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US Senate Passes PRO-IP Act
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The Senate has passed the PRO-IP Act. While they stripped out the provision to have the DoJ act as copyright cops, it still contains increased penalties for infringement, civil forfeiture provisions, and creates an 'IP czar' to coordinate enforcement. Even though the civil forfeiture provisions are ostensibly intended for use against commercial piracy outfits, history indicates that they will probably get used against individuals at some point. Worse, because they left out the only part of the bill that Bush threatened to veto, it is expected to pass. It is going back to the House where they're expected to pass it on Saturday, after which the President will probably sign it. So, if you want to contact your representative, hurry."
An anonymous reader notes that DefectiveByDesign.Org is mobilizing to fight this legislation. The Senate vote was unanimous. We've been following the progress of this bill for quite some time.
Everyone in favour of another treat for the plundering knights of the 'free' market, throw your hands in the air!
---
"The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
This is outrageous! I don't think I can vote for the Senator running for president that voted for that bill that goes completely the wrong way on copyright reform, so I guess I'll have to vote for
The Senate vote was unanimous
Damn.
I wonder if any of the third party candidates opposed this bill...
"Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs" -- author unknown
Yes, its off-topic, but its not.
Its time we start organizing a push to get Term Limits pushed into law.
6 terms for the House (12 years total)
3 terms for the Senate (18 years total)
Then once they are done, get OUT of politics, or find a new office to run for (President, etc.) I'm a Conservative... and I see the need for this on *both* sides of the aisle.
Maybe if we start cycling the people in there, we can rid ourselves of some of the imbeded morons who lose touch with real people, real life, and force them to, oh, I don't know, get a real job and not expect us to support them for the rest of their lives.
Strong IP protection and enforcement will help protect one of our most vital and productive assets.
Our precious bodily fluids?
I don't think we want to go to a route like China, where lax IP enforcements stunt their domestic IP growth.
Yep, the Commies have no regard for intellectual property - not even their own.
A few of the problems with the U.S. Congress: 1) Insufficient understanding or caring about the issues. 2) Hidden agendas. 3) Blatant corruption. 4) Passing laws quickly, without allowing debate. 5) Writing laws so that it is difficult to understand their implications. 6) Combining good legislation with bad, so that the bad will pass. 7) Providing descriptions that present laws as different from their true purpose.
An example of number 3 was removing the regulations that required banks to have assets similar to their liabilities, with the understanding that taxpayers would pay for the resulting bankruptcies.
Another example of number 3 was removing the regulations that required savings and loan organizations to have sufficient assets to cover their loans, with the understanding that taxpayers would pay for the resulting bankruptcies.
I mean, it's not like they have a financial crisis that they should be spending their time on.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
From Senator Wyden:
"With over 30,000 civil suits filed by a single entity against individual Americans it is clear that industry is more than able to enforce its intellectual property rights in civil courts without the contribution of taxpayer funds and busy federal prosecutors."
But while that's a kind of system that should be working, it really isn't. There are still tens of millions of Americans who either believe that it is within their "fair use" rights to freely redistribute copyrighted materials to dozens of unknown online participants, or do so fully knowing it is illegal.
So while the method sucks... isn't this actually a reasonable place for government action, you know, in enforcing the law?
--
Learn electronics! Powerful microcontroller kits for the digital generation.
I bet the U.S Pirate Party is beginning to take back their endorsement of Obama.
If you don't know who runs the USA after today then you're simply blind: Corporations are the real government.
MP3 Search Engine
Why? What's wrong with current IP legislation that is fixed by this? Intellectual property has thrived in the US for a century with much weaker protection. In some areas its actually stagnating because the protection is too strong.
This November we should all vote with one voice, Democrat and Republican, against the current corrupt congress. We should vote across the board, not Democrat or Republican but against anyone sitting in office. We should kick every single one of those bastards out, and we should keep kicking them out after just one term until they once more represent the people and not the businesses that contribute millions of dollars a year to their campaign funds. We should keep kicking them out until they spend more time doing the jobs we elected them to do instead of gallivanting around and campaigning for most of their terms. We should keep kicking them out until we find some people who actually take the responsibility to fix the major problems in thus country.
It is time to put aside our petty differences and root out this corruption that infects our very core, before it destroys this country.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Thankfully this isn't that terrible of a bill with that ridiculous idea stripped out, but it was completely unnecessary. Our country is falling down around us, and they're worried about copyright infringement.
The only thing Democrats and Republicans can come together on is selling their constituents' rights for a few pennies.
I don't think we want to go to a route like China, where lax IP enforcements stunt their domestic IP growth.
No, it is oppressive governments that stunt their domestic IP growth. And in the past few years we are heading to an oppressive government. And honestly, take out the oppressive government and China is doing just fine.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
I'm not an expert on the subject, but it looks like the summary doesn't match the article.
