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Orrin Hatch to Lead Senate Panel on Copyright, Patents
PontifexPrimus writes "Senator Orrin Hatch, (in)famous for his idea of destroying the computers of copyright violators is to head a Senate 'panel, which will have jurisdiction over copyright, trademark and patent law, as well as treaties intended to protect American intellectual property overseas.' Looks like file sharing will finally be erased once and for all. Oh, and this looks like another field day for those who refuse to subsume patent, trademark and copyright law under the heading of 'IP law.'"
As a record store owner, my business faces ruin. CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago. Revenue is down and costs are up. My store has survived for years, but I now face the prospect of bankruptcy. Every day I ask myself why this is happening.
I bought the store about 12 years ago. It was one of those boutique record stores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one listens to, not even the people that buy them. I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the family market. My store specialised in family music - stuff that the whole family could listen to. I don't sell sick stuff like Marilyn Manson or cop-killer rap, and I'm proud to have one of the most extensive Christian rock sections that I know of.
The business strategy worked. People flocked to my store, knowing that they (and their children) could safely purchase records without profanity or violent lyrics. Over the years I expanded the business and took on more clean-cut and friendly employees. It took hard work and long hours but I had achieved my dream - owning a profitable business that I had built with my own hands, from the ground up. But now, this dream is turning into a nightmare.
Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer CDs. Why is no one buying CDs? Are people not interested in music? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, read books? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Internet piracy is mostly to blame. The statistics speak for themselves - one in three discs world wide is a pirate. On The Internet, you can find and download hundreds of dollars worth of music in just minutes. It has the potential to destroy the music industry, from artists, to record companies to stores like my own. Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the book store just across from my store is doing great business. Unlike CDs, it's harder to copy books over The Internet.
A week ago, an unpleasant experience with pirates gave me an idea. In my store, I overheard a teenage patron talking to his friend.
"Dude, I'm going to put this CD on the Internet right away."
"Yeah, dude, that's really lete [sic], you'll get lots of respect."
I was fuming. So they were out to destroy the record industry from right under my nose? Fat chance. When they came to the counter to make their purchase, I grabbed the little shit by his shirt. "So...you're going to copy this to your friends over The Internet, punk?" I asked him in my best Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry voice.
"Uh y-yeh." He mumbled, shocked.
"That's it. What's your name? You're blacklisted. Now take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked. Cravenly, they complied and scampered off.
So that's my idea - a national blacklist of pirates. If somebody cannot obey the basic rules of society, then they should be excluded from society. If pirates want to steal from the music industry, then the music industry should exclude them. It's that simple. One strike, and you're out - no reputable record store will allow you to buy another CD. If the pirates can't buy the CDS to begin with, then they won't be able to copy them over The Internet, will they? It's no different to doctors blacklisting drug dealers from buying prescription medicine.
I have just written a letter to the RIAA outlining my proposal. Suing pirates one by one isn't going far enough. Not to mention pirates use the fact that they're being sued to unfairly portray themselves as victims. A national register of pirates would make the problem far easier to deal with. People would be encouraged to give the names of suspected pirates to a hotline, similar to TIPS. Once we know the size of the problem, the police and other law enforcement agencies will be forced to take piracy seriously. They have fought the War on Drugs with skill, so why not the War on Piracy?
Thi
What I don't get is why so many slashdotters are AGAINST the use of IP law as it stands.
It is the only thing that protects you when you write code and release it as GPL.
Without it, anyone could steal your code and use it how they wish. Microsoft could make a proprietary Linux and sell it and market it to take over.
It protects the work you do, and coming down harder on the people who work AGAINST IP just sounds counterproductive.
In Afghanistan we have Religion = Politics
In USA we have Economy = Politics
Good work!
Why? Keep in mind that copyright protection is what gives the GPL its teeth. So any legislation from Hatch & Co. will cut both ways - if it can be used as a basis to sue Metallica downloaders, it can also be used as a basis to sue GPL violators.
Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
corruption
You Got It, thats what we have. Willful Ignorance is the law of the land nowadays. Americans have to have a hard series of Bitch Slaps to get anything. Fuck, we have had two fraudulent elections in a row and we still don't have paper trails or standardized voting machines. No wonder they are always saying "God Bless America", we probably need it more than the rest of the world. But I think "God give us a Freaking Clue." would be more useful
So the basis of what's right and what's wrong is whether it's a business or an individual that's engaged in the violation?
If that's the case, then we should give the CherryOS guy a free ride, since it's pretty clear that he's just one guy, trying to get something for nothing, much like the majority of downloaders.
Either you are not thinking clearly, you're not being honest with yourself about your own activities, or a combination of both. Stop making excuses and accept responsibility for your actions.
Note: I'm not saying to stop downloading. I'm just saying stop bullshitting yourself about it, and by extension, bullshitting others.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Obviously, you don't know who or what a terrorist is.
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
No, i'm not. See, i just called this thing we're doing here a 'game' -- meaning that i don't take it seriously at all.
Orrin Hatch declaring RIAA operatives as the judge, jury and executioner allowed to destroy anyone's computer they want makes him a terrorist in my book.
In that case, i suggest you ask for a refund on that book, as it's a shitty one. Contrary to the popular belief, not everyone you don't like is a terrorist (or a fascist/communist/$evilincarnateoftheday).
Note that none of this means that i agree with him.
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
Oh, but anyone who saw this coming and tried to warn about it is a 'liberal whiner'. Welcome to your brainwashed future.
Someone modded this as a Troll. It is clearly not a troll. If you disagree with someone, reply! Don't be a coward and hide behind the moderation system.
I hope this "moderator" gets smacked in meta mod.
Kind Regards
"A few great minds are enough to endow humanity with monstrous power, but a few great hearts are not enough to make us w
That's unfortunate that you can't play DVDs on Linux. Maybe you should have looked into this before installing Linux.
Public domain video is not easy to access or release because no one wants to pay hosting costs for something that will not bring in revenue.