New Congressional Bill Makes DMCA Look Tame

An anonymous reader writes "Representative Lamar Smith is sponsoring the Intellectual Property Protection Act. The new bill is designed to give the Justice Department 'tools to combat IP crime' which which are used to 'quite frankly, fund terrorism activities,' according to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Among the provisions is lowering the standards for 'willful copyright violation' and increasing the corresponding prison term to 10 years." More information is also available at publicknowledge.org.

Comments

Re:The definition of terrorism

[DigiShaman]

The *real* definition of terrorism is Islamic fascism. Of course, speaking this truth would be politically incorrect. As such, the term "terrorism" has been molded and melded into various issues by the politicos in office in order to maintain power.

Don't worry; it will get worse...much worse after Iran detonates an atomic bomb over Israel.

Re:Bought and sold so cheaply

[quintesse]

I'm sorry, but 1% or 1.2% is not going to make a dent in the conviction of the larger parties. As long as you don't get up to double digits you ARE throwing your vote away. But I don't see anyone waiting 40 years to get there!! (By your example, 1% the first year, 3% the third, except that elections are only once every 4 years, so it would take 40 years to get up to at least 10%, I know nobody who is willing to wait that long when things need to change NOW)

Re:Thank you Lamar (What an appropriate name)

[bxbaser]

Still wrong

Bill Clintons fault !

Re:Thank you Lamar (What an appropriate name)

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

You have to distinguish between legal and illegal immigration.

Do you really believe all of your ancestors came to America "legally"?

Anyway, screw it, the US has behaved so appallingly in latin America, that the immigrants have the right to come & try and get a little of their wealth back (and they work damn hard for it too)

Re:Thank you Lamar (What an appropriate name)

[kimvette]

That doesn't mean I should not resent half my pay being extorted by the time all taxes/excise fees/user fees/etc. are all tallied up. Why the fuck should I, being single, pick up the slack for couples with 2, 5, 7, or eighty kids? The people who use the most resources pay the least in taxes. That's just disgusting.

So I will continue to call it Taxachusetts, thankyouverymuch.