The summary says the new bill leaves out a section that might have brought a presidental veto, but the article says that the part that the president might take issue with, the creation of a "Copyright Czar" within the White House, was left IN the bill but that a veto is unlikely.
The summary also says that the bill has passed the senate, but I can't find a record of that in THOMAS anywhere, just that the AMENDMENTS to the bill were unanimously approved and that the bill itself is scheduled to be voted on soon. Nothing has passed anything yet; there's no congressional voting record available.
This is an important piece of legislation, I know it is, but the summary makes it sound like this is a done deal when it's absolutely not. Some rudimentary fact-checking would've killed ya?
(and no, I'm not new here.)
A two party system is worse than a monarchy, it instills a false hope that one political party is not out to gouge the people while the other one is actively doing so or in this case both.
The entertainment monopoly notoriously abuses the judicial and now with Homeland Security in their pockets, they will have a field day. Given that, I just can't believe how fast this was pushed through the Senate. What a bunch lousy traitors and bribed money mongers, the whole lot of them.
Yet more proof that government is for the corporation, not the people. Too bad by the time the average joe is effected by this it will be far too late.
I will be willing to bet this is not the only thing that slips thru the side door while everyone watches the banking fiasco. ( like the automotive bailout...)
---- Booth was a patriot ----
No, but its pretty damned close. And if you don't try to do anything about it today, it might as well be.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Yet-another piece of terrible legislation to protect outdated cartels from free market and make sure that the US are the most technology hostile place on Earth after North Korea. Now that competitiveness in innovative communication technologies has been made illegal, I guess the only option left for the US prosper on the global market is to compete with China in the cheap labour department. I'm afraid it has been heading in that direction for some time anyway.
What they OUGHT TO BE DOING, is saying "Sure, we'll do 'laissez-faire', & allow you to do this, BUT, we will also penalize & tax you for doing it also, taking away your incentive to do so - thus, you'll bring back the jobs to our internal domestic shores, because we'll make outsourcing less profitable for you by us doing so"!
then you will be left to drivel in your own dirt, because you will be limited to only 200 million users in the u.s., since other countries wont let your internet and software firms (even manufacturing firms) doing business with their own market.
get a clue first, then speak about policies. current wealth level of this civilization is the resultant vector of global economy.
Read radical news here
and all I got was this stinkin'...
Anyway, here is the real letter:
Please vote no on the 'PRO-IP Act'. This act is nothing but a provision to protect businesses who cannot adapt with our 'digital age' and will not accept that they need to create new products and not 're-hash' the same content every 10 years.
Consider the film industry. What are they up to now? They keep moving formats, each time simply because one may contain a better form of DRM. Both new formats for physical media, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, have DRM (digital rights management, a scheme to protect content from easily being copied by the average person) built-in that was stronger than DVD's protection. Regardless, as citizens, we are asking for our fair use rights back more than anything else, and the repeal of the DMCA. Now the MPAA as a whole has switched to BluRay in the hopes that such DRM will keep the money 'flowing in'. I, and many others, refuse to buy such a media even if we like the content. Secondly, we refuse to watch the content at all.
Every other industry is now similar, and they are simply placing the blame on 'pirates'. EA Games has implemented a DRM scheme where we may purchase their game, but only install it a total of 5 times, and each time will be accounted for because the installations will be verified on-line. After that, especially when such a product is not on the shelves any more, what is a fully law-abiding citizen to do?
It is nothing but a waste of tax money to have more resources in the government trying to keep these failing business models alive. Good businesses would adapt to the market properly, making new products, better products, understanding the customer needs, and certainly NOT treating the customers as criminals before they have even done anything 'illegal' (this is what they assume, since they use DRM so unwittingly and hardly give consumers warning).
Most citizens are going to agree that so-called 'street pirates' should be given punishment, including myself. That is the large difference. This bill has a provision for that, but it seems as though it could easily be used for individuals who are not making any money from 'pirates', who I cannot see as doing anything that is hurting these industries.
If RIAA head Mitch Bainwol has called the legislation "music to the ears of all those who care about strengthening American creativity and jobs," he really means that it will further allow the RIAA to enforce more DRM on their potential customers, while most are far too undereducated on the topic to know what is really going on. They buy a CD that may contain protection, or download a music file from a store, but what is almost NEVER labelled clearly is that such a medium is protected from fair use (i.e. making a backup copy).
What is here to replace the failing business models? Non-failing ones. We have the Internet, a place where people can publish their music (charge money or not) without ever having to go through a major publisher such as Warner. And same for films. While many will say much of Youtube is a waste, many people are gaining recognition. Monetary? Hardly, but they are happy with being known 'out there', just as a film star celebrity.
