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New Bill Ups Punishment For Hosts of Infringing Video Streams
halfEvilTech writes
"Two months ago, the Obama administration asked Congress to make illicit online streaming of copyrighted movies and TV shows a felony. Such a bill has now been introduced by two senators. 'Online streamers can now face up to five years in prison and a fine in cases where: They show 10 or more "public performances" by electronic means in any 180-day period; and the total retail value of those performances tops $2,500 or the cost of licensing such performances is greater than $5,000.'"
If every-time a major corporation leaked my personal data (HI Sony!) they were faced with this same penalty. Per record leaked.
Why does an industry that offers so little in terms of value or innovation hold so much power over everyone? Why do we keep allowing these bullies to push us around?
Felony? Seriously?
"Yes, ma'am, I know you were raped, but it's not like your attacker posed a couple episodes of Scrubs on YouTube..."
You're not made of Tuesday!
Will be interesting (assuming this passes) to see if the so-called offenders move off shore. They might get their domain names blocked, but they might avoid prosecution if the law where they stream from does not make this illegal there too. Would also be interesting to see how this would stand up to a 1st Amendment challange as it make the punishment of electronic form of violating the law much more harsh that otherwise.
Chaos maximizes locally around me.
This will be used to squelch free speech and the Larry Flint of the 21st century will be in prison awaiting trial before he gets in front of the Supreme Court.
This could also be used in a copyright dispute with multiple owners (film school students vs their school, CGI hobbyists vs each other, etc.) It is unprecedented to give citizens the ability to create situations where they can send people to jail when they lost nothing but imaginary revenue and occording to several studies actually gained free marketing from the unauthorized streamers.
When you create a scenario where someone can be arrested for replaying something in fair use, and await trial to prove their innocence... it's a travesty of justice.
I don't think civil v. criminal is as cut-and-dried as you think. If it was, people would not be thrown into prison for smoking a naturally-growing green plant.
The US Constitution (unfortunately) gives the US power to grant monopolies to artists and inventors. Wouldn't infringement on that monopoly be a criminal offense against the US Government?
I think Jefferson had the right idea with his version of the Bill of Rights. He limited the monopoly to ___ years which he suggested should be 14. I agree. If you can't make money off your product during its first 14 years of existence, then too bad. Time to put it in the public domain for the benefit of ALL the people.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Hell no, bucky, prison is a for profit industry these days. Prison is the new plantation. In California, for instance, prison industries are exempt from environmental and safety regulations. And state agencies are required to buy from a prison industry where one exists, even if the products are inferior, unsafe, and more expensive than those available on the free market.
The powers that be have every incentive to create more, and more ridiculous, crimes. After all, if you are wealthy and politically connected, you can commit any crime you like with impunity, so what does it matter to you that everything is now a crime?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Once again proving the Obama Administration is very much in the pockets of the entertainment industry, and that the kind of people who become politicians are exactly the kind of people you wouldn't want as politicians.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
I know the Democrats are screwing up here. As a card carrying Dem I'll apologize for my people. Something that would help us help you though is if we could get a more solid base. The Dems are running scared, and they're pandering to Hollywood just to get enough money to fight the good fight. Ideologically I don't think my party wants to put people in Jail for this nonsense. It's an awful comprise. Obama basically said as much about the compromises he's making to get anything done.
Anyway, I've said it before and I'll say it again, stop voting Republican. Yes, the Dems do crap like this. But they at least have to pretend to support the little man. Yes, a 2 party system sucks. Yes, Canada is a better run country than us. But a general goes to war with the army he's given, and the Dems stated ideology puts SOME limitations on the damage they can do. It's a start.
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I am really truly disgusted that Obama would support this. I voted for Obama once in 2008 in the final election (but for Kucinich in primaries). I am a progressive and now i feel duped for having voted for what is a conservative pro corporate, anti worker president who apparently loves being ass kisser of Republicans and surrendering to their poor and working class hating, billionaire worshipping ways. The difficulty in 2012 is that there is no one else for a progressive to vote for, we have two conservative candidates running against each other. One can vote Green, but they have no chance of winning, but its better than not voting. People do need to vote , even for the greens, to show them that they are there and that progressives are out there, rather than to give the impression we don't care. I voted for Obama, and basically am greatly disappointed about what has basically turned into a conservative, fascist, war mongering, corporatist president. He would do far less damage if he would run under the Republican party where his ideas are more at home and stop polluting the Democratic party with his corrupt policies. It seems like what he says in speeches is just enough to try to appease progressives but then he turns around adn stabs us in the back in another attack on our rights such as this, or attacks on social security and medicare, continued failures in enacting a public option for health care and making universal health care a reality, and more tax breaks for the wealthy. I get the feeling he loves surrendering to the Republicans in tax cuts for the rich and more attacks on common people.
