When America was a first-world nation, and was the preeminent leader of the “free world”, the idea of having a second passport sounded… well, silly. Why would any American want to get a second passport. An American passport was an automatic door to world-wide travel and freedom to enjoy the liberties and protections that came with being an American. So getting a second passport; and inferior passport, was laughable.
Not so today.
Today, America is not a first-class nation. It is a second-class nation, and it is quickly devolving into a third-class nation. If you, the reader cannot see this, then I suggest you step outside the borders of America and start to look around you. I don’t mean Mexico. It is easy to feel superior when you live next door to endless sprawling slums. I mean Asia. I mean middle-class Africa. I mean Eastern Europe.
Go and have a nice long look around.
The Winds of Change are a Blowing…
Growing up, the idea of going to work for a big company for 30 or 40 years, and then retiring to a golf course or rocking chair somewhere, was something completely alien to me. People my age nowadays mostly expect to work full time until age 75 or more. We can forget about pensions and Social Security. -Three Economics Lessons I Learned from my Dad
America is due for a nice big reset.
In our case, it is certainly unfortunate. Indeed, it is sad and it is lamentable, but it is exactly what it is. America is solidly on the path of collapse and after that rebirth.
America is going to be reborn. That's the good news. America will have to go through some changes to get there. That's the bad news.
It's all or nothing. Neither side will compromise simple because there is no room for compromise.
America is heading towards an adjustment of it’s society.
The Big Reset
All things mature. People, plants, and societies. Maturity has stages. These include birth, growth, middle age, decay and death. Death That includes America. Now, death need no mean destruction. It means change.
Periodically, society experiences a transition from one turning to another. Today we have just experienced such a transition. The frenzied individualism and carnival culture of the recent Third Turning—the years of the Roaring ‘90s, the Dot-com Boom, and the Greenspan Asset Bubble—is fading into memory. America has entered a Fourth Turning, marked by new sobriety about unpaid debts at home and unmet challenges abroad. Like all turnings, the current Fourth Turning will draw its momentum from the aging of each generation into a new phase of life. Unlike the last three turnings, the emerging lineup of generational archetypes is likely to push history forward in a sudden, concerted, and decisive direction. As visionary Boomers replace the Silent as elder leaders, they are rejecting caution and compromise and acting on moral absolutes. As pragmatic Gen-Xers replace Boomers in midlife, they are manifesting a new toughness and resolution as hands-on managers. As group-oriented Millennials replace Gen Xers in young adulthood, they are getting ready to mobilize behind some new model of public authority with collective action and social discipline. All of these generations are likely to view the recent Third Turning as an era of drift when public problems were allowed to accumulate—problems that must now be tackled head-on. There are many potential threats that could feed a growing sense of public urgency as the Fourth Turning progresses, from financial collapse to a protracted war, from a crisis of weapons proliferation to an environmental crisis, from an energy shortage to new civil wars abroad. The generational cycle cannot explain the role or timing of these individual threats. It cannot account for specific great incidents in history, like Pearl Harbor, or President Kennedy’s assassination, or 9/11. What it can do is explain when Crisis or Awakening events are most likely to happen—and, even more importantly, how society is likely to respond to these events in different eras. It is the response, not the initial event, which defines an era. In Anglo-American history, there have been six Fourth Turnings dating back to the fifteenth century (see Historical Turnings). In the modern history of many other societies whose generational currents have run roughly parallel to that of the United States (especially in Europe and Asia), there have been many other Fourth Turnings. By observing the similarities in how these eras unfold, a morphology can be constructed. A Crisis era begins with a catalyst, a startling event (or sequence of events) that produces a sudden shift in mood. In America’s last Fourth Turning, the catalyst was the 1929 stock market crash. In the current era, we may ultimately look back on the global market meltdown and historic national election of 2008--ushering in a “Great Recession” and a seemingly endless era of deleveraging--as the initial mood-changer. Several years after the catalyst, society enters a regeneracy, a drawing together of the community in response to a worsening outlook and a growing determination to surmount the challenge. Thus regenerated, a society then propels toward a climax—a crucial moment that confirms the death of the old order and triumph of the new. The climax can end well, badly, or some combination of both. Either way, it shakes a society to its roots, transforms institutions, redirects social purposes, and marks people (and generations) for life. Eventually, the