Slashdot Mirror
Congress Creates Copyright Cops
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Not satisfied with pitiful potential penalties of $150,000 for infringing upon a $0.99 song, Congress is proposing new copyright cops in the "'PRO IP' Act of 2007, specifically the creation of the Office of the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (USIPER). They also feel that the authorities need the authority to seize any computers used for infringement and to send copyright cops abroad to help other countries enforce US laws. MPAA boss Dan Glickman praised the bill saying that, 'films left costs foreign and domestic distributors, retailers and others $18 billion a year,' though Ars points out that it allegedly costs the studios only $6 billion."
I feel quite justified in saying you can take your laws and shove them up your arse.
*ahem* sorry, but the summary just forced me to say that.
liqbase
The music owns you.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
GOP was in charge of Congress, /. we all saw their name-party plastered in the article splash. Congress is now in Democrat control and suddenly, no Name-Party is being posted on the article splash. Wuz up with dat? /sigh
Dammy
Remember to write your congressmen.
Both in opposition to this bill and to state you general feelings that copyright law has become too broad and too far in favor of big media companies.
Do it now, email is good, paper is better.
That our government is owned by corporations. What a surprise.
we never believe any of these without the bill number.
OMG this is (*&#$% scary, the last thing we need is another above-the-law government organization. We've already seen that the CIA is now above the law with their news of destroying evidence of torture that they previously said did not exist.
Oops, better not, these USIPER agents might not have a sense of humor that we are aware of.
threadeds blog
The role of the government is to run the country per the will of the people who created the government, is it not? So at what point does public will tip the scales and cause these laws to become moot and oppressive? How legal is it to make a law that will actually cause the majority of law-abiding citizens to become criminals? What if more than 50% of the people illegally download music, shouldn't the law then be repealed? Whatever happened to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
With such disproportiate laws, particularly of seizure, innocent US citizens are now wide open to black-mail.
A determined enemy only has to have a few minutes access to your computer, download a few songs and then report you.
The *AA industry is comprised of some pretty heavy hitters in the donation arena for politicians. I'd be more surprised if ridiculous laws that favored the industry weren't put forward. Heck, it's practically a perfect ploy. Politicians still get to play "save the childrenz!!1" by targetting video games, and nobody seems to care that they're ignoring the tripe their biggest doners put out.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
there are three principal players in society
1 We, The People
2 Government
3 Corporations
the government was draw up to be By the People and For the People
but today you have to have BIG MONEY to pay BIG MEDIA for INFLUENCE in order to get what you want
change requires LEADERSHIP and COMMUNICATION
and just exactly where and how are you going to come up with those given the way society is organized?
What you fucking imbeciles don't realize is that the people pirating your movies WOULD NOT PAY FOR THEM OTHERWISE (mostly because they're shit, but that's really beside the point here). But no, dickbeats like Glickman parade their made up and meaningless numbers in front of the largest congregation of dickbeats on the face of the earth (hello, US Congress!), they have a big circle jerk, and come up with some abominable brainchild of a bill like this one. Sigh. If the terrorists haven't won already, they probably deserve to. They don't even have to take our freedom, we're just selling it off a piece at a time.
It's a good job I'm communist, all this file sharing and FOSS is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Too bad that the US wants to wipe out anything that looks/is commie and benefits the people and turn it into something that benefits the few.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
I'd like to point out that Ben Franklin said we should have a revolution every few years just so we could weed out these helpful sort of Congress/Senate criminals legislating to line their pockets.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
one 99 cent song is not the issue
ownership of the copyright the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute/sell copies is what is as issue
and yes, you can have a copyright on intellectual property, written or recorded material is not "imaginary" or fake or in any other way any less real than any asset.
Excellent headline, Zonk. Congress 'creating' copyright cops != there is a bill in committee. But, this is Slashdot, let's just scaremonger away!
Hah! I fart in your general direction!
As a Canadian, I know that there's no way that they would be let in the country. We are not like that other country with its corrupt politicians that pass laws like the DMCA.
Oh wait a sec...
If you are a member of the trade union, the ip cops will come and shove it up yours, as being a separate sovereign nation wont mean diddly.
Man this is scary. Just the very idea of federal government running around to arrest people on a CIVIL issue where the burden of proof is ( basically ) reversed is frightening and completely contray to the constitution. WTF ?!?!
---- Booth was a patriot ----
we alll joined the UN and we don't do that no more
First we had the WAR ON DRUGS
Then we had the WAR ON TERROR
Now we have the WAR ON COPYING
Funded by the taxpayer of course.
Deleted
Just change it to the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, and Copyright.
(And eventually add "Soft Drinks")
Copyright cops eh? Sounds like they'd just trawl the net, connect to trackers and get a whole load of IP's.
Getting paid to surf the web and download copyrighted material? Every slashdotters dream!
from TFA: "To do this work internationally, the bill also authorizes US intellectual property officers to be sent to other countries in order to assist with crackdowns there."
... I state stay home.
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
It's getting RIDICULOUS... no, it's getting MORE ridiculous!
Before long, people will stop watching TV and movies because it LEADS to wanting to record from TV or buying a DVD which leads to wanting to make backups which leads to being a felon! But if you don't know what you're missing, you won't be tempted by the 'drug' that is the entertainment industry.
So now I am imagining an entire future where people are afraid to hum a tune or even create their own entertainment for fear that it is similar enough to something they never heard or saw but is currently controlled by the perpetual copyright holdings of "big media" which officially merged a couple of years ago.
Should this thing pass, darker times will be upon us... not that things aren't pretty dark now.
I sometimes wonder if lobby money (bribes, as civilized people call it) surpass the alleged loss because of piracy...
This is so miserable that it has reached the levels of "tragicomic"! Corporate fascism has finally exposed its unabashed face. They are bold, because democracy has long been abolished in US, and they will pass this law with no problem! LOL! Little american capitalists you believed in the system so much and now the system is screwing you... next time you go to the doctor and are presented with a 10K bill remember that your government is spending money (your money) to ensure the profits of some corporations... by the people and for the people alright... look Britney Spears is having another fit... and iran has now WMDs... care to sign up to fight for "freedom and democracy"?
Ha ha ha! The best payback for your dark history in the last 2 centuries will be to see your country internally collapse along with your ideology... neo-capitalism alright... have some more... the sight is spectacular mofos...
If the US government makes half of the country cops and puts the other half in jail, there'll be no unemployment. Well, not until they outsource the cops. Wait, they're already sending their cops to other countries. I see, the US is going to try to corner the world market in law enforcement.
That almost makes sense. I think it's time for bed.
If the terrorists haven't won already, they probably deserve to.
Sometimes it seems that living as a dhimmi in an Islamic state would not be that different than living in Britain where our government has seen fit to make us a de-facto 51st state, but without the voting rights or constitutional protection.
I read an article previously showing evidence that corporations are no longer just pushing for laws, they are actually drafting legislation and then giving it to friendly congresspersons. (Been happening for a long time, despite efforts in the mid-90s to curtail it.) This leads me to ask - is this new bill the result of pressure from the RIAA, or from the RIAA itself acting through a representative that was purchased specifically for this type of action?
