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RIAA Wants 'Net Neutrality' To Include Filtering

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The RIAA is now worried about the FCC's rulemaking concerning Net Neutrality. Specifically, they're worried that the rules might make it difficult for ISPs to filter out copyright infringement and child pornography, so they want to make sure that spying on and filtering internet traffic is okay, so long as it's being done for a good reason, even if it doesn't work correctly and blocks non-infringing content. Incidentally, the RIAA has some justification to lump child pornography and copyright infringement: after all, people might infringe upon the original cover art for the album 'Virgin Killer,' which featured a naked under-aged girl in a way that some consider pornographic. The copyright on it belongs to RCA Records."

54 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. "Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"..... by scosco62 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's hard for me to tell if this is a different aspect of RIAA's disconnect with reality, or if there is really a fundamental disconnect of what the First Amendment is out.

  2. Re:"Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"... by Defenestrar · · Score: 3, Funny

    No - this is perfectly in line with the logic behind dehydrated water.

  3. RIAA said it first! by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 4, Funny

    Specifically, they're worried that the rules might make it difficult for ISPs to filter out copyright infringement and child pornography

    The RIAA wants to protect their copyrighted child porn?

    1. Re:RIAA said it first! by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Perhaps this will help.

      "Due to copyright and other legal reasons, South Park video content cannot be viewed outside the United States."

      No, but it gives me a pretty good idea why they're in such a shithole and digging themselves deeper.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:RIAA said it first! by mdwh2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's an interesting point - in the UK, laws against possession of adult (not child) material have been used against pirates ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/16/extreme_pr0n_convictions/ ). But wait a moment, if it's true that piracy harms the producer, and production of said material is bad, surely it's doing good to pirate it...

  4. Re:"Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"... by aurispector · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Equally rapacious and soulless - they make their own reality and expect everyone else to live it. The RIAA is a classic case study on the influence of the private sector on governance.

    --
    I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
  5. Ah, they're trying a Glenn Beck. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They're trying a Glenn Beck. Now they can make the implied accusation that by supporting net neutrality, you support child pornography.

    I can hear the arguments now, "We need to prevent net neutrality, FOR THE CHILDREN!"

  6. They forgot to include terrorism by Issarlk · · Score: 2, Funny

    People might share videos explaining how to build bombs with an RIAA copyrighted music in the backgroup :O

    1. Re:They forgot to include terrorism by bsDaemon · · Score: 2, Informative

      Like the IRA videos of kids throwing petrol bombs at RUC cops with soundtrack provided by RATM? Something tells me RATM isn't opposed, but their label might have a thing or two to say about it.

  7. Jesus Christ by yt8znu35 · · Score: 5, Informative

    RIAA does not care about child pornography. They're hiding behind the issue. They want to be able to claim that those who oppose their position hate children.

    1. Re:Jesus Christ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wouldn't those that oppose their position like children?

      Think of the children! Isn't that the root cause of child pornography?

    2. Re:Jesus Christ by fightinfilipino · · Score: 2, Funny

      RIAA does not care about child pornography. They're hiding behind the issue. They want to be able to claim that those who oppose their position hate children.

      considering the RIAA acts like a bunch of spoiled children, this is starting to make a lot of sense!

    3. Re:Jesus Christ by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2, Informative

      Considering that it was government officials who pushed the whole "you should be terrified of child pornography" issue...

      Seriously, we have FBI officials telling the news stations that children are "re-victimized" every single time someone looks at child pornography. The executive branch is chastising judges who oppose harsher sentences for possession of child pornography, even in cases where the punishment for possession exceeds the punishment for child abuse. The government wants everyone to be afraid of child pornography; after all, gangs, satanism, drugs and terrorism are old news now.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    4. Re:Jesus Christ by wygit · · Score: 5, Informative

      correction: The music industry LOVES child pornography.

      "Child pornography is great," the speaker at the podium declared enthusiastically. "It is great because politicians understand child pornography. By playing that card, we can get them to act, and start blocking sites. And once they have done that, we can get them to start blocking file sharing sites".

      http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/28/music-industry-spoke.html

    5. Re:Jesus Christ by Reziac · · Score: 2, Funny

      No children, no child pornography.