Tell the industries who want this law passed that they need to handle their business in ways that help and strengthen their relationships with their customers, not weaken them, just because a law says that they can do so, and please vote no under all circumstances.
Thank you
Everyone else please contact your Congressman/Congresswoman! Even a sentence or two can make the difference between not writing anything at all.
All that's left is to try to be happy anyway.
doesn't cause two cars to crash.
Talk about extreme hyberbole.
leave aside being republican, im a liberal in TURKEY. a major trading partner of usa, especially in textiles and manufacturing.
i dont need to tell you that any such protectionist measures as you propose will be met with similar measures against usa in the world. nations are not stupid. they arent gonna let you go protectionist on your internal market, but export to their own internal markets. thats the fact of life, if you give, you have to take. get used to it.
im talking to you from outside, outta the stupid delusions you americans wall yourself with.
there is no isolation in a global world. any step towards isolation, not only lowers the standard of living in a particular country, but also lowers the standards for entire world. observe north korea, ussr and other isolationist regimes that came and passed.
you should start seeing yourself not a u.s. citizen, but a world citizen, and start evaluating your life based on your personal qualifications, and open up to the world personally and seek your fortunes rather than shut yourself down to your country and locale. hint : internet allows you to live IN your locale and work for some company in the opposite corner of the world.
Read radical news here
I don't have a link, but I'm pretty sure Nader opposes this sort of corporate handout/nonsense. And yes, I am considering voting for him (again) for just this reason.
(Well, also the fact that McCain and Obama both favor continuing the war...)
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
The only people that seem to be horribly affected by this is the people who seem to think it is ok to share copyrighted materials with as many people as want them, and they want to be immune from being prosecuted for their activities. This bill doesn't necessarily affect the legality of what they are doing, it stiffens the penalties.
In order to sidestep the entire issue, the recording industry should lower prices on all the various forms of audio and video media, make them more affordable to the general public and more available via online services. They would sell more, keeping profits rolling in, while lessening the widespread consumer file sharing because of the affordability. Sell mp3's for 15 cents each and CD's for $5. Alot of people do this because it's simply too expensive to buy all of their favorite music. How much would it cost to fill up that 4GB Ipod with legit CD's? Assuming you could fit somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 songs on there, that's $800 at Itunes. What if you could do it for under $100? I think alot of people would go for that.
But I *Like* 'making sweaters', my father and grandfather 'made sweaters' before me. I get awards for my $30.00 'sweaters'. But NO, I must now work as a maytag repairman, a job I loath. Just so some theiving forign 'sweater plan' stealing bad yarn buying fool who can turn out a shoddy sweater for just a little less than my award winning one can continue in work. Shudup.
Why are they doing this? Don't they have a bailout to work on?
We hear there is a financial crisis going on that needs immediate action. The senators still found time to deal with an issue of limited importance in the short term. My conclusion is that either:
A. The action regarding the financial crisis is not that pressing as they present it.
B. The senate has issues setting and following priorities.
I ruled out C. PRO-IP is immediately needed and cannot wait (even until next year).
Dun Malg,
You said, "This illustrates how fiendishly corrupt government is, and how you have to be diligent, how can't depend on them doing something bad in a blatant manner to warn you you're about to get hosed."
Good point. Thanks for your entire explanation.
Could you provide more information about the bank de-regulation that allowed the current, even more serious, crisis?
I will be fighting this bill by identifying areas where I can release works or encourage others to release works with open, liberal licenses.
I will do everything I can to help the average citizen compete with the selfish corporations behind this.
That's one area where I have some influence, so I hope everyone else will turn up the heat in their own way too.
In every area, it is stagnating because protection is too strong. It's just a question of how far along the stagnation is. The fact is that we need less copyright protection, not more. I'll explain.
Historically, copyright ended after 28 years. At that point, the material became part of the public domain and contributed fully to the artistic enlightenment of society through repurposing, derivative works, etc. Far more creativity comes from third parties due to a work falling out of copyright than from the original creator being encouraged to create because of the work remaining under it.
The current system is set up in a fundamentally broken and brain-damaged way. Except in cases where the content creator dies prematurely, it keeps material under copyright until effectively 50+ years after the last person who to see the content when it was new has died. The net effect is that all of the creativity bump that comes from the material going into the public domain ceases to happen because nobody still remembers the work at all by the time it falls out of copyright.
If your goal is to encourage creativity and foster the arts and creation thereof, the best thing you can do is reduce the copyright duration to something much shorter---say 28 years. This is ideal because the kids who grew up with the copyrighted material become adults who are ready to contribute their own derivative works, compilations, etc. fairly early on in their careers (when they are likely to be at their highest level of creativity). Further, it promotes the continued enjoyment of these works because children who grew up with the works are able to freely redistribute and share those works with others as they themselves reach childbearing age (when they are most likely to interact with other parents and children).