The only way you or I will ever have the ability to influence Congress is if (a) corporate and private donations to individual persons in government are banned, or (b) you suddenly inherit Bill Gates' stock portfolio. Until then, the laws are going to be largely written the way big business wants them to be written - because more often than you realize big business is holding the pen.
Government: it's enough. We have enough. Way enough.
Please vote for Ron Paul in 2008.
Thank you.
I don't even see how having that will even help their sales...
Their problem is that they're still living in a society where we had:
- No Internet.
- No home cinema systems.
- No media centers.
Many today don't even want to go to the cinemas because they think it's noisy and with annoying people in front of them, or even people telling about the events in the movie or constantly laughing at bad places. Or maybe they just want to easily go to the bathroom when they wish during a LOTR-like movie marathon. So then they pirate stuff instead of just twiddling their thumbs with a useless 50" home cinema system until the artificially delayed DVD/Blu-ray/HD-DVD release is made, usually also with artifically imposed regional restrictions.
I mean, there's a whole new field of technology at play here that completely seem to pass them. They still seem to think we are sitting on: a mix of cassette, vinyl, and CD players, and on CRT TV sets. That's what their business model is still geared for. And people today barely even own these relics anymore. They use the media in totally different ways than before.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
If this is ever actually implemented, I would taunt the motherfuckers to try and come "seize" me and whatever infringing media machine I might be using. At some point a man has to say "enough" and defend himself with violence from absurd laws.
Bot Assisted Blogging
Not to mention that other countries tend to have laws and Constitutions and claims of sovreignity over their land and inhabitants.
Just a little advance reading could spare a us a whole lot of floundering and discussion.
Lets' see.....
There's no money for fixing schools. My property taxes have gone way up due to the fact the Current Administration is cutting school aid nationwide. Lucky for my kids we are in a rich area so the parents can still pay.
We are pissing away cubic dollars in Iraq on a scheme to keep Iraqi oil off the market, protect OPEC, and keep prices high.
But, we can set up an entire law enforcement apparatus to protect the richest industry on the planet ? Oops, almost forgot, that industry also owns the media outlets (thank you FCC for allowing mass ownership of media) which the wankers rely upon to be re elected.
Corporate America has gotten just about every Christmas Present it wanted under the Bush Administration. The Bankruptcy Bill was the first shot. Next, continue to subsidize Oil and Gas companies. Make sure that all worker protections, or public protection, is de-fanged, or given to the person who used to lobby against it. Flat top mountains in West Virginia. Allow utilities to continue to build 1950's era generation plants.
Meanwhile, block stem cell research, push "abstinence", and raise the prices of contraception for poor women while making abortion less available.
Bush was honest, once, when he stood before a gathering of huge corporate benefactors, and said "Some call you the elite...I call you my base".
Next up....roadside execution for speeding.
to help other countries enforce US laws
Once you start to meddle, you just can't stop anymore.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
I'm so sure that a government department will be able to better the *huge* gains made in stopping file sharing by the RIAA.
I wonder how much in campaign contributions (read bribes) it cost the RIAA to get this bill through?
Note that I said "lost revenue", not "lost money". If an entity invests some amount of money and doesn't get a return on it, then they have lost money on a poor investment.
My wife could be an RIAA accountant. She often tells me that if she brought a £70 for a sale price of £50 it will save us £20. I keep telling her that buying it won't save anything - it will cost us £50, but she doesn't (or chooses not to) get it!
as all computers are used to commit copyright infringements, this effectively means the prohibition of computers, right ? :P
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
The government in the U.S. props up otherwise un-competitive businesses like the automotive industry and large agribusiness in a country that no longer wants or needs either, was it really a surprise when the entertainment guys wanted a piece of the pie? Suing customers is a lot more efficient then actually selling something, especially when the product is inferior. In the words of Harold W. Smith, "What about it? There is none! It doesn't exist! This guy figured out the perfect defense contract. Develop something for the military that doesn't exist because its already going to be obsolete in a year!" Unfortunately what we really need is a bipartisan group of Senators to legislate CURE into existence. A government organization with an unstoppable assassin to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of American citizens. There's something the Republicans can redeem themselves with!
What would Richard Feynman do, if he were here right now? He'd do some math and he'd follow through!
If this is ever actually implemented, I would taunt the motherfuckers to try and come "seize" me and whatever infringing media machine I might be using. At some point a man has to say "enough" and defend himself with violence from absurd laws.
;-)
That this post is a terrorist threat. Now they won't even have to pretend to treat you fairly.
Obviously someone put a lot of thought into this moronic bill. Although I'm totally missing the 'but our kids want to listen to new music' (Ignore the fact that 90% of the so called new music is just a remix/rehash of old ones, but hey)
An idea would possibly be to put in a second branch of Congress which only allows people that have a technical background. They can then create the laws that they think are required for the regularion of technology, instead of the current flock of congresscritters that think floppies are shoes.
Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
Everyone, everyone, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
The worst thing about this from my perspective is that the US has a record of refusing to follow any foriegn laws and not allowing their own officials to be extradited to other countries if they break local laws in the course of their work.
This mean that these copyright cops will have the ability to go into a foriegn country, stomp all over the local legal system and then escape back to the US before they can be forced to account for their actions. These are not the actions of a country that wants to earn the respect of the world community.
This will not help the US cause in the long run as it will just cause even greater resentment in the countries on the receiving end of such treatment.
The obvious example is the pirate bay. If they really want to close the pirate bay they need to convince Sweden to pass tighter copyright laws, not go in and bust it illegally like they did. The problem now is that after that stunt it has made it much harder for them to convince the swedish people that such a change in law is neccessary. It has also made many european politicians scared on enacting said laws for fear of being accused of being a lapdog of a deeply unpopular president (Bush).
Maybe some of this situation will change when he leaves office but at the moment no other politician wants to appear to cosy with someone who has made some very questionable decisions and is going to be out of office soon anyway.
If the US really wants to try and encourage europe to adopt their laws, a much better start would be make some sort of concession to the european community. A good start would be allowing US troops to be prosecuted by a european criminal court for crimes they commit in Europe. We are not really that bad in Europe, we are also democratic nations who have very similar outlooks in a great many ways. If the US trusted us a little more that would most likely be reciprocated.
I dont read
"to send copyright cops abroad to help other countries enforce US laws". Am I to believe from this that copyright law sees no geographical concept of jurisdicion? I mean, I knew that international law could be used to prosecute people overseas, I had no idea that US law could be applied that way.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
At least they got an appropriate name.
I am not so sure it is the corporations, though I am sensitive to their influence.
In my mind, the real issue is that GDP is based upon dollar transactions. Sales of a product like DVDs are probably the easiest dollars they can tax, entertainment taxes, easier than cigarettes, easier than gasoline. The ephemeral nature of IP is that it can be simply duplicated - like cheaply printing money for taxes and adding to the GDP.
Every loss is an opportunity lost to their "business", government, and I am sure they don't like it just as much as the entertainment industry.
