Wi-Fi hot spot merchants do little or anything at all to determine what their users would have access to (it's not typically after all their primary business offering) I would have thought if there were ANY redress it would be with the ISP - in this case The Cloud?

The New Moon saga is plain bananas.

Yes The Cloud case. It potentially opens up legal cans o' worms everywhere. Typically these measures and punishments are brought down by individuals and groups who are uneducated in the matters they preside over

Interesting to see how this plays out.

Yes, join me in the rebellion.... head to your nearest torrent site!

But seriously, these people - govts and corps - are NUTS

Here's another example of how the record companies line their own pockets at the expense of others - Major record labels rip off 300,000 songs for compilation CDs, may owe $60 billion in damages

They show complete disrespect for their customers, artists, the law, and yet they expect everyone to bend to their every will.
All in the name of profit