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
More to the point, the current system encourages corporate greed and discourages creativity. At this point, if you read Bridgeport Music Inc. v Dimension Films, you will see that it only takes three notes to be a copyright violation. Based on that, we can trivially show mathematically that every possible musical composition in the Western tonal system is copyrighted, so no further creativity is possible. In fact, there are only 1,728 (12 ^ 3) legal compositions possible in a 12-tone system, assuming you ignore the starting pitch as Bridgeport did.
Things have gotten so bad that I am not publishing my collection of musical creations at this point out of fear that some idiot litigious type will hear something in them that reminds him/her of something else and sue me for the most trivial of similarities. Based on Bridgeport, there's statistically a 100% chance that such similarities exist, and more to the point, odds are good that sufficient similarities exist with at least a few hundred copyrighted works, creating a huge potential pool of jerks who could abuse copyright law and sue me. As an independent artist and composer, I really can't afford that level of financial exposure for the meager pittance I would expect to gain from the release of sacred choral works.
It is clear that this government is too focused on protecting the corporate overlords of large-scale copyrights without even a modicum of concern for the rights and protection of individuals who actually do the creation. It's time that we strip out this copyright regime and replace it with a Congress that actually cares about content creators instead of mindlessly buying the corporate lobbyists' lies hook, line, and sinker. I say vote the bums out. All of them.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Just to add another point on this, I only say "vote the bums out" because I already did my part to lobby my Senator against this and she chose to ignore her constituents' opinions in favor of corporate lobbying. When she comes up for reelection, this decision will make me seriously think twice before voting for Senator Feinstein again.
Here's the letter I sent.
Senator Feinstein,
Recently, the House passed a bill that I feel undermines our nation's technology and copyright policy at a fundamental level: the so-called "Pro-IP" act. As both an independent musician and a computer programmer, I feel it is important to write you a letter explaining why I feel this bill is a terrible idea. As a busy professional, it is rare that I see an upcoming bill as so detrimental to our nation that it is worth taking time off work to compose a letter to my representative. As such, please consider this letter with the appropriate weight it deserves. I am also sending a copy of this letter to Senator Boxer.
For ease of skimming, I have divided this letter into parts describing each of my fundamental objections to this bill.
EQUIPMENT SEIZURE:
I'm assuming you pay attention to the news, so you know why the movie and music industries are pushing for this law: they are losing nearly every court case that goes to court, so their efforts to sue file sharers have been almost wholly ineffectual. The reasons they are losing the cases, however, are:
A. a high percentage of their charges have been utterly fraudulent in nature without a shred of evidentiary support, and
B. almost none of the cases have sufficient evidentiary support to even pass the relatively low preponderance of evidence requirement to win a civil trial, much less the "beyond a resonable doubt" bar required for a criminal trial.
It seems clear that their intent of this bill is to create a new reason for people to be afraid of file sharing. Unfortunately, in light of the previous cases brought by the RIAA, it seems abundantly clear that the real-world result of such a bill will be people having their computers seized on scant evidence, and like most government seizures, being unable to get that equipment back without proving their -innocence- beyond a reasonable doubt. This is antithetical to the way our justice system is supposed to work and represents a fairly rapid descent into utter corporatist fascism.
LEGAL SALES AND FAIR USE:
Worse, this bill has no real purpose for existing. Services such as Apple's iTunes and Amazon Unboxed have shown conclusively that if you make the products available that the consumers want and in a format that is reasonable, they will overwhelmingly choose legitimate means of obtaining that content. File sharing of illegal content is rapidly becoming the exception rather than the rule, limited almost exclusively to content providers who do not make their content available through legitimate means.
I would also add that the majority of file sharing that remains is TV programming, not movies or music. That content has already been broadcast in an over-the-air fashion. It is completely within the bounds of copyright to allow both time and place shifting of this content, and making it available to people who already have the legal right to receive it (either from being within the broadcast area of a station or viewing it on cable) should be fundamentally protected by a fair use defense for a reasonable period of time after the show is broadcast. This law would substantially skew copyright by criminalizing something that isn't even clearly prevented by existing civil laws, and as such, represents a severe erosion of our nation's fair use rights.
REAL CAUSE OF INDUSTRY WOES:
And yet we watch as the movie and music industries repeatedly make false claims, blaming file sharing for their economic woes, when in reality their economic woes are caused by five fundamental problems:
A. The Bush economy---when people start
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
I'm posting Anon as I don't feel like getting sued for being critical of the RIAA/MPAA for my harsh choice of words.
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I am writing you today in serious protest of the PRO-IP act (S. 3325) that has recently passed the Senate. This is a modified version of the bill which was previously passed in the House as H.R. 4279. I am extremely disappointed that you previously voted for this bill and I implore you to vehemently protest the passage of this bill now that it returns to the house for a second vote.