      It's clear that we need to ban children.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  8. Re:"Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"... by Moryath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, the RIAA is a classic case of where government SHOULD have stepped in and squished and illegal Mafia cartel long ago.

  9. Classy by John+Betonschaar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The RIAA knows that they won't find much sympathy anywhere if they ask for a carte-blanche on traffic spying just to catch a few illegal MP3's, so they just throw in child pornography, for good measure.

    Seriously, child pornography is the new Godwin for justifying invading privacy and getting constitutional exemptions.

    1. Re:Classy by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Seriously, child pornography is the new Godwin for justifying invading privacy and getting constitutional exemptions.

      The real question is: Why are people still unable to reply "don't use child porn for your benefits", and stop the argument right there?

    2. Re:Classy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Because the brain shuts down as soon as child porn is talked about. Someone saying "don't use child porn for your benefits" could easilly be accused of being pro-child-porn and suffer the wrath of the hysterical masses.

    3. Re:Classy by QCompson · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The use of child pornography as justification to restrict other rights won't end anytime soon. Law enforcement and interested groups have successfully convinced most of the public that possession of child porn is equivalent to molesting a child. Literally, one and the same. This has inflamed any conversation about child pornography well past the point of any rationality.

    4. Re:Classy by denebeim · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hitler was against child pornography.

    5. Re:Classy by QCompson · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, most would say no, that doesn't count, and this hypocrisy is exactly why most of the rage about child porn is actually directed at what should be considered a thought crime. A cop/judge/jury can look at a picture of child pornography and no harm is done. But if an ordinary citizen looks at the same picture, many will say (NCMEC for one) that the child is being molested all over again. This is how punishments for possession of child pornography have successfully been ratcheted up to levels equal to (and in many cases greater) than the punishment for sexual abusing a child.

    6. Re:Classy by HBI · · Score: 2, Informative

      He eliminated almost all nude art from Germany except that which depicted adult Aryan women in clean surroundings. Berlin was a pretty wild place in the 20s - Hitler ended that.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  10. I give up. by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This isn't even funny anymore.

    In a letter sent today to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the RIAA and other music trade groups expressed their concern[...]

    The only sane answer is: "To say what you just said you have to be either a lying bastard or deeply retarded. I have no interest on educating either profile on the reasons why your statement is manipulative, false and idiotic."

    Each day that passes I value education more. If this keeps going I'll end up firmly believing that educating the population is the solution to all of humanity matters.

    1. Re:I give up. by Midnight's+Shadow · · Score: 5, Funny

      If this keeps going I'll end up firmly believing that educating the population is the solution to all of humanity matters.

      Not quite. There is always the nuclear option- you know just nuke the planet until cockroaches are the highest form of life. Then it because the cockroaches' problems on what to do with the RIAA.

      --
      "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. " -Voltaire
  11. Let's all say things that are offensive but true by sqrt(2) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Copyright is more harmful to society than child pornography. Yeah, I said it.

    Also, I have a feeling the RIAA doesn't give two shits if some kids get molested and photographed, as long as a song they have the copyright to isn't in the background of the video. Lumping together CP with copyright infringement is just a way to get support and alienate anyone who opposes copyright - since if you're against filtering of copyrighted files you must also be for child porn.

    --
    If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
  12. see all this time by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    i have tried in my life to be lucid, coherent, and persuasive in what i say

    little did i know all you have to do is say "kiddie porn", and whatever you are trying to argue for, people instantly flock to you sympathetically

    so, in that spirit, instead of making a rational argument here, i will simply say

    kiddie porn kiddie porn kiddie porn

    kiddie porn kiddie porn kiddie porn

    kiddie porn kiddie porn kiddie porn

    kiddie porn kiddie porn kiddie porn

    kiddie porn kiddie porn kiddie porn

    there!

    now i may rest assured that whatever your opinion before reading my comment, i have now inexorably swayed you to believe as i do, simply by reciting the magic words that trumps all debate, argument and rhetoric

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  13. Typical Corporate & Government Propaganda! by mrpacmanjel · · Score: 2, Informative

    There's always a reason to curtail people's rights:

    Communist witch hunt
    The Cold war
    Terrorism
    Child Pornography

    Let's suppose they do start "filtering" content there will always be a way to circumvent it.
    It comes to a point where if you stand against it you are then branded a "sympathizer" and thus becomes politically incorrect to oppose it.

