Slashdot Mirror
DOJ Opposes Extending DOJ Copyright Authority
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The White House has opposed the bipartisan bill that would create copyright cops on the grounds that it would cause the Department of Justice to end up 'serving as pro bono lawyers for private copyright holders.' And while they do occasionally prosecute criminal copyright infringement, they have no intention of dabbling with civil cases because, 'taxpayer-supported department lawyers would pursue lawsuits for copyright holders, with monetary recovery going to industry.' At this rate, the discovery of winged suiformes would appear to be imminent."
A victory caused by laziness is still a victory, right?
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
"Immanent"? If you're going to try and talk fancy, you really should make doubly sure you are actually spelling correctly.
Finally, someone, somewhere - particularly in the Whitehouse, is thinking. I don't really care why, I just hope this bill never passes. The last thing we need are more enforcers of ignorance, taking advantage of those not in power.
Maybe with the possibility of having to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out the financial sector, governmental offices are at long last waking up to the fact that they need to balance the books on behalf of the taxpayer. It's all very nice having campaign contributions from industry, but if there's no money in the coffers, winning the election will be a poisoned chalice. Already, there's no money in the coffers, but being seen to shell out more taxpayer money to support industry, with no return to the taxpayer, is pretty much political suicide in today's climate.
For the last god alone knows how many years, the basic taxpayer has been quiescent, going about the daily work, with the odd grumble or two, and the government has been able to get away with the odd outcry now and then. At the moment, a lot of people are looking long and hard at where every penny they pay goes. Not quite civil unrest, but certainly large scale discontent that could easily escalate.
Oh my gawd. This ... came from the White House?
I guess a broken clock is still right twice a day. Either that, or the absurdity of the proposal was glaringly obvious, even to them.
"The Bush administration is opposing sweeping legislation granting it the ability to prosecute civil cases of copyright infringement" I mean, it's early so maybe I am sleep-hallucinating that the Bush Administration or DoJ actually refuses power. Then again, it could just be the typical arrogance of either of those groups that if they want it, they will just take it. Or, maybe the LHC did cause a time-space continuum rip before it went kaput and were just now seeing the effects.
"Hollywood, send more money to GOP."
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
For once I'd like to hear what our Presidential and VP Candidates think about Copyright Corps / Imaginary Property. It could change some votes, so let's hear. Biden is rumored an RIAA man. How about he says something one way or another?
This seems to stop the DOJ from prosecution these cases with tax money. That is NOT a-typical of the Bush administration. What they would rather see is that the record labels have their own private police force that the record labels pay for. Small goverment, big business. Makes perfect sense.
Remember that if it is the DOJ that prosecutes these cases AND the only one who can do this, that would put copyright infringement up against all other crimes for attention. Plus there would be far more oversight of the cases.
Remember what happened in germany? There these cases belong firmly in the hands of the justice department and then justice department told the record industry that they can't be arsed. Case closed.
That is NOT what happened in the US so far. In the US, the justice department can't be arsed BUT the record labels are given more and more powers (or not being stopped) from investigating and prosecuting these cases themselves. If you are worried about to much police power, you should be even more worried about police power in private hands.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Here's a thought, have gov't tell industry that they'll do it, but slip in a caveat that the proceeds of prosecution should go to bail out Wall street while it's in jeopardy....see what Hollywood thinks of that.
there are Constitutional matters with the bill as well so even if passed the gov will end spend a lot just on that going to court.
The answer is really very simple. You just missed the other news report with the headline: 'RIAA Refuses to Cough Up USD700 billion in "Campaign Funds"'
The movie industry in particular wonders why it's having a tough time, well, have you looked at the cost of most movies lately? How about Blu-Ray? Gee, I wonder why $30 disks aren't flying off the shelves, and the technology being generally adopted, in an economy that is going sour. Couldn't possibly be because if you walked into a typical retailer, the movies are priced as though nothing has changed in the economy since 1998-1999, could it?
When these cartels start pricing toward a more realistic economy of scale, and still have no luck selling stuff, I'll gain an ounce of pity for them. Not enough to support this sort of handout, but enough to actually consider them victims of the economy, rather than their own ivory tower mentality ("the law says we have these rights, fuck the real world, fuck the economy, our rights, rights rights, all say that we can charge this much and there's nothing anyone can do about it!")
If Imaginary Property is real, where are the Imaginary Laws to protect it? Can't I just imagine someone breaking down my door and hauling me off to court to be slapped with a hundred thousand dollar fine? If that's the case, can I just pretend I sent them the money? Seriously, I love music, and the concept of imaginary property is plausible...but if it all sounds the same, whose imagination did it come from? Who really owns it? We need new styles and fresh sounds. Why doesn't someone invent a new instrument to replace the Electric Guitar? THAT would be innovation. Peace Out.
I agree with the Bush Administration on something? Quick! Everyone duck! There are aviating porcine about!
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Hmm, i thought it wasn't purely the Dems. Still, probably the Republicans get more money from oil.
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
there are constitutional matters with the patriot act too.
I just wonder if this decision isn't self-serving somehow, or if they realize that the jig is up and we'd call bullshit on them.
They're using their grammar skills there.
I would like to propose that we adopt a new word in the English language:
Buypartisan: A bill sponsored by politicians from both parties who are both being paid off.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Now, I'm not terribly surprised here. I can't imagine why a Republican would want to use taxpayer money to pay for lawyers for an organization that dumps so much cash into the opposing party. Now, they are more than happy to use taxpayer money on organizations that favor Republicans.