This bill is an outrageous effort my the MPAA and the RIAA to gain even more control over the consumers of their movie and music products. As has been proven in the last decade, these organizations do not care about their customers or the artists whose intellectual property they purport to be protecting. Instead, they care simply about making as much money as possible. Their clients' products weren't making enough money on their own so they resorted to a campaign of harassment, intimidation, and frivolous litigation in order to get as much money as possible out of ordinary American *individuals* for supposed infringement.
You may not be familiar with the MPAA and RIAA's recent campaign of litigation, so let me give you a couple recent examples of the threat these organizations pose to the American citizen. They pursued a lawsuit against a deceased 83-year old grandmother (http://www.betanews.com/article/RIAA_Sues_Deceased_Grandmother/1107532260) who they said was sharing over 700 songs online. They pursued a family who didn't even have internet access or a computer (http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/7495.cfm). Both the MPAA and the RIAA feel they shouldn't even be required to PROVE that any wrong-doing was actually committed, they just want cash from Americans who can't fight back against the massive amount of lawyers thrown at them by these racketeering organizations (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/RIAA-Joins-MPAA-In-Thinking-Proof-Isnt-Necessary-95717). These are just a few of many atrocities that the copyright holder mafias are committing against everyday people who have no way to defend themselves against the multi-million dollar lawyers on the other side of the court room, and I recommend you familiarize yourself with others at http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/.
Ignoring all of that, let me ask you on a personal level: Do you feel it is the intent of the law or is in any way logical or fair for a single Minnesota mother to have to pay $222,000 (222 THOUSAND DOLLARS) for infringing the copyright of 24 songs? To put that in perspective, she has to pay nearly a QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS when she infringed on the copyright of approximately $24 worth of songs (assuming $0.99 each as they are on iTunes).
The existing law was intended to prevent companies from profiting from infringement, and has been abused severely by these racketeering organizations in their campaign against individuals. What we need is to fix the existing laws, not introduce new ones that provide not only legitimacy but also additional enforcement methods to these obscene campaigns.
Existing laws are already being bent and abused to force individual Americans to give up everything they own simply because they may or may not have infringed on the copyright of a couple of CDs. I urge you to not only vote against this bill but also to voice your opposition to it so that your fellow representatives realize that by passing this bill they will be aiding very few copyright holder consortiums at the expense of millions of everyday Americans.
Sincerely,
Welcome to your cyberpunk future!
If Democrats can run around and bash traditionally Republican companies, such as oil and coal, then, why should Republicans be doing the media any favors at all?
I mean, seriously, when I run as a Republican for either congress or the senate, I'm going to be coming out arguing that big media is obsolete, and waging my own sort of class warfare in return with all sorts of proposals to completely legalize copying of files. I will stand up at the Republican Convention and yell out that copying files is not wrong and that we are not going to threaten our children with imprisonment so Madonna can buy herself another pointy bra.
If the party of "big oil" and "big coal" has to recognize that we must change as a result of our scientific findings, that, hollywood has to accept that their business model is obsolete from scientific advance as well. Copying files and information is consistent with free trade and free exchange of ideas and Republicans should be in favor of this, not against. It's not a few books about pumping oil or building cars that is valuable, its the fricking oil and the cars! Duh!
Now, if it just so happens that this performs a complete cashectomy on the New York Times, Washington Post, most of the TV media, all of the recording artists and movie makers, and all of their liberal stuff is just silenced, well, that's just an added bonus.
It's just stupid that Republicans don't do this! We've been taking shit from big media now for decades and now is our chance to take them out!
This is my sig.
You may be right about the details, but I'm hearing that it's VERY likely to pass right now. And I'm not going to hold my breath and hope that Bush vetoes it, because it apparently has nearly unanimous support, which would be veto-proof. Bush probably wouldn't bother vetoing a veto-proof bill and if he did, it wouldn't matter.
In other words, I was in a bit of a hurry here, because I do NOT like the bit about civil forfeiture, which Bush does NOT appear to object to. And we don't have much time to oppose this :(
Thanks for fact-checking things, though.
- I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property
This should have been posted on Friday, when offices were still open.
I can't contact my rep now!
Thanks Slashdot.
Seriously. The brand awareness of the Republican and Democratic parties is probably in the billions. You need to reach out to EVERYONE in this country as the Republicans have shown over the last eight years.
On a related note, I wonder how much the "awareness" al qaeda made with September 11th attacks. VERY cost effective.
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It draws attention away from the true nature of the product.
WALL-E does not begin as a pre-existing stream of numbers but as the collective effort of about 400 artists and craftsman working on a budget of $180 million dollars.
