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U.S. to Get New IP Czar
tetraminoe writes "Reuters is reporting that Congress's latest spending bill provides for the creation of a federal copyright enforcement czar. According to the article, 'Under the program, the president can appoint a copyright law enforcement officer whose job is to coordinate law enforcement efforts aimed at stopping international copyright infringement and to oversee a federal umbrella agency responsible for administering intellectual property law.' It also gives $2 million to the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council (NIPLAC), created in the '90s and never funded. NIPLAC will work to protect American IP overseas and oversee enforcement."
This is news for nerds, IP should mean Internet Protocol, not some copyright sillyness.
Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
I am just glad they found a cause better than education to give money to. I was affraid my kids might get an educaion. Everyone knows we cant have that.
And then they armed me with moderator points and the world mourned.
I feel so much better knowing my tax money is going to help fund the enforcement efforts of the RIAA and MPAA. Obviously that is much more important than the fact our borders are wide open, that security screeners at the airport are more concerned about searching 78 year old black men and 18 year old young ladies than some more obvious candidates. Sorry for the rant.
Im sure the war on CopyrightAbuse will be as affective as the War on Drugs and the The War on Terra.
Its comforting to know that a government agency will be responsible for ensuring the MPAA and RIAA are profitable.
And we get to pay for it both on the enforcement and higher prices caused by inefficient distribution systems.
What a warm way to start this holiday.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
And I thought I could avoid the US copyright insanity by living in Canada!
Will they also be responsible for sifting through and cutting short spurious IP claims?
welcome our new Gov. enforcing, brutally regulating, fiercely punishing, justice mutilating, freedom curtailing, property upholding, paradigm shattering, useless blathering IP overlords.
... the copyright industry lacks sufficient funds to sue infringers on their own. Poor Disney. Poor Sony. Poor Universal. These guys really need a break!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
As for being the enforcement arm of the *AA, this country's core creed is "the protection of capital" even to the point of propping up failed business models (hey, it works for Amtrak and the Big Three Airlines). Ignore that at your peril.
Yeah, right.
'Czar'? Weren't czar's, like, emperors who had ultimate rule in a non-free society?
Is that what it's come down to in 21st century America? 'Czar's?
At least the US gubment is going out in the open about it. No more of this pussy footing about the real intent here: screw freedom. Drug Czars, IP Czars, what next?
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
The bad news is that the other posters are right - this czar will probably focus more on coordinating the RIAA/MPAA legal fights and forcing computer makers to build in DRM so that I can't even legally backup copies of my own CDs/DVDs/etc.
It frustrates me to see people who *share* content getting more persecuted/prosecuted than those who try to profit from stolen content - the real pirates.
"This isn't the Pirate Act, but I think the taxpayers would be surprised that there's money being spent for copyright enforcement when terrorists and criminals still roam the streets," said Gigi Sohn, president of the nonprofit fair-use advocacy group Public Knowledge. "When every dollar is being counted for education, health care and homeland security, it seems like a strange priority."
Indeed, it's funny how certain industries always seem to get government help when they need it. Must be nice. "Lesse, my business is suffering because of competitors who won't play by my rules. I could try to out market them, or out produce them, or enforce my own rules, or, wait a minute! I know! I'll just cut a check to my congresscritter and get them to do my job for me! Whee! Ain't America grand!"
Maybe that's why the article began this way:
"Buried inside the massive $388 billion spending bill Congress approved last weekend is a program that creates a federal copyright enforcement czar. "
Yeah, better not let this one see too much of the light of day. Just bury it in the spending bill that has to pass.
Exactly. They've scared congress with enough tales of financial ruin that there will be even more heavy handed legislation and most importantly for them, federal enforcement. The civil copyright infringement remedies, which have traditionally relied on the owner for enforcement, have now been transferred to the taxpayers. But somehow I doubt the government would be nearly as responsive if some smalltime software developer asked for federal help to stop illegal distribution of his applications.
its nice to know that all the terrorists have been eradicated so they are no longer a concern.
Its nice to know that there are no more starving children in the country, or neglected. or abused.