mood transforms into the exhaustion and relief of resolution, the moment when treaties are signed and celebrations are staged. As the new order quickly hardens and people embrace dreams of domestic contentment, the Crisis era ends and society enters the First Turning of the next saeculum. Roughly twenty years, in most cases, will have elapsed since the catalyst. In today’s context, we at LifeCourse anticipate the end of the Fourth Turning to occur sometime in the late 2020s. By then, we expect that a new “Homeland Generation” (born, 2005– ?) will begin to come of age as young adults. We tentatively tag them as belonging to the Artist archetype. They will strike older Americans as well-educated, well-behaved, risk averse, and perhaps also credulous and conformist. As America moves into a Fourth Turning, this will be a time of great national trial and upheaval. Yet seeing this on the horizon is not a prophesy of some horrible tragedy. A Fourth Turning also could be a time of triumph. Just as the risk of war is great in a Fourth Turning, so too is the possibility of accomplishing things that in other eras would be impossible—particularly in the areas of government, institutions, and infrastructure. It’s important to remember that Fourth Turnings have occurred many times before in American history. Each has been an era when America felt good about itself as a society and a nation, a time when big problems have been solved, when businesses ultimately emerged prosperous, and when people came together with a new ethic of community and consensus.
An Island within the Storm
I view having a passport as an island in a storm. It is your ticket to get off a boat that is near calamity, and make it safely to a refuge. The American passport can do that.
There is only one problem…
There are forces within the Untied States that want to limit your access to your passport. Already the IRS can seize your passport if you have unpaid taxes. Liberal democrats are talking about linking the passport to health plans and other things that will create a spider-web maze to untangle. A wall is being build on the Mexican border to make America “safer”, and new rules are being created to control migration.
How can you get “off the boat” to safety, when someone else is holding your “life jacket”?
The answer is with a second passport.
About Passports
Did you know, that before World War I, you didn’t need a passport for international travel. That’s right. You simply would just go to where ever you desired to go to. As such, people simply went wherever they wanted. In many cases, they didn’t need any kind of permission from a government agency. In fact, up until recently, you could enter Canada, and Mexico without a passport and return back to the United States, all that you would need was a driver’s license. Well, that ended by DHS pronouncement.
Now, obviously, quite a lot has happened since then.
Today, passports are used by governments to document and control their citizens. It is used to track people. It is used to identify people. It is used to tag people as dangerous and as necessary limit their ability to fly (no-fly list) and use public transportation.
So, today, if you want to go to another nation, you need a passport to do so.
Benefits of a Second Passport
A second passport keeps the government from locking you in under their rules. Today in America the US government ignores the fourth amendment. They can seize anything you own, and they do not even need a charge, a suspicion of criminal intent, or even a warrant. They can just come and take what ever they want.
Allowing a government with this kind of power to possess the keys to the gates of the country is simply irresponsible. Without a passport, the government in your home country can effectively place you under house arrest by taking back your passport. Then you are trapped inside America.
While this is a fundamental item of great importance, there are other reasons as well. Among other things, having a second passport allows you to invest, bank, travel, live, and do business in places you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. Many nations no longer allow Americans to bank in their nation. The IRS has made it difficult for the banks and the nations, with substantial penalties for non-compliance to American regulations.
Obtaining a second passport is a fundamental step toward freeing yourself from absolute dependence on any one country. Once you have that freedom, it’s much harder for any government to control your destiny.
No matter where you live, you can benefit from the political diversification that comes with a second passport.
Here are some reasons why you should have a second passport…
[1] Banking
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a 2010 United States federal law requiring all non-U.S. ('foreign') financial institutions (FFIs) to search their records for customers with indicia of 'U.S.-person' status, such as a U.S. place of birth, and to report the assets and identities of such persons to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
FATCA also requires such persons to self-report their non-U.S. financial assets annually to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on form 8938, which is in addition to the older and further redundant requirement to self-report them annually to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on form 114 (also known as 'FBAR').