That does not happen - that never happens - unless the studio and its financial backers see a reasonable expectation of profit.
.
It transfers power to the lobbyist, to the permanent unelected bureaucracy in the executive and legislative branches.
The staffer with twenty-five years of experience in legislation.
Maybe we can rid ourselves of some of the imbeded morons who lose touch with real people, real life, and force them to get a real job and not expect us to support them for the rest of their lives.
The notion that political office is not a "real" job is at least as old as Plato. The truth of it is that governing a population of 300 million is not a game for amateurs.
a) grow balls to post with your own account
b) read comment http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=978035&cid=25177639 and shut the hell up.
Read radical news here
Which is why - in many ways - China may actual progress while the US will continue to stagnate.
With the current patent and IP system in the US, it will reward those that may come up with an idea but not necessarily though that produce a product. Moreover, producing a product becomes dangerous as the chances of intersecting somebody else's IP goes up, and companies become unwilling to produce products due to the risk of being sued.
Meanwhile, Chinese and other non-IP-following shops will continue to ignore American IP, producing stuff (often "for cheap") which they happily sell to pretty much everyone.
I really can't see a future for an economy based no ideas/concepts/virtual-property VS one based on actually building something based on those ideas.
You only noticed today?
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
>Strong IP protection and enforcement will help protect one of our most vital and productive assets.
Sort of. The original founding fathers had it right, when they decided IP law was a utilitarian compromise that protected new creations for a short time. Its perversion into a new property right of effectively perpetual duration is a modern development.
Here's a perfect example of everything that's wrong with American copyright law today: Snoopy is dead.
Literally. For the rest of our lives, and the lives of our children, grandchildren, and probably beyond. He died with Charles Schultz. The estate of Charles Schultz owns the copyright to Peanuts, and has decided that there will never be anything new created involving Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty, and the rest of the Peanuts gang. Thanks to American copyright law, that effectively means nobody ELSE can legally do it, either. Of course, the new owners of the "Peanuts" IP can recycle and try to wring a little more value out of it forever, but this is a perfect example of how the original intent of America's founding fathers has been hijacked and perverted by Disney & Company. As the years pass, the "Peanuts" universe will seem increasingly quaint and out-of-touch with contemporary life, and gradually fade into history. Charlie brown will never use Myspace. Snoopy will never compose an email message on his laptop. Peppermint Patty will never send a text message to Marcy. Sally will never own a cell phone. Schroeder will never own a synth, and a teenage Linus will never foil a terrorist plot with his magic blanket.
I like to use the "Peanuts" example, because driving home the realization that Snoopy and Charlie Brown are dead forever thanks to the state of American copyright law.
Copyright law needs to be returned to its original roots, encouraging and rewarding the production of new content without enabling it to be used to forcibly extinguish part of our common heritage and keep it dead "forever" in the holy name of copyright.
...and look how well that worked out. I say we just follow with the same level of compliance our grandparents/great grandparents/great-great grandparents had for stupid laws during that era.
If a law is unjust, it doesn't really mean that you should abide by it. Just don't get caught.
Hopefully down the road or after another generation we will get some representatives with less interest in making bad new laws and more interest in repealing the old ones.
Today's politics affect a major part of our lives due to its enormous power. It affects the freedom and the prosperity of the individuals under the present political organizations. Yet truly, politics is the struggle of the strong and the struggle of the weak. This struggle constantly comes with bad fortune. The strong are struggling to concentrate as much power possible to the selected few. This always results is a struggle to survive, for the weak. The powerful will govern the weak unjustly and threaten their existence.
...The weak are the people who are weak in truth, poor in their consciousness due to ignorance and a lack of good education, and those that are dependent on religions and other unreal teachings, but also people in general who fail to take responsibility in their lives. Due to their impairments, they will not think by themselves or just not realistically and therefore not make rational decisions. They need someone of higher power to guide them, but they are also prone to manipulation, exploitation and sometimes require control.
Fortunately, the struggle can be overcome through positive diligence and striving. The weak and especially the strong must realize: There is not a thing and nobody too small or insignificant in this existence. Everybody contributes his part with his own abilities and being, even those who have not recognized it yet. Most naturally, people should be aligned with others, to perform their self-chosen roles, to fulfill their best destiny, in the essence of equality, towards progress and evolution. The strong would lead according to the natural law and the weak would rise up from their depression.
Historical leading thinkers have invented governmental structures and ideologies to deal with these facts. But unfortunate history shows that power systems always corrupt with politicians.
Politics is the art and science of acquiring and maintaining a position of power, using skillful means and tactics, to serve their own greed and a highly unhealthy ego.
They will use their acquired power to fulfill their desires, by taking from and using others.
Politics seldom resembles leadership.
A politician wants to control his subordinates, but truly, he has never learned to control himself.