    (In the UK when anyone questioned immigration policy they were publically branded "racist" by the Labour party and prevented it from being debated. It was a legitimate concern)

    Unfortunately not nearly enough people question the motives of the Government & their commercial "bed fellows".

    1. Re:Typical Corporate & Government Propaganda! by IBBoard · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There's always a reason to curtail people's rights:

      Communist witch hunt
      The Cold war
      Terrorism
      Child Pornography

      God help us when we encounter the Communist Terrorist Paedophile who was part of the Cold War!

  14. Re:Let's all say things that are offensive but tru by sqrt(2) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I rarely reply to my own posts, but In case my first statement requires clarification, I am serious about copyright being worse. Very few people in society will be affected by child pornography, fewer still negatively affected. Those that were victims of abuse have suffered a terrible crime at the hands of their abusers, but nearly EVERYONE in society is impacted in a negative way by copyright law. The difference is in sensationalism. It's a lot easier to get people angry about something to do with children, or sex, or both than it is to get people angry about the every day violation of their right to their own culture and freedom of expression.

    --
    If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
  15. And why don't they just... by razwiss · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And why don't they just infiltrate the CP networks the same way someone addicted to children would do ? Internet is a gold mine of informations, and there is no way you would search a week without finding something. There is even some little boys lover web sites that their domain name is crystal clear. In Quebec, a radio station reported a website known as "La garconnière" which you can translate to as "The bachelor's pad". This website is an OPEN forum of mature guys talking about little boys they see in the park and their fantasies with them. Police dept. won't do anything as they haven't "infringed the law yet" And they say they need the ISPs to track them down ? yeah right.

  16. Re:As if that has not been known. by j0nb0y · · Score: 5, Informative

    Except everything you just said is a lie. Network neutrality has always allowed reasonable network management, including spam blocking, firewalls, etc. Why are you deliberately misrepresenting the issues involved in network neutrality? And who on /. modded you up for it?

    --
    If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
  17. This reminds me of "The Office" by Pezbian · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This reminds me of the episode of "The Office" where Michael Scott becomes butthurt about something and dresses up as Jesus, interrupting people and telling them they're going to hell. The only non-moron in the group tells him he can't push religion and he responds that he either has to push religion or push drugs.

    The RIAA is "The world according to Michael Scott" in a nutshell and taken to an extreme.

    --
    In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
  18. Re:Yeshua Cottontail vs. La Cucaracha by Pezbian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I really can't believe that even government officials wouldn't notice how shallow this attempt is.

    That's their job. A roach can fit through even the smallest of gaps.

    The difference is the roach's only agendae are spreading feces and breeding... oh wait...

    --
    In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
  19. Re:"Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"... by HermMunster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is not net neutral if you filter. That's the point of neutrality.

    --
    You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
  20. In short, bullshit by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "An Internet predicated on order, rather than chaos, facilitates achievement of this goal."

    The Internet has always been chaotic, you never needed to lease lines to any particular point. Everybody can go everywhere at any time over any protocol, that chaos has been the core of its success. That all the users can access mylittlestartup.com just as easily and quickly as they can access megacompany.com has been a massive boom to competition and innovation for corporations and social media for individuals. That is the essence of net neutrality.

    The kind of order and regulation they want is to kill Internet as we know it, a system where ISPs get to siphon off the profits acting as the middle men that direct online sales was supposed to avoid. It's to stifle competition leaving only approved, incumbent content providers who pay their way to access the market. What they aim at, despite not saying so, is that to filter anything you must force everything into a few, known formats and protocols you know how to filter.