Like U.S. income tax law, FATCA applies to U.S. residents and also to U.S. citizens and green card holders residing in other countries.
A second passport unlocks the door to international financial services. This is especially true for Americans. Ever since Obama was President, U.S. regulators have a long reach. Thanks to him and his cronies, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is now the law of the land.
This is why many, but not yet all, foreign financial institutions now turn away anyone who presents a U.S. passport. I can confirm that this is true in Hong Kong, Macao, and now (as of 2017) Communist China.
To be a welcome customer, you need a passport from a different country. Americans are not welcome.
It is not so much about the money that you have. Not really. Though, I suppose that if I had a million dollars that they would accept my banking services. But that is way, way out of the reach for most Americans. At best, I might be able to save maybe $500 in a bank account. In my entire life, I don’t think that I ever had more than $7,000 in any bank account.
The issue is however, not the amount of money you have. It is the reporting regulations and potential penalties of non-compliance that the bank associates with YOUR passport.
The penalties for failing to file FBARs are severe. There is a minimum $10,000 penalty if your failure to file was inadvertent. However, if you are found guilty of willfully not filing a FBAR, the minimum fine is $100,000 or half the value of the account, whichever is greater. -Nolo
[2] Stigma of Being a Warmonger
Say your home government has a bad habit of sticking its nose in other nations’ internal affairs. This is most certainly true with the United States, as we have been at war almost ever year since our founding.
Remember that one of the first thing a terrorist does when they capture hostages is to collect their passports. If you are from Israel, you are most certainly targeted. However, being an American has increasingly, become a significant liability.
Indeed, this could make you a target if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, like the next time ISIS radicals decide to attack a public area. Or when you are in a foreign land, and you are pulled over to show your passport…
For a better appreciation of this situation, I would suggest viewing the movie “No Escape“.
There are, of course, passports with minimal risk of foreign policy blowback. When was the last time you heard of anyone targeting Swiss passport holders, Italian passport holders or rounding up Uruguayans?
[3] Avoiding Visa Applications and Fees
Applying for a visa before a trip is a real hassle. It can be frustrating, time-consuming, and expensive. Or not. The thing is that it does take time, and it will cost money. Sometimes you need to show up in person at the embassy to handle this hassle, and it is a painful waste of the day.
A good second passport gives you visa-free access to more countries than you had before.
Take Paraguay, for example. It’s one of the easiest countries in the world to obtain a second passport from. A passport from Paraguay lets you travel visa-free to 123 countries, including most of Latin American and much of Europe. No one ever worries about a person from Paraguay. Have you ever heard of a terrorist, bank robber, sex fiend or evil banker from Paraguay?
Paraguay, you ask. Where is Paraguay?
[4] Avoiding Government Targeting
A second passport can also come in handy when your home government starts restricting where its citizens can go. For example, after Castro came to power in Cuba, the government used to make its citizens apply for an exit visa to leave the island. It did not grant them easily.
Preventing people from leaving has always been the hallmark of an authoritarian regime. Unfortunately, the practice is growing in so-called liberal democracies for ever more trivial offenses. In the U.S., for example, the government can cancel your passport if they accuse you of a felony. They don’t even need to convict you.
Many people think felonies only consist of major crimes like robbery and murder.
But that isn’t true.
"...federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets." -Kottke
The ever-expanding mountain of laws and regulations has criminalized even the most mundane activities. It’s not as hard to commit a felony as you might think. Many victimless “crimes” are now felonies. It varies from state to state. Some crimes are misdemeanors in some areas, and full-bore felonies in others. For instance…
- Having one marijuana cigarette.
"Smoking or ingesting marijuana is a separate misdemeanor. In most locations, including your home, marijuana use will only get you 90 days in jail and a $100 fine. Possessing marijuana in a park is a more serious crime, which can even be deemed a felony at a judge's discretion, and this crime carries a two-year sentence." -Marijuana Laws in Michigan | LegalMatch Law Library
- Unpaid taxes.