I had a hard parsing Glickman's quote until I realized what he probably meant was "film theft costs
Why is it that when they tell you how much "X" loses from copyright infringement, they always make the assumption that the 1,000,000 people who bought the pirated copy would have gone to purchase a legitimate copy if the pirate copy hadn't been available? Of the 18 billion the industry supposedly "lost" through piracy, I would hazard a guess not even 1% is actually the loss of sales (real money in the till). Does such a paltry sum (relative to the size of the industry) really justify Digital Rights Management, hordes of new law enforcement officers and somewhat draconian changes in the concept of fair use? I doubt it.
Due to worries about anthrax and such, postal mail takes a bit of time to get to the office.
Email - go see http://www.outsourcecongress.org/ if ya want the WHOLE office to hear about it.
Otherwise, doing a fax is the best thing it seems.
It just blows my mind that this is the kind of stuff we are worried about with all that is going on in the world...I seriously can't even... gah...so frustrated.
Slashdot is too nerdy for me.
The bill is H.R.4279.
More information including full text available from the .
Add 'Lame' to the already amazing title 'United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (USIPER)' and we get something close to meaningful - LUSIPER (depends on how you feel about it though!)
So even staying at home won't make you safe
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
And you wonder where all the anti-americanism comes from... The day American laws are enforced where I live is the day I join the rebels.
Or in other words - I agree with the first post, you can take your laws and shove them up your arse!
I finish reading the summary and the ad below it was for Blu-Ray!
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
I'm eager to see these Congresspeople's kids go off to college and start downloading stuff and then get snagged. Even if that happened I'd think they're to numb to realize their kids' predicament were caused by their being bought by the ??AA's money.
Sanity.html - Error 404 not found
Because the Big Media Dinosaur has the Dinosaur's Consitution.
If some garage band called something like "The Giraffe's Spots" had one self-financed single, you could sink them pretty quickly if they pulled a stunt like seizing a computer.
On the other hand, any of the Big Media companies can survive for years on raw inertia, long enough for the "flash-in-the-pan" reaction to "no longer be kewl". Then the zealots subside, the media company makes some more media, and replenishes their war chest.
Same kinds of problems with "boycott". You can easily boycott that tiny band. The big company produces the entire contents of Room #1 at the cinema for the entire year. Some little movement with a thousand protesters isn't going to stop that.
Just like ISP's had to graduate from rapacious X/hr charge fees, Media will eventually come up with some kind of shifted subsidy to allow anyone "unlimited" access to media.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
What I don't get about this whole mess is the governments complete and utter trust in the industry's claims. Either they don't want to know, or they don't care (and I am speaking to both US and Canadian). The industry will have some study done, or simple just say "we lost 18 billion" due to piracy, and it is believed. Even though it is fairly easy to check, and they have been caught lying about it so many times in the past. Tell me in what other industry this would happen?
Here is my idea of how it goes down:
RIAA: WAAA WAAA WAAA! We lose money!
Gov: Whats wrong?
RIAA: Evil piracy make us lose money!
Gov: OH NOES! How much did you lose?
RIAA: 89 Kajillion Bakillion dollars!
Gov: You know that isn't a real number.
RIAA: 18 Billion dollars (evil pinky to corner of mouth)!
Gov: NO NOES! Lets make crazy laws!
RIAA: YEA!
I sincerely want to ask the question, when is it okay to revolt? They clearly do not listen to the will of the people and logic and are seemingly entrenched in lobbyist's goals and not the American people's. They are constantly chipping away at our rights and freedoms and making the world a worse place on a daily basis.
Do we wait until they have us in lockdown during curfew with UAV's patrolling for dissenters, whose information is meticulously stored in a worldwide database?
Do we wait until the people that are disappearing to foreign countries are people we care about?
When do we, as not the people of a country, but humans with a sincere desire to be free, have the moral right to be able to revolt against this regime?
What you really want to know is the status of the bill. This one has just been introduced and passed to the Judiciary Committee, from the looks of it. But here's a helpful link to the list of cosponsors of the bill.
If you are represented by any of these people in Congress, you have a special duty to write and explain how poorly-represented you are.
I'd put my AR-15 up against your hockey stick any day, neighbor.
It would if it was seven tenners, though :)
One swallow does not a fellatrix make
"to help other countries enforce US laws"
OK so we'll start sending ours in to enforce our laws in the US ? I think a lot of kids would appreciate the drinking age and sexual maturity at 15.
Heck here you can't patent computer programmes - goodbye MS.
I have spoken'eth.
Especially that section of the Bill of Rights near the top, but one down.
WHAT THE F@$&!! Now I have to worry about government idjits spying on my computer to see if I'm downloading crappy ass movies? Damn, I'm sick of all of this BS. ISP's spying and throttling our internet bandwidth, RIAA being awarded thousands upon thousands of dollars for crappy as music no one would buy anyway and now NOW the frigging US Government lackeys are backing a proposal to spy on personal computers for the MPAA because they're whining about losing money over crappy movies. SHIT it's time to revolt. To Hell with Big Brother/Sister/RIAA/MPAA, quit imposing your wills on us. FRAG OFF AND SHANK YA.
I am ashamed that Congress will pass new copyright laws and try to enforce them on non U.S Soil. More so ashame they will not put that much effort into saving non U.S citizins at George and Dicks Gitmo Torcher camp. (Ok there might be a dozen at most there that are REAL terrorists) The rest some guy turned some poor bastard in for a reward.
I might be mistaken, but I was under the impression that they can seize your computers with a warrant at any point and if any illegally obtained materials are found, they keep them for good.
Am I mistaken?
Uuuuh, right Wally.
So, let's see, some multibillionaire shitbag in Hollywood wants the US .gov to send agents overseas to persecute people in other countries for dealing with objects according to their own local laws and customs.
And this isn't imperialist fascism?
JH Kunstler noted that when local architecture of the commons is reduced to cartoon houses in the burbs and megamalls, you no longer have places worth caring about. Who ever wept at the demolition of a WalMart? Ad when you get enough places in one country that are not worth caring about, you end up with a nation not worth defending.
There's another kind of architecture, and its the architecture of the mind, and it's called "Media". And when enough of it is such crap that no one cares about it, and it is seen as more of a utility than a creation, then it ceases to be a culture worth defending.
With preposterous laws like this, the USA is working very hard at becoming a nation no longer worth defending. People will simply "Walk Away" from this catastrophe of a country, or, as William S Burroughs put it:
"(Thank you America) for being the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams."
RS
If you have ANY SENSE at all, you will get out of the USA as soon as possible. The second wave of mortgage failures will come in March. Once the USA sinks, things will get tough, and legislation like the above will become commonplace, even under a Democratic Administration.
Run. Now. And when you get out, you will see what the rest of the world sees: Those people are fucking crazy.
HW
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
I think a better example of something that causes lost sovereignty is some of the trade agreements such as NAFTA. One example I think of specifically is the dispute between Ethyl Corporation and Canada, in which Canada was basically forced to remove a ban on a fuel additive despite evidence of it being harmful to humans, and to pay to Ethyl corporation 13 million dollars in legal fees and lost profits. (I am aware that the link I gave is quite biased, but I just wanted to point out the result of the legal battle I am speaking of). Further down, the article reads "... Canada remains one of the few countries in the world where MMT is blended into automotive fuel.". If that is not an example of lost sovereignty, I don't know what is.
