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.

Comments

Re:Sounds Good To Me

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Voting

[Darkness404]

No. What we need is a truly free economy that means A) No minimum wage, B) Copyright law where unless you are making money on the product you can pirate all you want C) Little to no patents D) The government stays out except to 1) Protect us 2) create general law and order 3) give a basic education and 4) maintain roads. If all those were followed, we would have no economic crisis.

Re:Huurah!

[Pool_Noodle]

They've got to work for those bribes ... err ... "Carefully misplaced envelopes of non-consecutive bills that will influence their decisions"

Re:Huurah!

[jacquesm]

Poland is part of the EU now ;)