- Failure to appear to a summons.
- Smoking a cigarette in a car with a minor.
- Jaywalking in certain states.
- Drinking a beer on a Sunday.
- Removing a tree from your yard without a permit.
- Driving on a suspended license.
- Having a fire in your backyard.
- Failure to shovel your sidewalk in the winter.
- Carrying an open can of beer while crossing the street.
- Bringing your dog into a restaurant with you.
Keep in mind, these crimes are given equal legal status as murder, kidnapping, manslaughter and child prostitution in certain states. You do need to be careful.
People this is not the world of Perry Mason, and Mayberry RFD. This is the new world of Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Lois Learner, and Maxine Walters. You all need to open your eyes to the new reality of the “improved” United States.
A study by civil liberty lawyer Harvey Silverglate found that the average American inadvertently commits three felonies a day. It’s true. But, that hasn’t slowed anyone down in the non-stop churning out of laws and regulations.
- 8 Ways We Regularly Commit Felonies Without Realizing It
- How Many Felonies Did You Commit Today?
- You commit three felonies a day
- You Commit Three Felonies a Day – WSJ
"We know what happened in the case of QWest before 9/11. They (the government) contacted the CEO/Chairman asking to wiretap all the customers. After he consulted with Legal, he refused. As a result, NSA canceled a bunch of unrelated billion dollar contracts that QWest was the top bidder for. And then the DoJ targeted him and prosecuted him and put him in prison for insider trading — on the theory that he knew of anticipated income from secret programs that QWest was planning for the government, while the public didn’t because it was classified and he couldn’t legally tell them, and then he bought or sold QWest stock knowing those things. This CEO’s name is Joseph P. Nacchio and TODAY he’s still serving a trumped-up 6-year federal prison sentence today for quietly refusing an NSA demand to massively wiretap his customers." -In the book called Three Felonies A Day, Boston civil rights lawyer Harvey Silverglate says that everyone in the US commits felonies everyday and if the government takes a dislike to you for any reason, they’ll dig in and find a felony you’re guilty of.
So, if the U.S. government really wants to cancel your U.S. passport, it can find some technicality for doing so…for anyone. All they need to do is dig and in a short while they can find an excuse. That, of course, is not unique to the U.S. government. Any government can revoke or cancel the passport of its citizens for any reason it sees fit.
"As a civil liberties matter, a government which has the ability to prosecute innocent citizens at will, is a government which has achieved the power that has characterized all tyrannical governments throughout history." -Interview
There are so many laws in the United States that it is difficult keeping up with them all.
"...the IRS announced that it would block passports for 362,000 Americans who are late on their taxes. From where in the Constitution does the tax collector get the right to confine citizens who have never been convicted of a crime? We don’t know. We believe our own accounts with the IRS are in good order. But the “tax code” had 74,608 pages in 2016; there is plenty of room for disagreement, ambiguity, and interpretation." -Bill Bonner via BonnerAndPartners.com
You combine this with the uber-surveillance by the NSA and other governmental agencies and you’ve got a system for more or less automatically accusing any US citizen of a felony.
Having a second passport significantly dilutes this power.
[5] In an Emergency – you don’t need to be a refugee
In a worst-case scenario, you need to leave your home and your possessions. This is called a “bug out”. Most people are unprepared to leave, while others have created a “bug out bag” with enough supplies to get them through a week.
A second passport is “mobility insurance” for you and your family.
Regardless of how bad the economic or political situation might get in your home country, a second passport gives you the legal right to live and work elsewhere. It guarantees that once you “get out of Dodge”, you won’t have to live like a refugee.
[6] Renunciation of American Citizenship
Drastic times call for drastic measures.
What if the United States start mandating sterilization of all white males? This happened in Nazi Germany under various ethnic initiatives . What if the elected representatives decide to seize the houses of all white farmers and hand over the property to the masses, like in South Africa this year? What are you going to do?
Do you really think that it cannot happen here? Really?
Have you been watching the news lately?
