Cute ;)
Posted on 10/24/2005 7:06:10 PM PDT by Centurion2000
By Andrew Orlowski Published Thursday 9th September 2004 13:36 GMT
HR.4077, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act, has been approved by the United States' House Judiciary Committee.
The bill specifies up to five years' jail for anyone making over a thousand copyrighted works available for download. That's if the infringer is profiting from the action: ordinary P2P users would face up to three years simply for making their collections available.
Thwarted by the courts, copyright holders and their lobby groups, notably the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA), have been forced to file "John Doe" suits against infringers. But HR.4077 brings the full power of the state to their aid:
The FBI will be required to serve as propaganda ministry, or in the words of the bill, "develop a program based on providing of information and notice to deter members of the public from committing acts of copyright infringement through the Internet," and enforcer.
The Feds must "facilitate the sharing among law enforcement agencies, Internet service providers, and copyright owners of information concerning acts of copyright infringement described in paragraph".
The committee asks Congress to discourage the P2P networks from deploying the "guns don't kill people" defence.
"Publicly available peer-to-peer file-sharing services can and should adopt reasonable business practices and use technology in the marketplace to address the existing risks posed to consumers by their services and facilitate the legitimate use of peer-to-peer file sharing technology and software."
The bill also makes it illegal to use a video recorder in a cinema to capture a movie.
The chairman of the House Committee which nodded through the measure, Rep James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis), was paid $18,000 by the Recording Industry Ass. of America to make a trip to Taiwan and Thailand in January 2003, a breach of the House ethics rules, say critics. [WaPo | Reg] Sensenbrenner said it was a "fact-finding mission", even though his schedule was arranged by the State Department.
But the distinction between State and corporate interests are now so close as to be indistinguishable. ®
Congressman pocketed $18,000 for RIAA lobbying trip
War on Culture's victims face Penitentiary Blues
US DoJ searches homes of P2P evil doers
Court tells RIAA and Congress to let P2P software thrive
Why wireless will end piracy and doom DRM and TCPA - Jim Griffin
US inspired copyright laws set to sweep the globe for fun and profit
Jane Doe ruling limits effect of RIAA legal defeat
Links don't work.
I suddenly feel tired. ugh.
Cute ;)
what about fines distrubuting and using these
Draconian enforcement of copyright can have only one outcome: a Constitutional Ammendment abolishing copyright.
Our frickin' moronic legislators are more concerned with illegal downloads by college students and illegal steroids used by pro athletes to waste their time on the millions upon millions upon millions of illegal aliens scrambling across our frickin' borders....
Why do I believe that if I looked into this a little I'd see Senator Orin Hatch in the middle of it all?
This bill is so broad that it makes it illegal to transmit copyrighted material over the internet, even with permission.
This would make even I-tunes illegal.
That says copyrighted "works", not just movies and music. Meaning it could apply to any thing copyrighted, like articles posted on FR.
I have to say, this looks a hell of a lot more corrupt than anything Tom Delay is accused of, and it really happened lol.
The "no on all incumbents" platform is starting to look more appealing every year. ;)
Once upon a time, I was screwed over on a patented machine that a friend and I developed. I'm not saying this is perfect, nor am I saying most popular music even borders on intellectual, but the protection of intellectual property is one of the things that has made this nation great by motivating the inventive people with the chance at economic gain.
Let's see how it comes out of the conferenc comittee.
Once upon a time, I was screwed over on a patented machine that a friend and I developed. I'm not saying this is perfect, nor am I saying most popular music even borders on intellectual, but the protection of intellectual property is one of the things that has made this nation great by motivating the inventive people with the chance at economic gain.
Let's see how it comes out of the conference comittee.
Incredible.
If you can bribe enough congressmen you can get away with anything.
What's next? The death penalty for not watching the commercials on TV?
Anything to make sure the Hollywood/RIAA millionaires continue to make billions.
Incredible.
If you can bribe enough congressmen you can get away with anything.
What's next? The death penalty for not watching the commercials on TV?
Anything to make sure the Hollywood/RIAA millionaires continue to make billions.
Whoops. Good thing I wasn't working the old gummint model there.
Sorry that you got ripped off. Seriously. However, that's no reason to put teenagers in jail for downloading mp3s.
SEC. 110. ENHANCEMENT OF CRIMINAL COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.
(a) Criminal Infringement- Section 506 of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
`(a) Criminal Infringement- Any person who--
`(1) infringes a copyright willfully and for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain,
`(2) infringes a copyright willfully by the reproduction or distribution, including by the offering for distribution to the public by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000, or
`(3) infringes a copyright by the knowing distribution, including by the offering for distribution to the public by electronic means, with reckless disregard of the risk of further infringement, during any 180-day period, of--
`(A) 1,000 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works,
`(B) 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works with a total retail value of more than $10,000, or
`(C) 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted pre-release works,
shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18. For purposes of this subsection, evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish the necessary level of intent under this subsection.'; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
`(g) Limitation on Liability of Service Providers- No legal entity shall be liable for a violation of subsection (a)(3) by reason of performing any function described in subsection (a), (b), (c), or (d) of section 512 if such legal entity would not be liable for monetary relief under section 512 by reason of performing such function. Except for purposes of determining whether an entity qualifies for the limitation on liability under subsection (a)(3) of this section, the legal conclusion of whether an entity qualifies for a limitation on liability under section 512 shall not be considered in a judicial determination of whether the entity violates subsection (a) of this section.