...anything civil about it.
MPAA boss Dan Glickman praised the bill saying that, 'films left costs foreign and domestic distributors, retailers and others $18 billion a year,' though Ars points out that it allegedly costs the studios only $6 billion."
I've said it before and I'll say it again, money you haven't earned isn't a cost!
If 'film left' (or 'theft' as it's more commanly known) is costing them $18 billion a year then they must be burning a fuckload of dvds off...
Ayn Rand once wrote, "It's difficult to rule a society of honest men. So if there aren't enough criminals, we will simply write more laws."
Is this a law that is meant to stop you from downloading music or is it meant to be broken so that the people whom it "protects" can have some power over you?
not that it means anything...
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Too much alliteration in this summary to be a normal summary, yet not enough alliteration to be considered entertaining or clever.
I REALLY don't want to have to go to the extreme of doing mounted volume or full disk encryption schemes on my HOME COMPUTER! But at the rate things are going I'll not have any choice if the gov can appropriate your computer for something like bogus MP3s.
Oh well....
You know it's not that all of these laws are really enforced. It's just another in the pile that they use IF they want to.
Cop "What's that? I hear somebody screaming inside! Kick the door down!"
Me "Nobody's screaming!"
Cop "DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!"
Me "Gulp.."
Cop "hmmm..nobody screaming but look at this! A copy of Barry Manilow's greatest hits burned on a CD. Where is your receipt sir?"
Me "Receipt? I bought that 20 years ago"
Cop "no prob...5 years and 20,000 per copy...take his computer too. If he has one pirated copy he is bound to have more"
Sounds stupid but if the government is convinced you are guilty and they want to go to the trouble of getting you they can just open the statue book and find something to charge you with even if there is no evidence of the original crime.
This is freaking absurd! While people are getting shot in neighborhoods down the street from me and other people are selling drugs to kids (war on drugs really successful wasnt it?), we spend the freaking money on a task force to take down mostly law abiding people for downloading music and movies? Its corrupt! Its the music industry and movie industry that doesnt want to evolve and our politicians are made up of idiots and dinosoars! So, will these new cops that now have another reason to sieze your personal property wear Swastikas and carry 9 milimeter sub-machine guns? Its one more reason for the government to get into people's homes and figure out if we are being perfect cattle! I find it funny that our politicians are so willing to give rights to illegals and criminals who they will fight tooth and nail for, while at the same time will trample on the personal property of law abiding citizens every chance they get!! Which is more damaging to the social and moral fabric of this country, A drug dealer?, a kid that shoots up a mall?, or a taxpayer that may download a song from frostwire or gnutella? F**K the RIAA and the MPAA!! I refuse to support you ever again! I say the same to the DFL and the GOP! I've had enough!
If this law is passed, a quick way to bring it down would be to distribute copyrighted songs to all the zombie boxes out there, and then report those IP addresses to the authorities. Enough uproar would be caused that the law would not survive.
Of course, the botnet would probably go down as well, but wouldn't it be worth it?
Currently we have seen that the costs for sharing only a handful of MP3s can be as much as a quarter million dollars or more after legal fees. How does anyone think that increasing fines to a half million and including jail time will be any more of a deterrent? Financial ruin was already nearly guaranteed if one was caught, if that isn't enough to scare the thousands (millions?) of file sharers then it is unlikely this will. We might also see a blow-back effect similar to when penalties for violent crimes are raised to maximum levels. e.g. if one gets life in prison for rape or murder then it induces some rapists to kill their victims since the sentence is the same and killing the victim might make it less likely to be caught. The parallel would be if you're going to be financially wiped out and sent to prison for sharing ONE song, why not simply share hundreds? You're screwed either way.
Also this brings copyright infringement from a civil tort to a criminal charge. Change of venue to courts already overburdened by America's various other "War on $CONCEPT". And why should this be a criminal offense? The system was already out of balance in favor of the copyright holder, this law would make it egregiously so. If Congress is willing to reduce copyright limits to *reasonable* lengths then maybe it would make sense, but as it stands now almost nothing created in my parent's lifetime will become public domain for me before I die. Copyright is supposed to offer limited protection in return for the work passing to public domain. If it essentially never enters public domain then why should it be protected by criminal penalties? It's like shooting someone for shoplifting, completely out of scope with both the crime and the supposed bargain between the public and copyright holders.
Also in regards to some posts saying that this law protects all equally and is not skewed in favor of large corporations, I must disagree. Large corporations could afford a judgment against them brought successfully by an individual, it would not go so well the other way around. The inherent imbalance between the resources (financial, legal and manpower) of a corporation and an individual pretty much guarantee an individual will be forced to cut a deal or risk their livelihood and freedom while a corporation could stall for years and even if convicted would be able to recover almost instantly.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
The Digital Freedom Campaign, backed by the EFF, Public Knowledge, and the Consumer Electronics Association, was more muted in its criticism, instead choosing to praise the legislation for launching a "conversation" about copyright reform.
I would hope if anybody was, these people would raising Holy Hell. GAD! Even they are turning into marshmallows. Oh yes, let's have a "conversation"...while the cops are busting down your doors. Jeeze! They becoming as spineless as the "opposition" who promised to end the war. Goddammit! Stand up, you bastards! That's what I give you money for! Otherwise, that's the last dime you'll see from me. If this is reform, then I'm the Queen of England. Oh wait. That would be Elton John.
What?
is that there is real crime. A simple assault is immeasurably more grievous than the worst of copyright infringment, but would-be assaulters don't fear insane fines for slapping someone. Maybe lawmakers need to be slapped to realize that real crime exists and physical and violent crime should be eliminated before coming to the aid of entertainment revenue megafactories, who can't even credibly show damages yet are rich enough to buy the government!
The Admin and the Engineer
at least some members of the Judiciary Committee are at least aware that the consumer groups have legitimate points to make Presented in this way it is a blatant lie at least. "They" (the puppets of the corporations) are aware of the consumers groups just like ShinZu says "KNOW YOUR ENEMY" in the book "ART OF WAR". They are aware so they will find countermeasures. Corporations have been screwing their costumers and paying your rapresentatives to screw your interests as citizens. Either those people presenting this bill are "fired" out of the congress either the USA have not a democracy because democracy implies that the interests of the citizens are represented by their elected politicians. These one obviously do not represent any voter who is not a CEO or something. So come out with the names of these traitors... ah well you can find them allready here and here see where the money goes.
Link to get a listing of your congress-puppets:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
This and other pending legislation desperately needs your congress-morons to know how you feel
My not responding to your flame is in no way indicative of my submission to your statement, it just means I don't have t
For me it sounds more like Lucipher, and that's exactly what it is.
There.
Fixed that for you.
Self-referential Sigs are cool on /. these days...
54
That name seems very close to USURPER (which can be defined as an official acting outside his authority or jurisdiction). Coincidence?
