SG-1, The Patriot Act, and an alleged Dickwad

Maybe you folks have read about the cat, Adam McGaughey, who runs Stargate Archive 1 is getting nailed by the MPAA and the FBI for "apparently" streaming copies of SG-1 over the internet, among other things. If you haven't heard about it, check out his take on it. Now, here's the US DoJ's charges, along with a small report. Now, I just got wind of this today, but one of the chaps over at Boing Boing.net had the wonderful idea to search for Adam McGaughey's name on the Google groups. Bully. here's what popped up. It looks like Mc. McGaughey might be a huge asshat, as well as a violator of the law. Now, that's all well and good, but I'm concerned about how the FBI accessed our naughty little friend here. They used a section of The Patriot Act to subpeona financial records from McGaughey's ISP. Now, say what you would like, but The Patriot Act was passed to help fight terrorism, as the first line of the damn law says.

To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world...

When did alleged copyright violation become a terrorist crime? Now, I hope this McGaughey fellow gets a fair trial, and all that, but they should defininetly question the methods of the FBI.

It's shit like this that makes the Patriot Act dangerous, because now everyone has to live in fear of a draconian "police force", brushing justice to one side as it goose-steps towards it's goal of totalitarian power. While my previous statement may be just a bit more hyperbole than you may be able to stomach, it's not too far from the truth, if you look at the laws that are being passed, or tabled. The INDUCE Act, The Patriot Act II, etc. It's all a means to take our freedoms from us, one at a time. It's about as subtle as an elephants prick, but it's getting the job done, because the majority of Americans don't pay enough attention to whats going on in their world. Sit up, take notice, before it's too late, and we're all turning our lights out at 9 p.m., and waking up at 5 a.m. to the "National Wake-up Siren."

And don't worry about sleeping through it, cause it's gonna be *loud*