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Software Firms Lobby for Stronger Copyright Laws
Spy Handler writes "According to an article on CNN, the Business Software Alliance went before the Congress yesterday and lobbied for stronger copyright protection. Their key point: Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should be required to reveal the names of customers who may be distributing illegal wares on peer-to-peer networks. I guess they feel that the DMCA is too lax for them to be allowed to carry out RIAA-style raids on college students."
In case you hadn't noticed, several ISPs have told them no, they can't have the names, and the courts have backed them up.
The US needs a Canadian style privacy commissioner who acts on the behalf of the people rather than a government that acts on behalf of big business.
Again.
If this was to be implemented I don't see why it would only affect corporations and business entities. It would provide extra protection for GPL'd software copyright holders in the event of their copyright being infringed amongst others.
Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
Actually, the way I would describe it is not censorship, but rather the erosion of our Constitutionally-protected due process rights.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of copyright enforcement (as a GPL user). However, I'm also all in favor of equal rights and equal responsibilities. And it seems like the corporations are trying to gain "more-than-equal" rights here, without accepting the responsibilities. When was the last time you saw a CxO pay the same kind of penalties that a regular person would?
C|N>K
It's not about "Stronger Copyright Laws" but in reducing the rights of the invidividual to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The problem is that they want names of people that *MAY* be trading..
Presumed guilt.. That is a big problem.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
You seem to forget that we each need to have a $50000 cheque included with our protests; clearly we don't each have that, but the BSA/**AA do. That's also how things work.
AC comments get piped to
So. I guess the subversion of the Original Copyright Intentions, by biased legislators and coporate America, are fair as well? Or how about having a digital flag attached to your hardware, and then to your legally recorded media content is flagged because a corporate entity wants it that way. These things brought about by corporate lobbyist. Rights are for Sale, whether you like it or not, or admit it.
Benjamin Franklin "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety...
Also "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
"Sell not...liberty to purchase power.
Here is one of his key qoutes.
"History affords us many instances of the ruin of states...the ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy...An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy...
My cat's picked up a Hammer. HEY! Put down that Hammer. Put Down that Hamm...THUNK!
Lets say you put a file named windows.zip on Kazaa. Turns out it has nothing to do with Microsoft, however with the way some of these anti-piracy searches go, they may catch that and want to go after you.
As of right now, to figure out your identity, they have to file to get that information from your ISP. What they are proposing is they can just pick up the phone and say "we think this person is doing something bad, give us all their information."
It would be scary enough if the government could do that without going through the proper legal channels, but this is proposing that coporate america get these kinds of power and unlimited access.
Yes...the law should crack down on illegal activities, but it should not allow businesses to be able to hurl an overwhelming number of lawsuits at people just based on thinking it's illegal and having instant access to the client information. Just like the law - they should have to do all their homework and make sure they have a decent case before hauling you into court, not just a bunch of conjecture. With this change, it'd be too easy for the BSA to haul any average joe into court and accuse them and draing their financial resources in a heartbeat - before they could prove they didn't do anything wrong.
I disagree. I don't think it's reasonable for the BSA to lobby for certain laws. In fact, I don't think that groups like the BSA and the RIAA shoud ever exist.
They are monopolistic by nature. Capitalism is predicated on competition. If every major company in a given industry gets together and forms an organization like the BSA and then the that organization lobbies for all those companies it effectively creates a trade cartel.
This is another example of how we no longer have anything resembling an open capitalist economy. It's decayed into an oligarchic form of crony capatalism. All the chummy companies get together and form the chummy trade group which then lobbies the appropriately chummy committee of congress where someday the chummy congress scumbags hope to get rich in the chummy industry that they supposedly regulate.
Under this system if you aren't one of the chummy in-crowd (meaning all of us) you are screwed.
Here's where your reasoning falls apart. Yes, the (U.S.) law is being broken and quite often, and existing laws make it difficult to prosecute. There are several responses to this:
(a) Make it easier to enforce the law, which generally requires a reduction in freedoms or protections for the public.
(b) Modify the laws that are being broken so that the activity isn't illegal anymore, which generally requires a reduction in protection or control for the businesses.
(c) Modify the products or services such that people are more likely to obtain them through legal channels.
You say that the laws are reasonable, implying (b) is an inappropriate response. Many would disagree. IP laws don't exist as inherent rights, they exist as a balance and they have tilted too far one way and are being used in ways never intended.
Lobbying for changing laws is certainly a valid method and there are certainly a number of groups trying to do that in favour of more sane IP laws. But it isn't the only valid method. There is no faster way to instigate change than to force the issue by large scale violation of a law. It may be risky in that it (a) leaves people open to prosecution, and (b) may drive those with a "there's no excuse for violating the law" attitude towards the other side, particularly those who make the laws. But it forces the issues into the open and if the lawmakers are reasonable, they will look at both sides and find a compromise. It also provides a clear example of what can happen if the people aren't happy with the law they end up producing -- people will just violate it anyway. Either the law will have to become reasonable or it will have to become more of a police state to enforce them.