[WMCoolmon]

http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_1388359,00.html

Paris - The head of Interpol called on Wednesday for a global crackdown on software and music piracy, saying the illicit proceeds help finance al-Qaida, Hezbollah and other terrorist networks.

The international police agency's secretary-general, Ronald K Noble, urged governments and law enforcement agencies to treat such crimes as a priority, saying in a statement, "it is becoming the preferred method of funding for a number of terrorist groups".

The statement was issued on Wednesday ahead of a speech on the subject that Noble was to give in Washington to the House of Representatives' Committee on International Relations.

"There are enough examples now of the funding of terrorist groups in this way for us to worry about the threat to public safety," Noble said. "We must take preventative measures now."

An Interpol document to be presented in Washington later on Wednesday said that a wide range of terrorist groups have profited from the production or sale of counterfeit goods, including al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Chechen separatists, ethnic Albanian extremists in Kosovo and paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, the statement said.

Noble called for stepped-up efforts to trace the proceeds of pirated CDs, DVDs, computer software, and counterfeit clothing and cigarettes.

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, co-ordinates information-sharing among police forces in 181 countries.

[Xelion]

I find that very hard to believe

[phatosealpha]

Proceeds of pirated software funding terrorism...uh...yeah, I find that pretty hard to believe too.

If for no other reason than the fact that a good bit of piracy happens precisely because people don't want to pay for anything.

[Genryu]

And where in the schmucking hell did you find something in this article saying that there was proof of terrorism in Paris ? 'Cause right now, not seeing a shred of it. Heck, Interpol, who is mentioned as having an ANTI-terrorist plan, is based in Lyon. The only reference to Paris is the location of th head of Interpol when he said that. So, sorry in advance for the personnal attack, but next time, learn to read before posting a thread with a title like that, 'cause if you didn't want to imply that Paris is backing terrorism, the title really doesn't help.

[Carl]

Originally posted by WMCoolmon
the illicit proceeds help finance al-Qaida, Hezbollah and other terrorist networks.

0.0001% of it, perhaps.

[WMCoolmon]

Originally posted by Genryu
And where in the schmucking hell did you find something in this article saying that there was proof of terrorism in Paris ? 'Cause right now, not seeing a shred of it. Heck, Interpol, who is mentioned as having an ANTI-terrorist plan, is based in Lyon. The only reference to Paris is the location of th head of Interpol when he said that. So, sorry in advance for the personnal attack, but next time, learn to read before posting a thread with a title like that, 'cause if you didn't want to imply that Paris is backing terrorism, the title really doesn't help.

Terrorism 'in' an area doesn't mean that area was 'backing' it. Those six words in the topic were my only commentary on the article. Wherever you got 'backing' from, it wasn't from me.

Hell, the last thing anyone backing terrorism is going to want is to have it in their own city.

[aldo_14]

It's not actually in Paris, of course.  The only thing it has to do with that city, would appear to be that either a) the guy who gave the statement was there or b) the press office that wrote the article was there.

[Andreas]

Originally posted by WMCoolmon




Terrorism 'in' an area doesn't mean that area was 'backing' it. Those six words in the topic were my only commentary on the article. Wherever you got 'backing' from, it wasn't from me.

Hell, the last thing anyone backing terrorism is going to want is to have it in their own city.

The article was most likely written in Paris, that doesn't mean that there IS terrorism IN Paris, or that the area is backing terrorism

EDIT: What Aldo said.

[Xelion]

Maybe microsoft just bought interpol.

Originally posted by WMCoolmon
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_1388359,00.html

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, co-ordinates information-sharing among police forces in 181 countries.

how legit is interpol?

oh and that article is quite old:  16/07/2003

[WMCoolmon]

But there are filesharers in Paris, and Noble seems to be linking terrorism and filesharing. Just a wee bit disturbing with the line:

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, co-ordinates information-sharing among police forces in 181 countries.

[WMCoolmon]

They seem fairly legit.

I did not realize that article was so old though.

Although I suppose it is good that there hasn't been muchnoise made about this on the news in such a while.

[aldo_14]

Interpol's basically just a big international crime database IIRC; i.e. they forward info between representatives between countries.  It's funded by donations from each of the member countries, about 50m euros a year according to Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpol

Incidentally, Robert K. Noble is formerly of the US Treasury Department.... maybe there's a tax shortfall from the media moguls

[Carl]

interplay!!!!1111ELEVENTYTHREE

[Bobboau]

what this seems to be talking about is bootleged disks that you buy from a vendor who burned them and is now selling them at an extreem discount. this isn't talking about the lovable fuzzy software pirates we all know, love, and regularly assosiate with.

[Xelion]

Originally posted by aldo_14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpol

Its work centers primarily on public safety and terrorism, organized crime, illicit drug production and drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, trafficking in human beings, money laundering, child pornography, financial and high-tech crime, and corruption.

How convenient, corruption is last.

[Genryu]

I do know that the article wasn't about terrorist being in Paris. What irked me is the fact that I found the title of the thread very misleading. Someone only seing this title could think that terrorist were in Paris. That's all. Sorry for the mood I was in, but my flat just escaped being flooded, so... :thepimp:

[Rictor]

This is simply beyond belief. As always, not a single bit of evidence is given, so, as always, I'm going to have to call bull****.

[Nico]

Originally posted by phatosealpha
Proceeds of pirated software funding terrorism...uh...yeah, I find that pretty hard to believe too.
 

Why not? It's for exemple widely known that bootleg DVDs from Hong Kong ( be it animes or live movies, ranging from the most obscure asian movie to the latest Holywood movie that just came out on theatre in the States ) are made by the HK mafia, and bring them muchos money from all around the world. So if the mafia can do that, why not the terros?

[Ford Prefect]

[Flipside]

Well, thing is, at least from the way it's been explained to me, you don't actually 'pay' anything to download MP3's from the Internet, so I fail to see the money, as it were. Buying DVDs etc, yes, I can understand that, but trying to clamp down on Piracy by picking on the punter is a bit stupid, the product has already been cracked and the security broken, they've jumped in at the distribution stage. You have to stop and wonder why.

Edit : Quite frankly, downloading the stuff for free is the only way to keep money out of the hands of criminals intent on world domination