- Maxine Waters Demands Reparations
- White people banned from a lounge
- Farmers ordered to give food to the Government
- DOT Bans All Samsung Galaxy Note7 Phones
In all likelihood, you will need a second passport if you decide to take the drastic step of leaving the United States and never coming back. This would be the ever costly issue of renouncing your citizenship.
There are advantages of this. Not only are you safe from laws and regulations that might target you and your family. This could also give you huge tax and regulatory benefits if your home country burdens its citizens with suffocating and inescapable taxes…as the U.S. does.
[7] Your Children
Once you obtain a second passport, the political diversification benefits will last for generations. You will be able to pass on multiple citizenships to your future children and grandchildren. You can provide them with options.
I once had a coworker who managed to collect multiple social security numbers for his children…”just in case”. Why NOT have multiple passports with multiple citizenships? If things get difficult or “hot” in one area, why not move to a cooler and calmer area? It offers you and provides you with options.
[8] TSA treats you differently
We, as Americans ASSUME that all people are treated equally by the TSA. You are in a line and everyone is groped. However that is not true in the least. People with diplomatic passports go through a different line and are treated differently, as are “protected” visitors who hold certain passports. People from certain nations are given “special” allowances.
Americans have accepted the fact that they are cattle to be groped and prodded by an all powerful United States government. Other nations do not feel this way. Try to grope and prod a citizen of Kuwait for instance, or Saudi Arabia. It will not happen without some serious discomfort. Thus, the TSA are trained to treat non-citizens differently than they treat Americans.
It is up to the reader to decide whether or not this treatment is better or worse than how they treat Americans. Though, I would be hard pressed to see if the treatment can be any worse…
And, let’s see how they treat women…
Sometimes the women are set aside for (ahem) “special” screening procedures…
Not Easy, but Necessary
All this being stated, obtaining a second passport is not necessarily easy. You need to prepare, plan and implement. Never the less, I personally believe that it is one of the most important things that we need to do is to prepare options for yourselves in the event that things become supremely uncomfortable for us.
Today, the United States government is the biggest threat to your personal freedom and financial security.
I need to tell you that it is getting worse with each day. Have you been paying attention to the news lately? There is an entire army of “deep state” employees that are hell-bent on increasing their size and scope of their madidate. This is a power projection, and you the citizen are the enemy. You can see this in how they treat you and how they refer to you with dismissive smirks and calling you names such as “deplorable”, and “white trash”.
Yah. Do you think that they give a “rats ass” about you or your family?
Today, the United States is completely out of control. It is running on autopilot by a huge engaged bureaucracy that is controlled by senile old men and women who enjoy their lavish dinners on fine china. The risks that the status quo poses are only growing. This, combined with other trends, such as skyrocketing government debt will necessitate increasingly drastic action.
At some point in time, politicians will inevitably try to further restrict the movement of citizens in a desperate attempt to squeeze them for every penny possible.
Conclusions
Having a second passport is necessary when your home government becomes unstable.
If you think that there is a chance that your government will become more authoritarian, or unstable, it would be beneficial for you to obtain a second passport for you and your family. It will provide you with options.
"Authoritarianism is a form of government characterized by strong central power and limited political freedoms." -Wikipedia
Consider this while Democrats are calling for open attacks on Trump supporters, advocate using weapons to kill people, sponsoring riots, and Doxing people who do not fit into their established political belief structures.
Take Aways
- While it is important to have your “papers” on you, you also need to have “global papers”, if you intend to leave your nation.
- Being prudent is a virtue.
- The key about being the head of the family is to care for, and protect the well-being of the family. Often this means planning and foresight.
- A second passport enables a person to have a second identity in a second place.
FAQ
Q: Is a second passport necessary?
A: No. If you have no intention on exiting your nation, then a second passport is not necessary.
Q: What is the primary benefit of a second passport?
A: It provides you and your family options, if for some reason, it becomes dangerous to live inside your nation. History has shown us that it if often dangerous to stay in a nation when government failures become large and dangerous. That is why there are refugees, and illegal migrants. In the event that you need to leave the nation, it is best you be prepared to do so.