All other *real* crime has been removed from our land.. so now we can waste resources on meaningless things like this.. and have the feds invade farther into our lives, what should be civil issues?
Don't we all just feel so much safer now?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
"who here thinks that its a good thing that you can buy "Oceans 12" or "Half Life 2" on the streets of Hong Kong today for 50 cents?"
Piracy is the only check we have on the price of games, movies, and CD's.
CD prices have dropped recently. Why? Because the competition (i.e. "free") forced it down.
There is a myth that if there was perfect copy protection, prices would decrease because of "less losses from piracy".
In fact, prices go up in this situation, because there is no competition.
I view a small amount of piracy as a healthy thing for the consumer, because it forces the producer to compete with *something*.
In the other hand, "international copyright infringements"... what about US infringements about international copyrights? US laws/view of the problem always seems to be "i am the right one, the other countries just copy what is done here" even when its not, same with the "fair trade" US definition (accept our products, lets see if I accept yours)
Having the GOP control the entire government is bad on so many levels - and one of the worst is the constant shilling they do for corporations at the expense of individuals. The normality of our nerd lives is continually threatened by the Republican party.
Thirty years ago or more Nixon appointed an Energy Czar to make us more energy independent. Since then we're ever more dependent on the Saudis & their ilk.
Every administration since at least Reagan has appointed a Drug Czar. He has had absolutely no effect on the availability of drugs in this country.
Before creating the Department of Homeland Insecurity, Bush appointed Tom Ridge to be his Homeland Security Czar. Far from making everyone feel more secure, he's spent the last three years or so scaring the bejezus out of us.
So now that we're going to have an IP Czar, file traders everywhere should be breathing a sigh of relief. It means the government isn't really serious about the "problem" and is just going through the motions.
Read some Machiavelli. Wars have historically almost always been seen in economical and political terms. At the moment, the US is powerful enough and self-confident enough not to worry about the political, hence the economic factors will tend to take precedence.
For the love of God, please learn to spell "ridiculous"!!!
If so, then everything we try to do to get consumer-friendly laws pass will be thwarted, and all we will be able to do is to watch as current trends move towards their logical conclusion, where there's a small number of ultra-rich corps/people, and the rest of the world lives like Bangladeshi farmers do today.
Have a pleasant holiday!
You hit the nail on the head. "Of the people, by the people, for the people" became "of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations" bit by bit as corporate personhood became the norm in the US. Since corporations are immortal and made of the labor of many people, however, they have a distinct advantage over the rest of us poor slobs.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I'll imply it. In fact, I'll come right out and say it: The RIAA is not justified in its claims that downloaders on p2p services are hurting them. Primarily this is because their claims are overblown and are used by RIAA as the SOLE culprit in their revenue loss, when in fact it is only a small portion of the blame.
Let me explain the simple math for you: if you have a choice between "paying" and "not paying" for music, which will you do? Speak for yourself. Since you seem to have no regard for the law, I suppose you will do anything you can get away with. Personally, I don't care for the crap the RIAA label put out these days, and I don't buy it, and I don't listen to it (other than occasionally on radio and tv, or at a bar - I do have friends and family).
Artists (even bad ones) should have some way of being compensated, if that's what they care about. But the RIAA model of stealing from artists, controlling the broadcasters, and ripping off the public is old and dying and deserves no respect. And using the government to protect their dying business model is plain evil.
So yess[sic], the RIAA has 100% legit claims of financial ruin.
So, along with the airline industry, the auto industry, etc., etc., I suppose you think it's ok for MY tax dollars to be stolen from me (at gunpoint) to bail out the music industry? Well, then, fuck you.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
In practice, this plays out through the operation of two seemingly diametrical systems. The laissez-faire economy is operated for the poor and working classes, who must either sink or swim, while a kind of socialism is provided for the rich. They are entitled to sink all they like. Their political servants--the US government--will always be on hand at poolside to revive them, pump their waterlogged bellies, and towel down the poor dears while delivering fulsome praise for their bravery and daring in plunging to the bottom.