`(h) Definitions- In this section:
`(1) PRE-RELEASE WORK- The term `pre-release work' refers to a work protected under this title which has a commercial and economic value and which, at the time of the act of infringement that is the basis for the offense under subsection (a)(3), the defendant knew or should have known had not yet been made available by the copyright owner to individual members of the general public in copies or phonorecords for sale, license, or rental.
`(2) RETAIL VALUE- The `retail value' of a copyrighted work is the retail price of that work in the market in which it is sold. In the case of an infringement of a copyright by distribution, if the retail price does not adequately reflect the economic value of the infringement, then the retail value may be determined using other factors, including but not limited to suggested retail price, wholesale price, replacement cost of the item, licensing, or distribution-related fees.'.
(b) Penalties- Section 2319 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as subsections (e) and (f), respectively;
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
`(d) Any person who commits an offense under section 506(a)(3) of title 17--
`(1) shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, or, if the offense was committed for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both; and
`(2) shall, if the offense is a second or subsequent offense under paragraph (1), be imprisoned not more than 6 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, or, if the offense was committed for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both.'; and
(3) in subsection (f), as so redesignated--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking `and' after the semicolon;
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking the period and inserting `; and'; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
`(3) the term `financial gain' has the meaning given that term in section 101 (relating to definitions) of title 17.'.
If you have permission, it isn't infringment. Read the proposed law again.
And the only think the grifting, lower-than-pond-scum politicians who run this country can think to do is lock up some 16 year old kid for sharing his songs online with his or her friends????
Mere words cannot express the utter contempt I feel for the pols in Washington DC who are bought and paid for by the highest bidder!
I remember when it wasn't a crime to buy a new record and make a tape of it for your friends! Way back in the old, and FREE America!!!
Wanna bet, the RIAA is suing I-tunes for more money, even after they sign a contract a year ago.
Google's plans are toast!
A truly crazy law.
Take your cohort of ten year olds in America today.
By the time this group reaches the age of 18, well over 30% of them will be Federal criminals subject to 3 years in Federal prison because they own a 40gig solidstate harddrive the size of a deck of cards.
Any car that has integrated IPod/digital-player and bluetooth will be all that's needed for probable cause to be arrested under this law.
Heck, just owning a currently high end cellphone/mp3 combo that is bluetooth enabled is a crime under this law if you have 1000 copyrighted works on it.
Your mp3 player just might became a high tech equivalent of a soviet samizdat copying machine. Illegal as hell to own.
Whew. I'm only sharing 999.
Why stop there. Eventually they'll make computers, tvs, vcrs, dvd players, CD players illegal. The up shot will be that this will bankrupt the economy and the RIAA/MPAA will go bankrupt by their own greed.
It appears that we get the berst government corporations can buy.
Bad links at end of post.
The BIGGEST issue here for me is perspective.
The P2P and copyright debate and royalties, and the debate over weather 'sharing' some items actually grows the pie (RIAA looks at songs gotten for free as 'missed sales' but can't even measure the increased future sales from people that are exposed to something they would be oblivious to otherwise)
Anyway, back to perspective... 3-5 years for file sharing is insane. That puts is FAR beyond all kinds of federal offenses, violent crimes, hell some lesser murder charges (involuntary manslaughter) would be trated nicer. White collar crimes and drug trafficing would be comparable.
To say nothing of the 'catch and release' of millions of illegals using forged documents, and scammers selling fake SocID cards.
Actually, it was technically illegal - the RIAA just wasn't concerned enough with the problem to dump millions of dollars into bribing legislators.
We hear preached on this very message board that the government should stay out of the businesses and let market and competition fix the problems. I believe if the RIAA and it's members would learn from the market situation, they could put a dent in this perceived problem, and increase profits at the same time -
Market what people are willing to PAY for. Include material with a CD that can't be downloaded - like bonus stuff in the CD liner, special collectible items, as well as follow the iTunes and other online music retailers in delivering product in ways the consumers want.
I still say that the "MP3.com" model was before it's time. It allowed musicians to directly market their music to the consumer, thus streamlining the production and inventory concerns, and returning the profits more to the actual "artist" instead of a butt-head exec.
Is Google providing full books, or just excerpts on search hits?
You forgot the penalties to certain people for stealing classified documents and stuffing them down their pants. A fine that someone else will pay and two years of probation before their security clearance will be reinstated.
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