Q: Is it easy to get a second passport?
A: No, but it can be done. For instance, you can become a resident and citizen of Fiji by simply living there for five years. Other nations require investments in money.
Q: Why leave the United States?
A: All nations evolve and change. If you like the change and the direction that it is leading to, then by all means stay and enjoy the paradise that you have been promised. If you feel uncomfortable with the changes, then it just might be in your best interests to move to someplace more comfortable for you. You do not need to live a life of trouble.
Finally Why…?
Well, other nations are different. I think that slim and healthy girls are attractive. I hate the portrayals of large-asses being jiggled around by obese black women as a reflection of the “new” America. I don’t like the in-your-face rudeness, and the constant belittling of hard-working men by welfare mothers with pink hair. You know, guys… You don’t have to take it. You can leave and go to a place where the women are better…
Like Communist China for example.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
Articles & Links
- You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
- You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
- You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
- You can find out more about the author HERE.
- If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
- If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.
Notes
- Compiled 10JUL18
- Completed 15JUL18.
- SEO 15JUL18.
- Swapped out the embeds and changed the Links. 29SEP18.
I don’t think there is any easy way to get a second passport (legally). Doesn’t Paraguay require physical residency of several years to become citizen and thereby get a passport?
In other words, the advice to get a second passport seems unrealistic for most people.
When I was in Fiji, they told me that if I lived there for five years that I could become a citizen and have a passport. Fiji is really beautiful, and I have met numerous expats that have moved there. Saved money and now have small low-budget hotels that they use to earn a small income from. It is quite possible to obtain another passport, but if you are an American it will be very difficult. America and all it’s proxy wars have pretty much turned the world against Americans.
Chinese law is simpler than American law, but also more complex. (Typical China.)
Rather than requiring an army of lawyers to enforce copyright laws they instead have a much simpler system. The first to print, make, develop, promote or use a product in China becomes the owner of that product. Here’s a great story to illustrate this point. Back in the 1990’s the American company Caterpillar started to manufacture parts and components in China. One of the things that the company did was to make hats, and uniforms for the workers with the company logo. They went out in China, and found a company to make the uniforms for them. That company owned up to their end of the deal and manufactured the uniforms for the company.
Then, as they were the first company to make a product using that logo in China, they owned the copyright.
Then, they immediately started using the CAT logo on shoes, tee-shirts, and all sorts of locally made designs. They opened up stores in malls and other venues. This made the actual company quite angry and they wanted the clothing company to stop.
Now, the Caterpillar company in China was told to take action. But there was a snag. you see, all joint-ventures in China must have majority control by a Chinese national. The local company went into arbitration in China against the Chinese company, but the argument specified that the logo was owned by an American a non-Chinese person. So what ended up happening was that it was an American company trying to wrest control of their logo from a Chinese company within China, under Chinese arbitration.
While the rules state that arbitration should be fair and just, in practice arbitration always rule in favor of Chinese nationals. This is simply because that is the way the laws in America, the UK, and Canada ruled. If there was a legal issues between a Chinese person and an American, the American courts would rule in favor of the America. The Chinese watched this happen time and time again. They saw the signs go up that said such things as “No Chinese Allowed”, etc. Even to this day, admissions in Harvard automatically subtract 50 points from the SAT’s of Chinese students.
Long story short. The courts ruled in favor of the Chinese clothing shop, and now you can buy CAT merchandise all over China that is not associated with the heavy equipment manufacturer.
Right or wrong, I do not know. What I do know that it is a simpler and cheaper solution. Take for instance the reprints of old Science Fiction stories from the last century. I’m not only the first one to print them in China, but I’m also doing it free of charge. Since there is no profit on my end, there is no identity associated with criminal activity or violation of Chinese law. They are self-translated versions in English from Russian, which originally were printed 70 years ago in English, and submitted on Chinese servers for free. To trace ownership you need to identify who first published them within China for profit, and then negotiate with them.
No commerce laws are broken. Copyright is established by the first to publish.