Hmmm, wouldn't US laws only be enforceable in say, the US? I'm pretty sure no dutch judge would put me in a dutch jail for breaking a US law, they might put me in jail while the extradition gets sorted out, but I'd have to be a pretty hefty copyright abuser for them to consider extradition. You've gotta love this from a country that's prepared to invade an ally in case a US soldier gets convicted in an international court for warcrimes though.
--- Sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears. --Paul Simon, Cool Cool River
Its a case of a legislature not realising the impact of a trade agreement, Canada could have ignored the panels decision (and faced whatever consequences that could have been made to stick..). A country's sovereignty rests with its government and head of state, if they take a trade agreement and make it law (which is how it usually happens) then that trade agreement becomes (in this case) bad law, something to be overturned, not a loss of sovereignty.
Nancy Pelosi: can't do a damn thing she promised to the voters, but can deliver for the MAFIAA.
Ain't it ironic that the Dems in congress are now saying the US has to leave Iraq because the Iraqi government can't get its act together and get something done?
if you go to a store and steal (IE take a item so it is no longer in possession of the victim) so there is actuly a loss you probaly wont spend a day in jail and might have a fine up to $500 but if you copy a cd you can get fined up to 150,000 and it might be a felony also the riaa spends most of there adv budget targeting college students who do not have the cash to buy the albulm and then sue them when they copy it is that like tobacco companys targeting minors with cartoons?
Not satisfied with pitiful potential penalties of $150,000
The reason they are not satisfied has nothing to do with a perception of how extreme the punishments should be. The reason they are not satisfied is very simple:
It's not working.
The complete collection of laws, technologies, and enforcement agencies that presently exist are failing to stop the widespread practice of copyright infringement. Given that the industry controllers are stuck in the past, they are doing the only thing they know how to do: pass even more laws, make even more enforcement agencies, and make the punishments even worse.
As much as we would like to see the dinosaurs roll over and die...they don't want to. They will struggle for life, and have no qualms about causing as much waste, suffering and injustice as they can in the process.
To the RIAA/MPAA: The new world is here. You can't bring the past back. Your attempts at forcing your values on to your clients cannot succeed. All you are doing is harming yourselves and everyone else. You will continue to experience nothing but failure until you embrace the world and harmonize with the technologies that exist and the ways in which your clients want to use them. That is all.
I don't think the government speaks the same language as the people. They only speak in terms of dollars. Big companies line up at their door and say "we're profitable enterprises who employ hundreds of thousands of people throughout your country, listen to us and help them!". Meanwhile thousands of people write and complain about civil liberties about privacy, about intangible things like freedom and growth of our society.
Who do they listen to?
Maybe now is the time to strike back on the industry using terms the government understands. Intellectual property tax. Require registration of copyright. Require that all DRM laws only apply to registered copyrighted works... else they're hackable and communication of circumvention of their non-copyrighted works is legit.
DRM should also have a requirement for a government back door. Failure to release a work into the public domain after accepting the bennefits of government protection should be a criminal offense.
Intellectual property tax should increase exponentially after the 17th year until the 90th year. The tax will pay for the registration. The tax will pay for enforcement. The tax will create an incentive to release the works to the public domain. Finally the tax will make it clear which works have fallen into the public domain.
This way Disney can keep Steam Boat Micky for some maximum rate of copyright registration. Some tens or hundreds of millions of dollars/year. The Beatles albums would probably still be worth paying for rights on, but early television broadcasts, flim strips, newscasts and newsreels would be freely redistributable.
Holding the IP out-of-country simply means that the enforcment of the IP will be out-of-country.
Does anyone see any problem with the concept of IP tax? Really? It's an imperfect solution to a problem which I don't think is ever going to favour personal liberties, but I think it could achieve a balance between the interest of corporations and the interests of citizens.
These huge numbers are so retarded. They act like it's money out of someone's pocket. THAT MONEY WAS NEVER THERE, DUDE! If people didn't steal those movies, they simply wouldn't watch them.
I'm so tired of our government. This is the dumbest thing ever.
Here's a message to the government....
FIRST.. before worrying about who's copying music and movies... LETS DO THE FOLLOWING:
1. Fix the entire public school system
2. Fix the entire healthcare system
3. Get the fuck out of this war
4. Stop representing corporations before citizens
5. Take a serious look at the effects of NAFTA
6. Pave the fucking roads
Its funny how copying bullshit entertainment is more of a crime than the white collar corporate crime that takes place every fucking day at the expense of the American people.
It is no wonder that protecting music and films, is more important than healthcare, and education because we live in a bullshit fucking country where we crave celebrity. ALL WE DO IS SELL BULLSHIT. Entertainment and Celebrity is our last industry.
And dont even get me started on the software industry... they were BUILT from fucking trading warez.
Glad to see the USA is finally catching up to the third world.
Egypt and other countries have done that for a long time. It is mainly due to higher ups in power being in collusion with those who hold the distribution license for the country, and hence kickbacks by the business men motivates those in power to enforce these things.
I described that in this article and this comment.
Such practices have caused some businesses to consider alternatives, such as Linux.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
so, in short, proclaiming the death of theater is premature and stupid. People still LOVE going out to the movies. It's just the way it is. You are all so very sadly fucking WRONG!
Come check out http://www.copyrightreform.us/ and show your support for US Copyright Law reform. The feeds are an easy way to keep updated on copyright related issues in the US as well.
Well why do then they sell DVDs and CDs ? .. :)
What they should do is lock all DVDs and CDs away in a bank safe so no one can watch, copy, lend them.. then RIAA, MPAA can rest and be sure that no one sees it nor copies it (any film or music or whatever)
So congress is taking a civil violation and turning it into a judicial violation.
I would not recognize the authority of the judicial branch to enforce civil violations.
-- I am the NRA, enough said...
Lucifer?
Props for the Mathnet shoutout in the dept. tag.
Media that can be recorded and distributed can be recorded and distributed.
-kfg
Well, because of copyright, J.R.R. Tolkien's heirs are able to earn a living from his legacy. Given that most authors do not earn enough to pass on large monetary endowments to their heirs, life plus 70 isn't so bad.
It's little different than a farmer passing his farm down to his son - who will get the farm for free, unlike the original farmer, who had to pay the mortgage on it. Just be glad copyright isn't subject to a capital gains tax (another debate entirely.)
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
This is great! I hope they are as effective as the DEA.
Thoughtcrime bill (violent radicalization and homegrown . . . whatever)
Criminalization of open Wi-Fi providers for criminals using their network
Now the copyright police? I expect that my browser cache has a bunch of copyrighted material and registered trademarks in it.
Signing off so I can clear it.
> Am I the only one that thinks the USIPER acronym eerily sounds like "usurper?" That's exactly what this is starting to look like.
And Lucifer. This was noted in the original submission, but it appears that they removed that little joke from the end. See the Firehose version for more information.
more and more. and sir, you can be sure ill find ways to do it.
