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

Wrong Name

[BigJimSlade]

"The DOJ announced that they are planning to prosecute filesharers under the The No Electronic Theft ("NET") Act."

This bill is actually entitled Make'em Stop, Period--No Electronic Theft (MS.NET).

Hehe. My Plan

[Myuu]

"Apparently some theaters are consenting to run anti-piracy ads before movies."

My city's big theater already has a poster on their ticket booths saying 'Pirates Not Allowed...blah blah blah...MPAA' with a picture of a pirate.

Our plan is to go into the theater with a video camera and one of us dressed as a pirate and yell out "Arrr...thats discrimation".

Hehe...just something to do to toy with those coporate bitches.

An anti-piracy ad?

[soulsteal]

Hmmm, I hope someone puts it up on KaZaa or else I might never see it....

Re:Under the NET Act...

[KelsoLundeen]

Yeah, but the Crossroads with Ralph Macchio (Karate Kid) is pretty cool. It's definitely worth more than the Crossroads with Britney.

BTW, this is off-topic, but ...

Today is a sad day. My Oscar Goldman action figure with the exploding briefcase finally tumbled from my computer. Oscar hit his head. The head cracked.

The briefcase still explodes, though.

Steve Austin, who for 26 years always rode shotgun with Oscar Goldman, has now moved two inches to the right on my "bionic" shelf in order to fill the space that Oscar left. I've still got the Jamie Sommers action figure, the Bionic Transport and Repair Station, and the Maskatron figure. (Although Maskatron has lost his mask.)

Anyway, if you don't know Oscar Goldamn and his exploding briefcase, you're too young.

Now, for something on-topic:

The obvious question -- if this NET act is the law that puts 14 and 15 year olds in the super-high security, DEFCON 1 lockups in Colorado and Illinois for swapping N'Sync and Britney -- is how, exactly, is the $1000 figure calculated?

I'm sure a case could made that each song on each CD -- on the millions of CDs -- are actually worth in excess of one thousand dollars -- each! -- due to distribution costs, royalty payments, hotel bills for executives, Hilary Rosen's swank house in the Hamptons (the price for which has surely been amortized over the millions of Britney CDs littering the land), and MPAA Jack "Maddog ... GRrrrrrrr!" Valenti's ivory golf clubs and matching bath towels.

(And no, I have no idea if Hillary has a house in the Hamptons or Maddog Jack has ivory golf clubs ...)

Ten Commandments of the RIAA

[AntiNorm]

The Ten Commandments of the RIAA:

1. Thou shalt have no entertainment before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any device by which thou mighst render my copyright protection ineffective.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of Britney Spears in vain, for I will not hold him guiltless who disrespects her.
4. Honor Hilary Rosen and Jack Valenti, that thy days of entertaining thyself might be long and pleasurable.
5. Thou shalt not download MP3s.
6. Thou shalt pay inflated prices for thine CDs.
7. Thou shalt pay unto me a tax for the blank media which thou acquirest, compensating me for heathen pirates.
8. Thou shalst allow me to search thine computer at my fancy, to ensure that you are virgin from illicitude.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's MP3 collection, lest ye be tempted to download MP3s from him.
10. Thou shalt not seek out alternatives to me, for I am the one true RIAA.