Politicians will start wars based on lies and deceit to take control of natural resources---and to spread peace!?!
But they will not create values for people.
Politicians will give laws and commandments, but these serve for their corporate possessions to thrive and not the people.
Their laws and commandments will step on and break all laws and directives of nature. Thereby, they will cause evil and destruction to the people they govern, but unknowingly-first and foremost, they rarely find their desired happiness, impede their own evolution, and even self destruct.
The laws of nature are the laws of this existence, constant and valid universally. The laws of nature are: Wisdom and Love combined. The laws of nature originate from the Creation itself, whose determination is creative evolution.
We, the people, should line up with the natural creative laws, with the existence which created us. Therefore leaders must lead according to the recognized laws of nature.
Nature expresses that the strong must justly govern the weak, care for them, and protect them from all evil.
Politicians seldom have resemblance to true natural leaders.
A leader is somebody, a politician believes to be, who in reality is a degenerate controller and a freeloader.
A politician will speak with his words and body in order to manipulate people, or to seek and gain approval to win votes. But a leader must speak the truth, so it may be recognized and adopted towards wisdom.
The truth may sound harsh to the weak, but it only strengthens them.
Truth and love alone will make the world a better place. If you are not a loving person, you must first learn to love yourself. You must practice on the one closest to you,
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1767
Given that the US economy is moving away from the production of physical goods, and embracing IP production more and more,
Every time this comes up some astroturfing lobbyist tool brings this up.
You cannot base an economy on the production of copies, period.
Whether service or physical goods, it MUST be a truly limited supply.
Imaginary property can be ignored by any sovereign nation which wishes to do so, and can only be enforced as long as an onerously large and expensive military exists to invade nations who refuse to pay licenses!
History has shown no nation can afford to maintain this kind of military force forever, and the US has never gone to war with any nation over IP abuse.
Additionally, We are not so superior to many of the world's largest nations, we can't do squat against them, and they are already calling our bluff.
The truth is our policy makers are deluded. The idea of "selling bits" is the greatest, and most deleterious dot-bomb era idea, and it's still here! The morons refuse to acknowledge they were also taken in by the "irrational exhuberance" of the mid to late 90's.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
But piracy is distorting what should have been an interaction between two parties: creator and consumer. But instead of the consumer respecting the desires of the creator, they're ripping that away and screaming "Mine!" like a toddler. That kind of behavior doesn't get much respect from me. Let the creators choose.
but legalized bribery is distorting what should be an interaction between two parties: publishers and public domain.
But instead of respecting the intent of the founding fathers and the wishes of the public at large, they're ripping free speech, technological innovation, and fair use rights away and screaming "MINE!" like a toddler.
That kind of behavior doesn't get much respect from me. Let the public take back with civil disobedience what the media has taken away, and, since they control the household news orgs, will NEVER let a politician restore.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
They don't HAVE to have done anything!
This law will allow them to use the MERE ACCUSATION of such activity grounds to steal someone's computer (REAL THEFT) and never give it back.
The courts become tools of theft, not only of peoples' physical property, but of their, their kids', and their businesses' private/academic/transactional/inventory data.
There is no functional difference between a radio cassette recorder and a p2p program, except people who use the radio don't have the most important appliance in their home stolen from them by abuse of the judiciary system.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
Why on earth should I register here? So I can be tracked as well as your stupid REPUBLICAN 'crony' self?? No thanks.
On "A/C" restrictions? Well, as you can clearly see - I get around those, pretty easily as well (such as the 10 post limits on A/C's, but... not THIS one in myself, lol!)
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Clue: Because of your "registered member status"? Hell, you are SO easily tracked around here because of that, it's not even funny. That doesn't bother a republican political crony (& doubtless, complete with "political appointee job" for being a GOOD CRONY), like you now, does it? Apparently not.
ADDITIONALLY - To the Slashdot editors: The day you THINK your 'system' here, can stall me posting as A/C more than 10x a day?
Well,that is the day the hell freezes over.
See - All your "A/C" restrictions, such as the allowed # of A/C posts per day (or those restricted by your moderation staff)? Well, especially in regards to myself?? Boys, they don't AND WON'T, apply here... they're EXTREMELY SIMPLE to get around. I won't say how, but anyone worth their salt in this art & science knows how to, even as "A/C" user, anyhow, & via a number of ways/methods/means, period.
(I like your site, so not putting you down... just the easily skirted mechanics of A/C restrictions you put in place here, is all!)
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Back to the CRONY now though:
See - I don't kiss ass as well as you do, or "obey my republican mastuh" like you are quite obviously used to, in kissing their asses (most men, lead lives of quiet desperation (quiet for sure, with their republican masters' penis in their mouth, lol)... and yes, it is obvious you do so, in just judging by your frothing at the mouth reply (and, in trying to issue me orders as well)... so, is that just 'froth', or something else dribbling out of your mouth there? "INQUIRING MINDS, want to know!"