Read radical news here
Congress hasn't created anything. A bipartisan group of Congressman has proposed legislation in the House that hasn't even made it out of committee yet. In order for this to become law it would have to make it out of committee, be brought to the floor and passed by the entire House and then the Senate would have to pass a similar version, the bill would be submitted to a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate version and then the President would have to sign the bill.
This thing is a long, long way away from becoming law. Congress hasn't done anything yet.
Did they in fact create "copyright cops" or is the bill merely a proposal? *looks at first sentence of article* Gee I'm shocked. If you think you need to sensationalize something involving the MAFIAA for our daily Two Minute's Hate, you severely underestimate how easy it us to get Slashdot whipped up.
That being said, Fuck the MPAA, Fuck the RIAA, Fuck the suits behind the BSA, and Fuck them all for the DMCA. The best way to hurt them is to introduce your family and friends to indie music and websites. Oh, and every single one of you should run a script to wget riaa.com/mpaa.com/etc once per second. Times a million and they don't stand a chance >:)
Well let us play Follow the Money shall we
Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14]
Berman, Howard L. [CA-28]
Chabot, Steve [OH-1]
Feeney, Tom [FL-24]
Goodlatte, Bob [VA-6]
Issa, Darrell E. [CA-49]
Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18]
Keller, Ric [FL-8]
Schiff, Adam B. [CA-29]
Smith, Lamar [TX-21]
Wexler, Robert [FL-19]
Remember to call your congress goon and make a lot of noise about this. Time to SlashDot their phone lines.
The answer is likely no in all cases.
Individual US states cannot leave the UN/NATO. If you mean, leave the US - most certainly not. Our most bloody civil war was fought over that idea. The south, champion of States' Rights, was 'zerged FTW' by the North, who after getting the snot beaten out of it for three years, kept importing all the Irishmen and other foreigners they could, and put them under the command of a man who realized the confederate armies were the objective, not the cities.
Conversely, this all happened with our beloved King George I's favorite president at the helm - you know, Lincoln, the guy who treated the Constitution as a piece of paper, suspended habeas corpus, etc.? (At least he had the excuse of a real war, though.)
At any rate, the matter of States' Rights has been tested with blood, and the end result is - individual states are absolutely powerless against the rule of the Federal government. The Constitution says otherwise, but the Constitution is largely ignored by the majority of Americans - who somehow think it's 'open for interpretation'. (Which is bullshit - it was written by a group of intelligent men, who would've put that disclaimer on it if it were. There *is* no 'interpretation' where the Constitution is concerned. There's a damned good reason why it's so damned difficult to create an amendment to the Constitution.)
As evidenced by the idiocy on display here, this is what I have concluded.
/. is but a hoax...
You are an unreasonable lot, will ruin the open experience of the web for the rest of us because you insist its your right to illegally obtain what you have not paid for, regardless of how shitty it may be, be it ms windows, bad movies or music etc.
May you spend your days working "for the people" in a Randian nightmare of your own making...
Here is evidence that intelligent life at
"if you go to a store and steal (IE take a item so it is no longer in possession of the victim) so there is actuly a loss you probaly wont spend a day in jail and might have a fine up to $500 but if you copy a cd you can get fined up to 150,000 and it might be a felony also the riaa spends most of there adv budget targeting college students who do not have the cash to buy the albulm and then sue them when they copy it is that like tobacco companys targeting minors with cartoons?"
We could've ignored it. But then we would've been as bad as the US of A and their blatant refusal to comply with the NAFTA panel on the lumber issue.
Cynical Idealist
Nothing would stop him from just reporting you anyway. You don't even have to have a computer.
and announce that were "all under arrest", that's obviously what they are trying to do, why do it slice by slice or step by step. Maybe a million-man black ski masked anarchist march will grab their attention in WDC. "right to assemble" if we are not left alone.
Our government is severely broken. I tend to lean toward Democratic candidates the last decade or so, although my libertarian streak is strong. The corruption and ineptness of the current Republican generation has a lot to do with that. But having said that, this Congress, which I was happy to see elected in 2006, is racking up a grade of F. Is there a grade lower than F? They deserve it. For every 1 good thing they pass there are 2 odious pieces of legislation to go with it.
It sucks when the people's government - both parties - are whores to whoever forks over the bags of cash. It really sucks and something needs to be done about it. I think it will take something really big for people to wake up and demand change. Financial meltdown? Bring it on. Peak oil kicking off decades of 12% plus inflation? Make it so. Americans vote with their pocketbooks and wallets for the most part. That's what it's going to take IMO to rouse the voters from their 30-year stupor.
So, I'm going to pay for another agency who's job will be to Sue me on the behalf of copyright holders?
NO! I don't think that will work.
Copyright law is something that needs to upheld by the Copyright Holder. Just like the police don't arrest you for not paying your bills, the government shouldn't have an agency to arrest people for copyright infringement. The government's place should be to police crimes that affect the public and taking further jurisdiction is a violation of citizen's rights, as well as the rights of the copyright holders themselves. (the right to choose not to sue an infringer)
I hope the federal courts do strike this down. The Government has no business interfering in private interests.
Make America grate again!
We could've ignored it. But then we would've been as bad as the US of A and their blatant refusal to comply with the NAFTA panel on the lumber issue.
That's not a bad thing. Refusing to follow NAFTA is a good thing. Countries need to reclaim their sovereignty and give up on this "free trade" nonsense. Free trade is generally a bad thing, because it allows things like that Ethyl corporation problem cited above, where countries with bad environmental laws dictate to countries with good laws. If you want free trade on a certain product, then negotiate that, and make an agreement that specifies exactly what can be traded freely, as long as it doesn't violate any laws in either country. Don't make some blanket agreement that says "trade everything freely, and if any member nations' laws conflict with this, that country has to change its laws." That's just insanity.
[Sound of incoming Borg transmission]Resistance is futile!
[Sound of Borg transmission being over]
Speaking as a consumer who has not seen a movie in 5 years, there is really only one I am interested in somebody filming -
Watching Bush get strung up and exectued a la Saddam.
I would start my day out every morning watching that...
The south, champion of States' Rights, was 'zerged FTW' by the North, who after getting the snot beaten out of it for three years, kept importing all the Irishmen and other foreigners they could, and put them under the command of a man who realized the confederate armies were the objective, not the cities.
I'm not so sure about this interpretation of history. The way I remember it, the North's army was initially commanded by a complete moron (McClellan?) who had no idea how to command an army in battle, and unsurprisingly lost many battles until he was finally replaced. General Grant was a far better commander, who won the war for the North. However, it wasn't just imported soldiers that made the difference: the North was far more industrialized than the South, which had a totally agricultural economy. Industrialization is very important when you're trying to conduct a large-scale war, as that's what builds your guns, cannons, trains, etc. In the end of the War, the South was shooting rocks out of their cannons, because they didn't have any cannonballs left.
I think the South was ultimately doomed to lose the war for exactly this reason; they didn't have the economic and industrial capacity to carry it out, and their economy was in trouble anyway. The only way they could have kept it going would have been to engage in terrorist tactics like we see today (like in Northern Ireland, Iraq, etc.), rather than having uniformed troops fighting on battlefields, which is a losing proposition when you're a weaker force.
