WTO, the US and Antigua - a love story

July 16, 2009 2:10 AM

USA ♥'s Antigua ∴ Zookz
posted by bigmusic (10 comments total)

Gadzooks!

You know, if more Americans heard these kinds of stories, you'd hope they'd understand a lot more of the Anti-American sentiment in the world.

You'd be wrong.

The media - reporting purely factually and in an entirely unbiased fashion - would be accused of "Bashing America First", and all the other jingoistic anti media hype we hear all the time here in the good old USA.
posted by Xoebe at 2:19 AM on July 16, 2009

Does anyone know if the people behind Zooks are Antiguan or not ? I was gonna sign up to showmy support, but if the people running this website are just some other nationals taking advantage of the situation to make a few quick bucks then I'll pass.

On second thought, altruistic instincts won out, I'll sign up anyway for those sweet sweet and LEGAL movies, and music.
posted by LenaO at 3:34 AM on July 16, 2009

Damn, the unlimited movies are at 640 by 480. I was this close to giving that a shot.
posted by JaredSeth at 3:57 AM on July 16, 2009

I was intrigued, but 50,000 songs is actually kind of a thin catalog, and for some reason I'm wary about using a credit card on an Antiguan site. That said, I've long been disgusted by my countries' inability to adhere to its treaty obligations.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:01 AM on July 16, 2009

Considering that online gambling was a fairly easy way to dodge taxes, I can hardly say that it's surprising to see it banned regardless of treaty obligations. Not that it's right to do so, but I can't imagine that Antigua would be horribly forthcoming with assistance in tracking online winnings, since that would drive customers away. In any case, this is a remarkably amusing way to hand down a judgment. Naturally, the only fair way to do such a thing is to keep all legal copyright infringement in the hands of the citizens.

$21 million. According to Wikipedia, the population was 69,000 as of 2006, resulting in about $304 per person, or one legally pirated copy of Microsoft Windows 7 Business for every person in Antigua. Maybe even Ultimate if a few ardent Mac and Linux users pass up on the offer. Not too bad until you realize Microsoft has no obligation to validate or update these copies.

Maybe they can get it on an iTunes gift card.
posted by Saydur at 4:24 AM on July 16, 2009

Before you join up, go to the Search link and try to see if they have any of your favorite music or movies. I just came up empty for like eight things in a row.
posted by poppo at 4:46 AM on July 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

From the site: ZookZ offers hard to get content such as The Beatles, AC/DC and Radiohead.

Hmmm.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 5:48 AM on July 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

Fail. I have more music in my car than they have in their service and they didn't have any of the ten or so movies I searched (only one an indie title) and barely any of the music artists I searched (old and new). They're going to need a lot more content to be worthwhile.
posted by notashroom at 8:34 AM on July 16, 2009

Pirate Bay, meet Antigua. Antigua, meet the Pirate Bay. (Please dear god make this happen.)

If they *really* wanted to piss the US off, they should open up an FTP site and say "Help us expand our collection by uploading ..."
posted by bhance at 10:03 AM on July 16, 2009

Because of the way it deals with treaty obligations, the United States signing and ratifying a treaty means basically nothing. If the USA wants to ignore a treaty, it does. If one branch of the government decides that a treaty must be enforced, it has no ability to compel any other branch or subunit of the American government from also complying. When people say that American "law" isn't law at all, this is what they're talking about.
posted by 1adam12 at 1:17 PM on July 16, 2009 [1 favorite]