The real question here is are the flying pigs wearing lipstick?
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
A government agency not jumping on a chance to expand its authority and funding?
Perhaps the Mayans ware right and the world is about to end after all.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I'll get flamed hard core for saying this but GWB actually seems to be getting more reasonable as his term winds down
The real deal is that you need to have the political party opposite of the President to be the one that holds Congress. Clinton of 1992 and 1993 was just terrible but once he lost the Congress and had to bend to the other side, partisanship went up, but the country was run far more effectively. Similarly, Bush being checked by the Democrats is actually more moderate because he has to be. When you have the other side of the aisle to contend with on a daily basis, you have to learn consensus to survive.
This is my sig.
Did you hear the implied, "Show me the money!" in the article?
What is more profitable for the DOJ, going after drug crimes/criminals and confiscating cash and cars or going after copyright violators, and giving any revenue generated to the RIAA?
The next batch of proposed laws will have to cut the DOJ in on a slice of the action. Maybe let them resell the confiscated servers or take the money found on/near the "criminals".
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Maybe they're expecting that it's likely they'll lose the election, so they'll just drop a few last-minute barriers in place to reduce the Democrat's power if/when they take office...
The White House doing something that isn't brain-dead stupid?
The reptilian brain of a bureaucracy does not work in quite the same way as a human's brain. Lack of movement does not mean the reptile is dead or ignoring events around it.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
WTF DOJ... how do you expect the conservatives to complete the USA's transformation into a fascist police state if you won't play along?
Privatize gains and socialize losses- that's the goal of the "Fiscal Conservative". That, and "deficits don't matter", "mistakes were made", and "lessons were learned".
Corporate lawyers are expensive, you know! We can't have wealthy companies pay for that kind of stuff- the taxpayers would be really unhappy if they were robbed of their potential "trickle down" from the mega-rich. We can't get our tablescraps off the floor if we don't keep the wealth flowing to our conservative overlords.
Your failure to find variations and creativity in music is not representative of a stagnant music industry.
Others have mentioned this, but well-nested in other comment threads.
The Bush administration (in particular, Dick Cheney) has rejected this primarily because this is an "intrusion of the legislature" into the affairs of the executive. Cheney has resented any Congressional oversight or involvement in the White House ever since Nixon resigned, and after he failed to get Bush 41 to ditch Congress, he got Bush 43 to let him run the White House and thus ditch Congress directly. The (then) Republican majority went along with this, because they had a Republican in the White House to rubber-stamp their bills.
In this case, conflicting priorities have turned this very dangerous bill out for the better. Even if Congress passes and later overrides a veto, Cheney and/or Bush will simply starve it out of significance, if not existence. But be wary of the media industry cartels (RIAA, MPAA, BSA members-- others will likely list them up) lobbying the White House directly to get the President to appoint a copyright czar by executive order!
"We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
The government want to:
A) Give themselves more power.
B) Give themselves more money to work with.
Given that this bill would give them no extra powers, and cost a huge amount in defence lawyers, I don't think this is ALL that surprising.
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
The irony of a lot of comments here when just down the /. list is
Ideology v Truth
on how ideology trumps the facts.
Democrat party apologists are always so suprised when Bush agrees with them because they are so very, very often wrong.
he actually did one thing in has eight years as president that i helpful to this country wow
Cheney will simply starve the office the way Nixon starved many of Johnson's now-defunct offices: Assign cronies to them.
Johnson is the one who put Social Security revenues into the general fund. Talk about starving something. Now the SS "trust fund" consists of IOUs in a file cabinet.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
Clinton of 1992 and 1993 was just terrible but once he lost the Congress and had to bend to the other side, partisanship went up, but the country was run far more effectively.
Let's recall, Clinton ran as a new Democrat, the Democratic Leadership Council type of moderate (now called "Blue Dog" Democrats) who claimed he would govern from the center. But once Clinton got in office, the partisan libs in Congress told him, "here's how it's gonna be." This was a disaster for Clinton politically, and the Dems lost both houses of Congress.
The sad part is it was the GOP Newt Gingrich Congress that came in 1994 that forced Clinton to balance the budget, and actually shut down the government because Clinton wouldn't cap spending enough. Gingrich was pilloried in the media at the time (see: "the Gingrich Who Stole Christmas" - nice fair and balanced reporting there, Newsweek), but now Clinton gets the credit for the balanced budgets of the era! But yeah, it's Fox News that is biased.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
Good for Bush that he is preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution, which defines the executive branch as a separate, co-equal branch. All I hear on Slashdot is how Bush tears up the Constitution, but here he is standing up to Congress just not because they are attempting to turn the FBI into copyright cops, but also to defend the presidency from becoming Congress's lapdog. This is *exactly* why there is a veto power! And all you guys can do is dog him? Let's see some intellectual dishonesty here.
Bottom line, good for Bush, and Leahy and Specter should be run out of town on a rail. If only someone in the media would challenge them on this issue, but as usual, the mainstream media is too busy rooting for Obama to take on these bought-and-paid-for crooks on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
And let's not forget who is getting the most lobbying money from Big Entertainment.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
Even if Congress passes and later overrides a veto, Cheney and/or Bush will simply starve it out of significance, if not existence. But be wary of the media industry cartels (RIAA, MPAA, BSA members-- others will likely list them up) lobbying the White House directly to get the President to appoint a copyright czar by executive order!
And who is the media industry donating the most money to?
And Slashdotters think Bush is the enemy.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you