However, the decision by the North to fight the war was definitely the wrong one, IMO. Just as the States voluntarily entered the Union, they should have the right to voluntarily leave the Union. It doesn't matter what the economic impact or whatever will be: it's their choice, for better or worse. The slavery issue was definitely a smokescreen; while slavery is certainly wrong, it was already headed for extinction, as most other developed countries at the time had banned it, and with the South's economy already headed for the toilet, and popular opinion turning away from slavery, slavery was on its last legs anyway. If the North had just allowed the Southern states to secede, their economies would have collapsed before long; they probably would have asked to rejoin the union at a later time, and we probably wouldn't see such an overbearing and bloated Federal government now.
When can I report his computer for copyright infringement? Because by it's current definition if he goes to a site to see/read/learn any content where he wasn't given permission to is defined as copyright infringement. After all, he is making a copy, not viewing the source.
please... let me sleep... a little more... yay, no longer annonmyous coward.
I'd like to write my Congressman, Lamar Smith, yet again on these issues, but seeing as how he is the motherfscking sponsor, it won't make any difference. He's always sponsoring these kinds of bills. He LOVES big media and ridiculous intellectual property laws. I will vote for "someone else" again.
-l
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I looked to the right and saw
"Compare prices on Politics"
Which I clicked thinking it was fairly accurate in how to buy a politician, but to my disappointment, I noticed it had " Books & Stuff " on the second line..
Oh well.
of people who talk about "the people pirating your movies WOULD NOT PAY FOR THEM OTHERWISE" is thus:
Most people who pirate, if pirating were somehow (hypothetically) 100% technically impossible, would not all of a sudden start buying or renting the DVDs that they're downloading. They'd probably just do something else. So those people do not represent an actual loss to the MPAA.
The people that want to own a copy of a movie (like when I bought the DVD of Apocalypse Now: Redux, despite owning two other versions and having seen it in the theatre) still want to own the DVD, so even if they do download a copy for whatever reasons, this does not represent a loss for the copyright holder either.
Basically, worrying about the actions of people who download movies or music and don't also buy a copy means the copyright holders are worrying about the actions of people who, with or without the ability to pirate, are not, never have been, and never will be, your customers.
The MPAA is so full of crap, even more so than the RIAA. The MPAA types are safe as a church, and always will be, because there's really no way to "pirate" the 'going to a movie in a theater' experience. I mean, really, most movies, if they don't gross an amount equal to their production costs in the first _weekend_, they're considered failures.
The DVD market might be taking a hit, but the movie industry is safe as a church.
Now, the RIAA? They've got a genuine problem. The equivalent of the "Theater experience" is the rock concert, which people will always want in the future, but it's the one area where they're cut out of the $$. But who cares? What value does the RIAA provide, anyway? With movies, well, aside from flukes like "the blair witch project", the cost of making a movie is probably always going to be 8 figures or more. You need an 'infrastructure' for that stuff, production crews, studios, etc. But that factor has no analog in the record industry. The RIAA has the same relationship to it's 'artists' as a pimp does to a hooker.
The plural form of "anecdote" is "anecdotes", not "evidence".
I'm glad that we (those in the US) have solved all our big problems like murder and other violet crimes, so that now we can focus our time/money/resources on things like people making a copy of music or movies in other countries.
Those who can, do.
Anyway.
Law enforcement cooperation between nations is normal and customary. This idea behind this new agency sucks, but there is nothing really unusual about it other than the fact that it may exist at all. Law enforcement is supposed to serve the public interest, but the only interest served by this agency would be to protect monetary profits.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
My god, these people don't just sell out the American public, they sell them out for cheap! Of course, that doesn't follow the real money, to what they get paid as lobbyists when they change careers or what they give their friends in government contracts, such as Homeland Security, guaranteeing their friends and family sit on their ass doing nothing mafia positions at the construction site.
Conyers, John Jr (D-MI)
Broadcast Music $2,000
Clear Channel Communications $2,500
Comcast Corp $4,000
DIRECTV Group $6,000
EchoStar Communications $5,368
National Music Publishers Assn $2,000
Time Warner ($2,000)
Viacom Inc $1,000
Pretty much the whole lot of them should be hung for treason. It's too bad the 9/11 terrorists didn't focus their efforts on the DC government, a majority of Americans might have been cheering them as liberators.
... as intellectual property (IP).
An idea, thought, or piece of information cannot be "property". If it isn't tangible, it isn't property.
To demonstrate, tell me something about yourself. How about first name and place of birth?
OK, got it. Thanks Wally from Walla Walla.
I now have some new IP.
Hey Wally, have you forgotten your name or place of birth? No. Of course you haven't.
Therein lies the problem with IP. It can be freely copied and is limitless in supply. You can't maintain a marketplace or sustain an economy without the basic principle of supply vs. demand, at least not one we're familar with. Throw out every economics book you've ever read. These artifical restrictions on supply are a joke. You think China or the 3rd world gives a damn about our IP, copyright, trademark, or patent laws?
Will Firefly's "Chinglish" be good enough to communicate with our new landlords?
It is, as you noted in the end, time. I could spend more money on movies if I wanted. I have the spare cash, even after buying my net connection, games and so on. The issue isn't that I can't afford it, the issue is I choose not to because I don't have the time. I find computer games very entertaining and thus they are what I spend most of my entertainment time with. As such I don't really have time to watch movies. To do so would either cut in to game time, which I don't feel like doing, or cut in to other more important activities, which isn't acceptable.
It's not like I'm rich either, it is just that, for me at least, games provide a lot of entertainment for the dollars. Between playing an MMORPG and buying a new game every couple months, plus replaying old ones, I just find that there isn't much free time I have that I don't have a game I want to play.
That isn't to say I don't watch TV and movies as well, but just much, much less than I would otherwise. There are a lot of movies I'd be interested in seeing, but just not interested enough to take me away from gaming overall. Even at a zero cost, it wouldn't do anything. Time is the problem, not money.
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
If I understand the issue correctly, the legality of secession was doubted precisely because a very large part of population of the seceding states (namely, slaves - which made the majority in quite a few places IIRC) did not have any say on that. In other words, the decision to secede was not the "will of the people", but of a minority trying to protect their privileges.
Well, just as a hypothetical, what if an author writes a truly great book, the press is just starting to buzz about it, copies are flying off the shelves at an exponentially-increasing rate, and... he/she's hit by a bus, leaving a spouse and several small children.
I'll agree 70 years after death seems WAY excessive, but it's pretty easy to imagine situations where copyright expiring immediately at the author's death may not be the most desirable situation.
I wonder if they realize what a two-edged sword that is? If federal officers can be sent after copyright infringers, copyright holders of GPLed software will be able to do a lot more than just sue.
Not that I favor a nuts law like this, but if they pass it, use it.
I see...
So you think if Texas voted to secede today, the federal government would allow it?
What exactly did you think the other posters meant when they said slavery was a smokescreen?
YES!
They're still trying to foist buggy whips on automobile owners ----
Read My Lips: "LET IT GO RIAA/MPAA --- Get a Life, ForChrissakes!"