LOL - above all else: Boy - I sure got a 'rise' outta you now, didn't I???
Well, there is that old adage that "nothing hurts like the truth"...
So, thanks for being SO damned transparent, republican crony, & giving me an indication of the truth, stining like mad on your end.
See cronies like you may take suggestions like yours without questioning it, but, I think things out, first... and I weigh the benefits, vs. the possible downsides. And, again: All the "restrictions" on A/C users, like a 10 post limit per day (unless blocked by mods here?), just do NOT apply, as this is my 15th post or so today, as A/C.
So, sorry, because that all said & aside? Well, I'm not that stupid here (like you - the easily tracked, unthinking REPUBLICAN CRONY/YES MAN/SYCOPHANT/BOOTLICKING STOOGE)
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Yes, you are another obviously easily duped lackey/stooge/crony/yes-man/sychophant - who is "part of the team" and thus, you are used to having to "take one for the team (right up the ass)" - You probably also go for this "war for freedom" too is my guess!
(However - Whose freedom? Those of KBR, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, & Haliburton war profiteers' "financial freedom" is more like it)
Gee - Let's also drive up that national debt some more with that war, the "republican way"...
OR
Let's "bail out failed firms on wallstreet we have our republican politician kickback monies in. OR, that our republican masters have there (who gave us our political appointee job no less)" too... lol!
Again - NO thank you.
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I don't think you understand something - We're all done with your stupid REPUBLICAN asses in this nation (USA) pal. The "jigs' up" & game over, for republicans, for decades into the distance - thanks for ruining your political party for good though, that much I have to thank all you republican stooges for @ least.
Judging by the republican parties' "fine economic results", do you honestly think anyone would take YOUR stupid suggestions?
(Think again, republican stooge/sychophant/bootlicker/yes-man/crony)
Copying someone else's work is theft. Copying your cds and dvds so as that you have a copy in case of emergency is not. Copying your cds and dvds and giving them to your cousin is theft.
It's very simple, but here on Slashdot we pretend it's not. All due to the fact that we like to have vast collections of songs, movies and video games.
idiot.
you are still talking about my 'republican ass' in usa. i TOLD you to read the linked post. since you are still thinking that im american, i assume that you didnt read it. therefore i wont bother to read your post. ill save myself the time you saved yourself by not reading what i linked.
Read radical news here
First of all, the second you are reduced to tossing names, as you had in calling me "moron" which you did startup in doing, and now in idiot?
That was the very second I had you on the ropes, and I know it - You gave yourself away via your "emotional outburst".
Thus, it seems pretty clear that the second anyone mentioned stalling outsourcing you flipped out, and I must have been correct about outsourcing somehow adversely affecting your personal agenda is what it is telling me.
Secondly, I know you SAID you are not on US shores, but, does that mean you told the truth? No.
Third - again, not a damn thing that registering is going to give me here, that I cannot get by myself via other means, that I might require (such as being able to blow by the 10 post per 24 hour period limits the "A/C" accountname I use here - might as well put up a straw wall vs. the childish means it takes to blow by it).
Lastly: You obviously are some offshore CRONY who is terrified by anyone suggesting we take away jobs that were outsourced by our fine "republican scum" leadership in the USA in business and politics (you know - the same geniuses that have led this nation to the horrendous financial ruin it is currently experiencing) - looking @ your frothing @ the mouth reaction tells me this, clearly.
Too easy, & YOU? You are TOO transparent.
yea yea you got me figured out there yea.
we need your offshore jobs SO badly that we do stuff with republican cronies and shit. and whatnot.
yea. and then some more.
Read radical news here
Is what the parent post to mine was referring to. See that word there, "poles?" In the context of the post, it obviously meant the North Pole and the South Pole, not citizens of Poland. It was what many refer to as a pun.
No one was, in any way, shape or form, denigrating the fine Polish people. Except maybe you.
Congratulations on getting all worked up over a bit of wordplay. Perhaps next time you see something flying over your head, you ought just duck and cover. :p
"Congratulations on getting all worked up over a bit of wordplay." - by Wicked Zen (1006745) on Friday October 10, @08:00PM (#25334393)
Worked up? Get over yourself already.
A fool like you cannot get me "worked up", period... ok?
"Perhaps next time you see something flying over your head, you ought just duck and cover. :p" - by Wicked Zen (1006745) on Friday October 10, @08:00PM (#25334393)
Perhaps you ought to learn to write more completely, instead of "trying to be clever"
Again - You ought to be more specific next time, or, use quotes (just a suggestion)... because leaving your post so "open-ended to interpretation" thus, as you had? It's pretty fairly deceiving/misleading.