RIAA Wants Taxpayer-Funded IP Police

Sydney Weidman writes "RIAA has given testimony before the House Appropriations Committee asking for more federal money for Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property investigation teams. You can find RIAA's side of the story here and a Cnet story is available as well. Apparently, RIAA is not satisfied with the current deployment of CHIP teams since they have been more involved in anti-hacking activities than in anti-piracy. My favourite Hilary Rosen quote: "Piracy is not a private offense, it hurts everyone by diminishing the incentive to invest in the creation of music." I guess Rosen won't be happy until each and every pirate is charged with crimes against humanity and convicted by the International Court of Justice"

Comments

see this?

[garcia]

RIAA, do you see this?

I am a taxpayer, I don't want this. Tough.

Re:Good!

[Chucow]

organizations like the RIAA and MPAA are fighting to protect the hard work of those they represent

Fighting so very hard, in fact, that musicians get around $1.37 per CD? Fighting so hard that one musician goes so far as to say that he would rather have his music be given out free than through his label?

The RIAA and MPAA aren't fighting to protect anyone except themselves.

Here we go again

[SLot]

Time to get out your keyboards/pen&paper and write to your Congresscritter on the Appropriations Committee.

Remember to be polite when explaining why you disagree with this.

Re:Good!

[rusty0101]

Out of a $16 cd, the artist is lucky to get $1. I say lucky, because until the artist pays for the studio time, and the expenses of actually building the master, and paying for the press run on the CD, the artist's $1 per cd goes to the production run.

The remaining $15 is used to pay for advertizing, copyright management, lawyers, and profit for the publishers.

-Rusty

The *real* news story

[Anonymous Coward]

The parent is a troll. Here's the actual text:

RIAA Urges More Funds, Stronger IP Focus For Law Enforcement's Anti-Piracy Efforts

WASHINGTON--At a Congressional hearing today on protecting intellectual property rights, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) pressed leading Congressional budget writers for additional funds for federal anti-piracy law enforcement efforts and a renewed focus on protecting intellectual property.

Testifying for the RIAA at a field hearing in Ashburn, Virginia at the request of Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's panel that writes the annual budget for the departments of State, Justice and Commerce, Frank Creighton outlined the industry's recent anti-piracy efforts and how the federal government can better help.

In written testimony, Creighton, Executive Vice President and Director of Anti-Piracy at the RIAA, said he was encouraged by steps already taken by the Department of Justice to address intellectual property crimes. However, recently released government statistics show that more work needs to be done. For example, government statistics show that federal actions filed for copyright and trademark infringements have declined for the second straight year, from 108 in fiscal year (FY) 2000 to 84 in FY 2001, and federal copyright cases filed dropping from 106 filed in FY 2000 to 46 in FY 2001.

"We all have to find a way to come together and make sure that we are using the people's resources and the tools of the law in a way that makes sense and gets results," said Creighton.

Creighton applauded the creation of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property units - known as CHIP units - in some U.S. Attorney's Offices, but said, "we're concerned that the focus will be computer hacking to the exclusion of intellectual property. In our view, that would be a terrible tragedy - not just for our interests, but for Americans as a whole...We need more CHIPs units. We need IP to be a priority within these units. We need to explore creative approaches to creating appropriate deterrent levels on the Internet in coordination with private industry.

Note that after the 2nd paragraph, the real version and the one trolled above wildly diverge.

I encourage everyone to put the troller on their "enemies" list, and to modify moderation for such people down by two or more points, so you don't have to see this crap in the future.

Re:Slashdotted already.

[dark_panda]

Just so all you people who don't bother to read the articles know (and before you start losing your minds over the anti-linux stuff) the original article doesn't mention linux at all. So mod the previous post up as funny or troll or something, not informative, you crazy mods.

J

Re:These agencies are funded by big corporations.

[Xader Vartec]

Most lobbyist sicken you?

They shouldn't. The FSF have lobbyiest. When your a little guy like us lobbyist are the only way to get your views heard by Senators.

Think about it. Big corporations have access to Sentors because of how big they are. You and me? Well, we don't have (for the most part) big corporations that represent our interests. So, we donate and become members of orginizations (FSF, EFF, NRA -- yeh, most of you problably won't like that last one) that DO have the money to influence to lobby for our position in government.

Getting rid of the lobbyist is the FASTEST way to guarentee(sp) that your view will NOT be heard by our Congressmen. Without lobbyiest ONLY the rich and powerful (corporations) will have access to influence (corporations don't need lobbyist to get access to congressmen).

If you want your views heard, after you write/call your congressmen join non-profit orginizations that repressent your views. THAT is the best way to get Congress to hear your voice.

Not enough of us are joining FSF or EFF.

Re:not so crazy?

[5KVGhost]

To suggest that, given the current laws protecting intellectual property, we should then turn around and ignore them when it comes to enforcement, is going about it all wrong.
No, until we reach that day when IP laws are stricken down from the books forever (I propose a new Amendment!), we must do our utmost to defend these laws, for they are the very things which make this country good.

I hate feeding trolls, but here goes. The problem with that argument is that laws which are actively enforced and widely obeyed are seldom stricken from the books, no matter how dumb they are. Once a law becomes a viable source of revenue or a means to power it gains a larger base of support.

I agree that the ultimate answer is to remove or change the laws. Though IMHO no Amendment is necessary, simply a return to the original intent of the protections already in the Constitution.

In the meantime, however, passive resistance is the best offense. The RIAA and MPAA can't possibly lock up everyone that offends them, no matter how many bad laws they buy or how many IP G-Men they conjur up. Heretofore all they've gotten for their troubles are a massive public backlash and a lot of people closely examining industry practicies that they'd have preferred to keep in the dark. The tighter their grasp becomes, the more power will slip through their fingers.

High Priority/Low Priority

[ltsmash]

We need IP to be a priority within these [CHIP] units.

Considering that the CIA just warned of a Chinese cyber attack on the US , I really doubt that CHIP units are going to start devoting more time to a few 15-year olds trading MP3s.

Re:I wonder

[richieb]

Sen Disney's SSSCA was killed outright due to the number of letters recieved on the matter.

SSSCA wasn't killed. It was renamed to "Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act [CBDTPA]". And now it's been introduced in Congress.

Re:I wonder

[rutledjw]

I thought even the revised version had been killed in comittee as reported here - Copyright [CBDTPA] Bill Universally Rejected

With all the articles, it's easy to miss, but I'm very keyed on this whole thing...

Still funny and relevant...

[bonch]

http://www.campchaos.com/cartoons/napsterbad/sue_5 6k.html