Of course, were I to decide to publish them for profit, an entirely different set of criteria would come into play. In that event, I would hire a Chinese attorney and follow their advice. Such is the story of the Wimpy Kid series of kid’s books. Written in America, but printed in China in the Chinese language. In that case, a Chinese person rewrote or translated the books into Chinese. Much like I translated the SF stories out of Russian. While they might have originally been in English the Chinese derivations come from outside of America.
In America, lawyers would be making tons of money hand over fist trying to resolve the ownership details. Not so in China. For all practical purposes; First to manufacture in China is first to own within China.
But do not take legal advice from me. I am not a lawyer. I’m just a poor smuck writing on a “five dollar blog” about my thoughts, and experiences.
I really do not know all of the answers. It’s a big subject with many aspects.
I know that of the 11 or so patents that I have, at least three were circumvented by American companies in various ways. Patents really don’t do much. Just make it difficult for a competitor in your nation from copying your implemented design solutions.
As far as intellectual property is concerned, the marching “drum beat” in the USA is that China has “stolen” American technology. Nonsense! We gave it to them. I know. I was there in the meetings and the negotiations. In exchange, the American owner became super-dooper ulta rich. Look up Al Dunlop. It was my job to move his factories to China. So I do know what I am talking about. Oh, and do not misunderstand. I did not agree nor enjoy the work. But a paycheck is a paycheck, and I had a family to attend to myself.
IP, patents, jurisdiction, corporate policies and regulation are fascinating subjects. Check out some of my posts on this matter…
The amazing PT-141
The re-engineering of the tomato
I am not saying that at all. The systems are completely different.
If you take a story written in English, and reproduce that exact story… word for word, in China exactly then it depends on what system has jurisdiction…
[1] Expired copyright. Reproduced exactly for profit.
[2] Expired copyright. Reproduced under American fair-use provisions.
[3] Expired copyright. Reproduced under Chinese fair-use provisions.
[4] Active copyright. Reproduced exactly for profit outside copyright jurisdiction.
[5] Active copyright. Reproduced exactly for profit inside copyright jurisdiction.
[6] Active copyright. Edited and translated outside of jurisdiction for profit.
[7] Active copyright. Edited and translated outside of jurisdiction under Chinese fair-use provisions.
[8] Active copyright. Edited and translated outside of jurisdiction under American fair-use provisions.
I have the impression that you believe that anything reproduced herein falls under condition #1. It doesn’t.
Everything reproduced herein falls under conditions #2, 3, 7, and 8. The penalties and awards granted to Americans under copyright law are established under the gains and losses of profit. If there are no profits, there are no losses. Under British common law, all violations of the law require a victim. In America this “rule of law” was thwarted by the progressive policies of Wilson.
Never the less there is nothing here that violates Chinese law.
This is the grey web. I do not actively promote this site with SEO to be found by Americans on Google. If you stumbled on this site by accident, you can leave. It’s just my ramblings and notes stored in the cloud for my use and for referrals as needed. This site is not promoted. Nothing on this site is tied to personal profit in any way. If you want, you can give me some money, but you don’t need to.
This site is for me and myself only.
You cannot (should not) find it on Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr or any other website. It is not promoted actively. You can come a while, look around, and leave.
Otherwise, it’s like a busybody going into someone else’s’ house and complaining about the color of their drapes, the paintings on the walls, and the books on their shelves. The only thing that I don’t do is lock the door. Is that what I need to do? password protect the site from the sensibilities of others?
Incidentally, every story on this site is a book or a story out of my owned collection of books that I had to leave behind when I moved to China. After a few years I became starved for reading material. Ask any one who was deployed overseas what this is like. So, I started collecting stores that I found on the internet. All of them were found on free, fair use sites. I then downloaded the ebooks or pdfs and saved them. Only to have them eviscerated over and over again when the computer would die. So, to prevent that from reoccurring, I started putting them on my website
I have found that having your own (SEO deficient) website if far better than paying for “cloud storage”. Not only cheaper, but you can customize access. If someone stumbles upon it, well, ok.