Use all the money you extorted from your customers over the past decades to get a high priced hooker to give you a hummer 3 times a day for the rest of your life.
Well, I'm kind of using my own attitude as a guide for that. I'm basically an anti-copyright zealot, so I think I fit the profile of a steady downloader.
I download the occasional album (really I'm just not much of a music nerd), the occasional movie, and probably 1 or 2 TV shows a week, if there's something that I didn't watch or tape, generally these days it's 30 rock, the office, dexter, heroes, battlestar galactia, the simpsons, and house, maybe 2 or 3 others.
If I try and imagine which of those that I'd buy or rent if I couldn't download them and didn't have cable, I figure I'd _probably_ buy the DVDs of Dexter, and I'd (eventually) either buy or rent BSG. Everything else, I'd just live without, read more or something.
So, of 7-10 shows, let's say that there's 2 that I would buy, if downloading was not feasible. And I estimate that tv shows probably make up about 1/2 of all total downloads, so we're looking at about 10% of what I download, I would purchase. And, let's not forget, I have a middle-class income. For some college kid or a single mom or a guy making minimum wage, it'd be substantially less.
I think the movie business is safe as a church. There's no way to pirate the "see it in the theater" experience, (which, btw, is the way I watch most movies that I know will be good), and ticket sales are very strong. TV or music though, they have a problem.
I think the history of how royalties for radio play evolved is a good starting point. Let's not forget, that the position of the copyright holders at the time was to stall, drag their feet, and try and prevent anything from being played on the radio. Eventually they had the royalty system imposed on them by governments.
Something like that will eventually become necessary. (I'm not confident that even under a "Cory Doctorow's-worst-nightmare trusted computing" scenario, that piracy will ever be stopped. Everything else as been broken, why not this?) A surcharge on your ISP bill, and all you can download. Need a system of monitoring # of downloads per tv show/movie/album, which determines the distribution of that surcharge.
Now, this is of course fine for the MPAA and it's equivalent in the TV industry. The initial investment to make a quality TV show or movie is several orders of magnitude greater than the initial investment required to produce an album. The people left out in the cold however are the RIAA.
You can make a case that the infrastructure required for sets and cameras and lighting and whatever you need to do film/tv justifies the existence of the studio system, (debatable point) but I don't think that anybody can seriously suggest that the RIAA members are anything but leeches, a general dead weight on the economy. They have the same relationship to artists that a pimp has to prostitutes. A bully, who lives off the labor of others, and adds nothing.
The plural form of "anecdote" is "anecdotes", not "evidence".
If it really cost them that - wouldn't they be falling over themselves to spend at least 1 billion chasing the 'lost' revenue down themselves?
after all, they would only have to reduce 'stealing' by 6% to make that a breakeven proposition...
VLC Remote for iPhone and Android
Hmm. GPL police? RMS's own freedom enforcers? Poor Verizon...
Hi, I'm the submitter. I've been a registered Republican for as long as I've been eligible to vote, so if you're implying that I have some kind of love for the Democrats, you're wrong.
Mind you, you'd be wrong to say that I have any kind of love for the Republicans, either, at this point in time. I specifically remember thinking that a war in Iraq was one of the stupidest possible choices at that point in time, for one.
But none of that has anything to do with my submission. Frankly, both parties are pretty deep in Big Media's pocket, so I didn't see the point in naming names. The main sponsors are helpfully listed in TFA, BTW. There are both R's & D's on the list, in case you were wondering.
violators? If so, it's not so bad. I wouldn't mind some government goons busting down the doors of Verizon and the like. These days GPL software and CC music (and some books) are better than stuff controlled by restrictive copyright terms anyway. Hell last night I was listening to some Mongolian punk music with lyrics on the topic of Dragon Ball Z, then some Australian-Indian Hare Krishna techno. Where would you ever find that in the aisles of Virgin records? Lots of good books these days are being released under one or the other of the CC licenses, and there's plenty of interesting public domain stuff from last century and before. Put down that trashy war novel and go read some real military history. Books not out of copyright, especially technical books, can often be found at your local university engineering library. The only media that's hard to find for free without of course pirating are movies and TV, but the content of most modern televisual entertainment means you aren't really losing anything by skipping it.
YIKES! Take the entire bottle of chill pills. All I said was remember who passes this into law. I think your the dipshit for going on a rant about nothing related to my comment.
Place: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Wash. D.C. BYOP&T(bring your own pitchfork & torches) So, what time does the party start?
Typical... Oh so typical.
Your right, thats fair, your post was just a convenient target
/. is some form of collectivism is the new emperor we should bow to since no one can own any intellectual property and you mentioned the dems but I dont think thats the full story, its simplistic to think that and I am no democrat lover, in fact quite the opposite
But the consensus on
Congressional action is in response to the industry, mpaa, riaa etc who are amongst other interests with a stake in the intellectual proerty game and media fed up with the reasoning you see on display here, that the products offered are to be taken without compensation to thos ewho have labored to create them.
You blaming the dems is just another stupid line of reasoning along with the enormous amount idiocy here
Your all bringing it on with your own greed, thanks
Similar to the upcoming US election results
You browse. .TEMP FILE.
MS, OSX, etc creates a COPY a of the webpage in a
Entrapment by co-conspirators?
They created the crime.
BUST THEM FIRST.
RR
Yes, because Glickman is being so much worse than his all-loving, peaceful predecessor, practicing Catholic Jack Valenti.
The Republicans didn't promise to do anything for the people, other than to continue persecution of Muslims and to ensure that men are not allowed to marry each other.
Not that I like the Republicans or anything, I'm just so very disappointed in the Democrats. Spineless wonders that can't seem to get over the idea that being "Republican Lite" is not a winning strategy.
You fail to have any level of comprehension! I am not blaming the Democrats. I am saying make note of who's policy is responsible for this. I am talking about accountability, not blame.
My core wants to cry out "right on" and "fight the machine", but there's a simpler solution. Keep regular remote backups of everything then smash your computer to unauctionable bits when the fuzz shows up. :) Particularly easy for me because I'm a laptop person. I'd need nothing but a hammer.
Charisma is the measure of someone's ability to lie with a straight face.
Is this the beginning of a "NAZI Germany-like United States? How many laws have been enacted since 9/11 that enable the US government to do "what ever they want" in the name of protecting the "citizens" of the U.S.A. What laws protect the regular "joe six pack" and "sally house coat" rather then treat them like criminals? (None, even the right to bear arms is under consideration of being removed from the constitution) Is it cheaper to protect the huge companies rather than the consumer? (Its more profitable for the companies) Is copyright law really more important than the Homeless? Is this new Government Agency part of the HLS apparatus? (The homeless don't count as they have no money) What party is enacting this Law and why should you vote for them? (if another 9/11 happens forget about ever voting again) I think the US government needs a "regime change" that stands up for you rather than on you. I'd be scared of living in the US (Britain, fuggeditaboutit) these days.... but you got a great fall line up to keep you entertained anyways!
best of Slashdot.
eff.org, plaque it, please.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!