    Child pornography is a red herring, those that deal in that will never let themselves be forced into the confines of such filtering as there are ways like password protected files that prevent any automated filters. What they seek to prevent is to kill off the open marketplace, all those that do not go through a "legitimate" label like themselves but instead offer it up independently. They want every site of user-generated content like YouTube to drown in the cost of being their copyright enforcers. They want to return to the 80s when radio and TV ads determined what people would buy. Do not let them try to turn the clock back.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    1. Re:In short, bullshit by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You just made the case for "FREE MARKETS". And no, free markets isn't the current version of socialistic corporate capitalism that we currently have. Freedom isn't easy, but it is right. It is much easier to have a few elitists making rules for everyone, down to whether or not you can take your kids to McDonalds for a Happy Meal.

      We don't have free markets any more, and it is reflected in the current state of the economy where MILLIONS can be out of work while we try to save the BIG CORPS who are "too big to fail" (to save a couple hundred thousand special interest jobs).

      Where's my bailout? I don't have debt, I don't live beyond my means and I don't do stupid stuff and get myself in trouble, and yet I'm supposed to bail out people who repeatedly do those things.

      Why are we rewarding failure and punishing success??? IS that "fair"

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  21. This is nothing new by airfoobar · · Score: 2, Informative

    The lobbyists have made it pretty clear before that they are very much willing to exploit child porn to push through their own crap. Here's Christian Engstrom's (Pirate Party MEP) blog entry: http://christianengstrom.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/ifpis-child-porn-strategy/

  22. Re:"Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Excerpt from the minutes of the meeting between the Internet and the RIAA:

    "We'll let you have your silly "net neutrality" as long as you agree to all of our demands, the first of which is there will be no net neutrality. Now that we've got that taken care of, the next item on the agenda is "Money: You Must Give Us All of Yours". Thoughts? Or shall we just take it directly to a vote of the board, which is us?"

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  23. For We Are Many by Pezbian · · Score: 2, Funny

    *blows 4chan whistle* Anonymous! Get 'em!

    --
    In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
  24. ISPs should NEVER be copyright police by jonwil · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We dont see the RIAA wanting AT&T to get involved because someone makes a phone call and plays a copyrighted piece of music through the phone. Why should AT&T need to involved when someone sends a copyrighted piece of music through the phone lines using a different protocol? (HTTP over TCP/IP over ADSL vs raw voice audio)

    Copyright law has had clear steps in it for how to go after someone who is infringing your copyright ever since it was first passed all those years ago. And the law also clearly spells out what you can do if you believe your copyright has been violated and you have some kind of link back to the person but you dont know their name.

    Of course, the real problem is that the "evidence" the RIAA (and their hired lackeys) collect is good enough to be able to send vaguely worded threatening letters but not good enough to actually stand up in court.

  25. Re:"Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"... by isopossu · · Score: 2, Interesting

    RIAA and the industry behind it are bound to vanish soon, so they have nothing to lose anymore and they can use any means they wish to gain small wins before the destruction. The problem is that the stupid laws they push will bug people for decades after the nowadays media industry has been buried and forgotten.

    Almost every dying meme or institution works in a same aggressive and self-destructing way. Look at the news.

  26. Child porn, racism, communism by hessian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    People love "reasons" that are really justifications, like calling someone a pedophile or a racist. It doesn't matter if it's true. The herd's so afraid of being associated with child porn or racism that they freak out and ostracize the person. That way, you don't have to censor them or jail them. You can just socially isolate them, which in turn bankrupts them as their business or job prospects collapse. It's 100% effective.

    You think Virgin Killers is bad? Try that Blind Faith album they don't stock in stores anymore even though it has Eric Clapton on it:

    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51F4qeGnsXL._SS500_.jpg [NSFW!]

  27. Shocking. by Freddybear · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I am shocked. Truly, deeply shocked.
    Not that the RIAA would try this, but that anybody here is surprised.