I have been to China many times but unlike you never lived there. However, I agree with your tenor that the view of China from abroad is rather distorted. By your invitation to the public to read your blog (and possibly donate) as well as to ask you questions, I quite naturally have done so particularly to learn more about China.
But then you reply to me stating,
“If you stumbled on this site by accident, you can leave. It’s just my ramblings and notes stored in the cloud for my use and for referrals as needed. This site is not promoted. Nothing on this site is tied to personal profit in any way.”
Wow, I had no idea you were so sensitive.
I asked about copyright in China because you yourself state on your website that you follow China law in offering some popular SF writings for free. That is very interesting, least of which whether you follow China law or not, copyright infraction (if so) is copyright infraction. Then again, “China law” springs up suggesting that it insulates one from copyright restrictions; and if so, I wanted to know more about it. I guess I learned much more than I had bargained for. 🙂
Actually, I don’t mean to be such a prick. There are sometimes rather bellicose individuals that like to park here and fire off insults. Not you. Just others. Actually you have been quite nice and agreeable, and if our paths ever cross, I’d buy you a meal and take you to a KTV.
Yes. China. The big thing that shocked me to the core as how free China was.
It’s not at all what I was expecting. People are here just living their lives and chilling out. They are doing quite well actually, and they don’t have things like seatbelt laws, smoking restrictions, requirements for servicing alcohol, or drinking age limits. And they function just fine and healthily.
So accept my apologies for being such a prick. You are not deserving.
I have been here for a long, long time and NEVER had ANY problems with the police.
I am going to say something now, and it is not directed at you, but rather in Americans in general. As an American we see the world through what we know. And what we know is that if you see a police car behind you, you slow down. If you see one near by you automatically check your speedometer. If you are anywhere near a policeman, you show respect, for they can, and will pull you over for the smallest infraction, and can make your life miserable. Maybe not every time, but often enough (and through the stories we hear) we know to mind our P’s and Q’s.
Further the news media is full of stories about how terrible China is, and what a shit-hole nation it is. We hear about communism and repression. We have images of Stalin’s Russia, the Gulag, and Nazi Germany. And given the reports from both the Liberal and the Conservative media, we assume that China is one big police state where the police are wearing full armor, carrying machine guns, and snarling at you.
In fact, there is a very large police force in China. But they are like old-fashioned “beat cops”. They walk about, talk to people, and are there to help if anything goes wrong. They help little old ladies cross the street and watch over the children and they go to and from their classes. There are also private police. You might call them security guards, but they are trained to work with the local police. So they act like a kind of auxiliary police that supplement the regular police. Like America there are traffic police, customs police, investigative police, etc. But most everyone is unarmed. They do most of their time on population and people observation and assistance to prevent problems. Which such a large population, things can go wrong easily unless there are true and real public servants that keep the things in order. Though, it is not at all rare to see them spending extra time talking with pretty girls, and playing on their cell phones. LOL.
So, my interactions with the Chinese police have been always positive. Every four months or so, I go through customs on a “visa run”. It’s a method of keeping track of foreigners, common throughout the world, and then go to the police station to update my local residency. Both are fully computerized and automated. They just scan my face, check my palm, and I’m done. In the residency update, it’s just a matter of printing out and update of my residence document. Takes about five minutes tops. As an aside, there are now robots in Gongbei that you often deal with rather than actual human customs officers. They scan you, make a decision on what language to speak to you in and process you. Most Americans have no idea just how advanced China is.
Yes, there are periodic raids on bars, clubs and KTV’s. But they are very infrequent. And this is an environment that I know quite well.
Unlike the USA, there are no moral laws on behavior (aside from the really dangerous ones), and such people can eat, drink and smoke without limits. This includes age restrictions, taxes, regulations or geographical limits. It’s a freedom that is astounding to Americans, and people from the West. As I have repeatedly said, when I can go into Pizzahut, put my dog in the chair next to me, drink a bottle of wine, and smoke doing the meal, and no one says anything… in fact the waitresses all come over and play with my dog (he’s a real chick magnet)… that is what REAL FREEDOM is.