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H.R. 4279 Would Establish Federal IP Cops
MrSnivvel writes "H.R. 4279, Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008, is gaining momentum in Congress. It passed the House a few days back. It would allow the Feds to seize hardware that has even one file coming from 'dubious origins,' e.g. downloaded from P2P. If passed into law, the bill would establish an Intellectual Property Enforcement Division within the office of the Deputy Attorney General. Rep. John Conyers says the goal is to 'prioritize intellectual property protection to the highest level of our government.'"
from http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2003/06/59305
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) suggested Tuesday that people who download copyright materials from the Internet should have their computers automatically destroyed.
But Hatch himself is using unlicensed software on his official website, which presumably would qualify his computer to be smoked by the system he proposes.
The senator's site makes extensive use of a JavaScript menu system developed by Milonic Solutions, a software company based in the United Kingdom. The copyright-protected code has not been licensed for use on Hatch's website.
don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
.. they can confiscate the person's computer with no possible recourse for the victim?Oh there's recourse. But have you ever made an administrative appeal to your state's supreme court? Let me tell you, it's a bitch. A bitch that takes lots of time and lots of money (even if you're representing yourself). And likely if you're right they'll still have legislative immunity from having to pay costs....
At that point it's faster, cheaper and easier to buy a new PC and rewrite your PhD thesis rather than appeal against the decision.
"But everyone should know everything." -markab
Is this not a blatant transgression of the 4th Amendment?? Back to the dark days of the writs of assistance..
Copyright infringement as a criminal act - that's just wrong. And scary. Too long has this corporate fellatio been going on..
And as an additional WTF: Britney Spears/Justin Timberlake/Beyonce/Dude, Where's My Car?/Gigli are the USA's most important economic engines? Or at least, the engine's constituents??Goddamn. Just, goddamn.
p.s: TFA's dated May 6th. Isn't this coming a tad late on[Slashdot Comments We Liked]
Russia never had communism. The fact that everyone was equal, unless you were member of the polit-buro meant that it was fascism and dictatorship.
The revenues of the 'state-owned' industry never flowed back equally to all members of that society, but were unequally distributed.
So the democrats in control of the house are basically in Satan's personal employment ?
Not that I entirely disagree, but this seems a bit strong, even for them.
Here's the roll call :
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-300
Here's the (short) list of "No" voters :
Nay CA-4 Doolittle, John [R]
Nay TN-2 Duncan, John [R]
Nay AZ-6 Flake, Jeff [R]
Nay TX-14 Paul, Ronald [R]
Nay TX-2 Poe, Ted [R]
Nay GA-3 Westmoreland, Lynn [R]
Nay AK-0 Young, Donald [R]
Nay VA-9 Boucher, Frederick [D]
Nay OH-10 Kucinich, Dennis [D]
Nay CA-16 Lofgren, Zoe [D]
Nay WI-4 Moore, Gwen [D]
Barack Obama didn't vote, but all the IL guys voted "Aye"
John McCain didn't vote either, but one (out of 4) of his Arizona colleagues voted "Nay". The democratic candidate for Arizona votes "Aye"
Thought this was worth mentioning.
Well, considered that the senate hasn't voted on it yet I think I know why neither McCain nor Obama voted on it...
Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
Good point which means there still may be time!
/. write the letter. Maybe it won't do anything, but we should at least put our effort where our mouths are.
Sorry to thread jack, but I think everybody needs to see this and I don't want it lost down the discussion...
Everybody in the US of A write your senator tonight! This nonsense needs to stop, and maybe a response from the constituents would make them at least think twice in the future. Don't do what I've done in the past and get incensenced and not do anything. Don't whine on a
That said try to present a reasoned arguement instead of a rant, or just be short and quick and say you're against it.
Senate Contact Info to make it even easier!
You're thinking small. Why miniaturize the laser, when we could instead enlarge the sharks? -John Searle
Write your senators, please--this is akin to the police closing a library for six months to two years because they found a novel on the floor and they can't positively determine that it's a legal copy.
Only, because of the internet, someone who's never even been to the library can drop it there. Furthermore, it doesn't even have to be there--if a cop says he thinks he saw one, that counts. *and*, because it's computer hardware as well as software, the overall value and lifetime expectancy of the library decreases tremendously over the time it's not usable.