  28. Re:"Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"... by Kilrah_il · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You know what would be funny? Suppose Google wanted the congress to finally enact laws to help protect Net Neutrality (NN, from now on). They knew the government isn't doing anything and after the Comcast case, NN was in jeopardy.
    So what to do? They team up with one of the big wireless carriers (AKA Verizon) and make up a not-so-bad-but-also-not-so-great deal and that way they have a force major backing up NN. Now there are two options:
    1) People will like the deal and it will be pushed forward -> A good option.
    2) People will be enraged by the compromises and demand the congress enact stronger NN rules (ones that will include wireless traffic)! The congress, being voter-minded will jump on the bandwagon (and having a big company like Verizon supporting NN doesn't hurt also) and push to enact said laws -> A great option!

    So now you have Google, which (for the sake of this post) really does want complete NN as it always said, making a move that is a win-win situation for the NN group. Brilliant!

    I know, to convoluted, but a nice scenario neverthelss.

    --
    Whenever in an argument, remember this.
  29. Re:Let's all say things that are offensive but tru by maxwell+demon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Bad way to argue. Better say: "Copyright protects child porn!" It's of course a bull shit argument, but it links copyright to child porn, instead of contrasting it to child porn, as your argument does. And most people will not think any further anyway if they hear "child porn".

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  30. Re:"Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"... by B1oodAnge1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'd just like to point out that without the government's help the RIAA couldn't exist.
    If copyright regulation were not being grossly warped by the government then there would be no way that the RIAA could wield the power that it does.
    This isn't an issue of a free market run amuck, rather it's a perfect example of a badly regulated market favoring the establishment and being unable to change with the rest of the world.

    In an actual free market all it would take is consumers voting with their wallets to change the market.

    --
    RUGBYRUGBYRUGBY
  31. Re:As if that has not been known. by Dorkmaster+Flek · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Then said bills have not been about Net Neutrality.

    --
    I like to think of online DRM as something akin to a college -- you pay for lessons until you learn something.
  32. What else is there to expect? by Aphoxema · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's just like lobbyists to jump on legislation and corrupt it completely.

    --
    "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
  33. Well why not? It's what regulation enables by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Regulation enables groups with lots of money impose whatever controls they like over a market through lobbying.

    That's why the whole concept of "Net Neutrality" is such a farce. The only neutral net is the one without external controls. Introducing a control overlay and then thinking no powers with vested interests are going to take over the controls, is just madness.

    "Net Neutrality" is all about imposing a definition of neutral crafted by a small panel of people in Washington. Is that really neutral?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  34. Re:"Cause I'm the only judge of what is proper"... by icannotthinkofaname · · Score: 2, Funny

    Come on, RIAA - try to take me down. I can't lose.

    Too bad that's only true from a certain point of view. It only works like that because if they strike you down, you will become more powerful than they can possibly imagine.

    --
    Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
  35. Particularly by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because of statutory damages. Their lawsuits absolutely depend on those. That is how they get their monkey-fuck retarded large awards. In the event those didn't exist, well then their lawsuits would amount to fines, as they should. The max actual damages you can possibly argue is $1/song, since that's what they sell for. You can argue the damages are less, but you can't argue they are more (and courts have already found this). Now in civil court, tripling of damages is pretty common when they are trying to punish one party, like they believe you willfully and knowingly downloaded the songs without permissions. So in that case you have 100 songs, you'd be on the hook for $300.

    Sounds fairly reasonable, kinda like a traffic ticket: Enough to sting and make you think twice, but a reasonable amount. Well that would work for the RIAA because it isn't scary, and because it wouldn't be worth their money to pursue the cases. Fortunately for them, there are unconstitutionally high statutory damages specified by law. Means you don't have to even prove any actual damage, and you can still get up to $250,000 per incident because congress passed a law saying you can.

  36. Vocabulary Nazi strikes again! by sabt-pestnu · · Score: 3, Funny

    You probably meant "Force majeure". Sure, it's French for "force major", but if it's written in French, it has that certain Je ne sais quoi...