Copyright Infringement In the News

Lots of newsbits about copyright infringement today - let's mash them all together with some egg whites and breadcrumbs and see what we get. marklyon writes "The DOJ announced that they are planning to prosecute filesharers under the The No Electronic Theft ("NET") Act. John Malcolm, a deputy assistant attorney general, made the pronouncement at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual technology and politics summit Tuesday. Cnet has extended coverage." Reader M_Talon writes "According to this article on ZDNET the RIAA is using one of the DMCA's more nasty clauses...the right to subpoena an ISP for a suspected pirate's personal information. They want to force Verizon to reveal the customer's information, and Verizon is refusing on the grounds that the pirated material isn't on their servers." Reader MattW writes "Apparently some theaters are consenting to run anti-piracy ads before movies. After all, these are not a bunch of fat cats we're talking about -- piracy now threatens the livelihood of the rank and file workers of Hollywood. After all, the movie studios are having a terrible year, right?" Finally, the Washington Post (probably one of the last articles we post from their site, as they go registration-required) discovers spoofed files on Gnutella, and public radio is reporting that the RIAA will drop their suit against listen4ever.com, since it's, uh, gone.

Comments

This is a very GOOD THING!

[Cpt_Kirks]

It really takes this level of stupidity to wake up the idiot masses. When little Jimmy goes to the Pen for swapping Britney trash, Daddy Six-Pack gets pissed and vents on "Good Morning America".

Nothing is going to change for the better until a *LOT* of people get prosecuted. Then the sheeple start to ask is the DOJ might possibly have some better use for their time...

What's your point?

[smiff]

Exactly what point are you trying to make? What will people think if they see a video clip of 'pirates' not being allowed into a theater, and a parrat that says "polly wanna crack CSS"? Most people will just see a bunch of freeloading hoodlums who were rightfully barred from the theater.

While your little plan may be amusing, it is counter-productive. Next time an activist speaks out against copyright legislation, people will associate that activist with the 'pirates' who tried to get into a theater. People will then summarily disregard everything that activist has to say.