I think the only thing that might force Obama to take progressives seriously, rather than ignore them, a mass defection of progressives to the green party that would cut into his support base and threaten his chance of winning. That desperately needs to happen. An example of him ignoring progressives is that while he invited Republicans who want to continue to let the poor die while insurance companies rake in massive profits, he excluded advocates of medicare for all from the health care debates. He also started out with a proposal that was already conservative, the idea of the exchanges were the republicans own ideas from the 90s, leaving himself the only negotiating room was into conservative territory. This is all relevant to internet rights and fair use of copyright and having decent, non fascist copyright laws, since the same thing applies, it keeps selling us out to republicans and corporations.
it is also time to look at election reform to implement proportional representation so we are not stuck with the two party system, such as like they have in Europe, so minority parties like the greens can have representation, and that we are not locked into two parties. Currently we have an extremist conservative right wing party, the Republicans, that wants to scorch the earth and kill the poor, and we have a centrist party, the Democrats, that is where the Republicans were ideologically, 40 years ago. Its been said that Obama is more conservative than Richard Nixon or Eisenhower. Sad, but true.
Here on /. people complain about companies that "lock" you into their ecosystem. (Hi, Apple!) But you willingly let yourself be locked into the **AA ecosystem.
Back in the day we weren't totally dependent on being entertained by moving pictures on a screen. Most of the time we made our own entertainment.
I still live that way. I watch a one or two Netflix movies or TV shows a week, go to the real movies about once every couple months. TV is a bunch of crap, if it's good I'll Netflix it later. I have LOTS of time to create things, build things, walk the dogs, hang out with friends and family. I wish I had musical talent so I could play an instrument, but no luck there. If I had to totally give up the moving pictures on the screen, I could do it. Sometimes weeks go by when I don't sit in front of the TV. Sometimes I go days where I don't even sit in front of a computer. Okay, that's rare, but it happens. But I try to limit my browsing every day so I can actually go live my life, and then generally only when taking a break at work (Hi!).
Think of all the things you could do if you weren't so concerned with being entertained by moving pictures on a screen all the time. Think of the **AA pockets you will not be lining if you choose to make your entertainment, or how many artists you will help if you choose to see more live entertainment instead. How much time do you spend watching TV shows and movies? If it's more than 10% of your waking hours, you are wasting your life.
When your mom, your dog, your wife, your husband, your sister, your brother, your friend, your cat, your dad, etc. dies, how much time could you have spent with them that you spent watching TV instead?
Face it, the fact that you are complaining about this issue shows that the **AA already has you by the balls. Don't give them a chance to squeeze, just get out of the grip. Life is short. Go out and live it.
If I am arrested for DWI, that is a misdemeanor? But, if I use bittorrent to watch a copy of a show broadcast last night that my DVR failed to record, I just committed a felony?
Things I can do that will get me in less trouble than pirating a movie:
Shoplifting the movie
Shoplifting the movie and stabbing the manager on my way out
Executing neighborhood pets in the street while neighbors watch
Dealing small amounts of drugs to children
Well, at least now I have some options for the weekend that will get me out of the house. Thank god I'm not hurting the country by stealing a movie
The powers that be have every incentive to create more, and more ridiculous, crimes. After all, if you are wealthy and politically connected, you can commit any crime you like with impunity, so what does it matter to you that everything is now a crime?
I'm waiting for the day where we start using executed criminals for organ transplants. It seems the obvious next logical step in this line of thinking, and Niven has already described how it'll go from there.
This will just empower the drive to privatize prisons, in order to defray the cost. It's a great investment, since they get a captive slave population which continues to feed the prison industry by permanently disenfranchising people (and in large part, their descendants).
Dear Mr. Congressman,
I would like to steal money by showing movies over the internet. I own the movie, right? I bought a copy so I can make as many copies in real-time as I want, right? Isn't that what "freedom of the press" is all about? Remember the Maine!
Signed,
L. I. McWire
Oh, they just got rid of trains instead.
Trains are too Communist for US, they are large, expensive things that provide convenient, non-humiliating way of travel to people who are not "worth" it. Our poor people must only travel in beaten up cars and piss-stained buses!
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Your grandmother has a birthday, the family gathers around and sings to her and video's it. The video gets uploaded. Because no royalties were paid for this public performance it's therefore an unauthorized distribution. How many people have to watch/download this before they get arrested? There are two sets of laws- those for the poor and those for the rich. The laws protecting the rich have much higher penalties.
wow watching a pirate stream might be a felony now. this crap has to stop. its gotten to the point of stupdiy i cant stand to see. i hope someone with a iq above 1 these sees this and goes wtf and votes it down.