Well, he was named after a famous psychotic murderer.
Somewhere someone had posted a side-by-side comparison of this guy's portrait and those of some others with the hagiographized versions of the same portraits.
Posted on 05/14/2011 10:24:28 PM PDT by LibWhacker
I wrote earlier about how the new PROTECT IP Act guts parts of the DMCA, but as you dig deeper, it's looking even worse. The original (and now updated) article focused on the use of the term "interactive computer service," which was in a draft copy of the bill. At the last minute, that was changed instead to be "information location tool." While, at first, this may seem to be a narrower definition, there are some serious concerns that this effectively makes it illegal to link to any website that is accused of being "dedicated to infringing purposes." That's because an "information location tool" is defined under current law to be: a "directory, index, reference, pointer, or hypertext link."
Yes, you read that correctly: a link is an "information location tool" and such tools may be barred from pointing to sites deemed "dedicated to infringing" purposes. That seems like a massive breach of the First Amendment. If there is relevant information, as someone covering the news, why should I be prevented from linking?
Making matters even worse is a companion bill introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar, John Cornyn and Christopher Coons, which would ratchet up charges for sites that stream infringing works to a felony. The specific text of the bill is not yet public, and it's likely that it just extends the "public performance" rights to section 506a of the Copyright Act (which only covers distribution and reproduction rights today). But, that leaves open a huge question of what is considered a "public performance" and how you define "streaming" in relation to a public performance. I can see it reasonably applying to a site hosting the content and streaming it... but what about an embed or a link, in which the content never touches the site in question at all? Tragically, we've already seen that the feds consider merely linking or embedding to be a form of a felony -- so it appears this bill is designed to make that even clearer, and that is really dangerous.
Put it all together, and our elected officials are now claiming that linking to something can be a felony. Yeah. Scary.
It seems that we really should highlight the list of Senators who have sponsored these bills, and who are telling you that linking to content should be considered a felony. The first bill is sponsored by:
* Patrick Leahy
* Orrin Hatch
* Chuck Grassley
* Charles Schumer
* Dianne Feinstein
* Sheldon Whitehouse
* Lindsey Graham
* Herb Kohl
* Chris Coons
* Richard Blumenthal
* Al Franken <-- Updated to include, missed him on the first pass
The latter bill is
* Amy Klobuchar
* John Cornyn
* Chris Coons, who has the distinction of sponsoring both dreadful bills
So, there you go. The Senators who think it's okay for the government to put people in jail for linking.
Late spring/early summer 2014, assuming our Republic still stands at that time.
Orrin Hatch has lost his mind.
Thanks for posting. Very interesting.
As one who once owned a software company, I can tell you that there is nothing more frustrating and expensive.
Maybe owning a string of race horses.
The problem here is that those who write software, hold patents and produce music and other works of art are entitled to protection of their rights to ownership but the idiots who are writing those laws to protect are inserting their screwy pet theories into the proposed laws.
In other words, a much needed law but very poorly written.
LOL Didn’t know that. One thing for sure: Orrin Hatch has been in Washington too long.
Is there anyone in power who will stand up for the real American rights? Big Brother is here. And he is inhabiting both sides of the aisle.
*sigh* Words fail me at the stupidity of that!
Orrin Hatch (R-RIAA) has been at this for years. If you see his name on a bill, you know it’s going to suck.
Unfortunately, it looks like Texas voters need to dump both rino senators. They have been in the DC beltway too long and have corruption all over them.
sfl
Next thing you know it’s ‘rehabilitation camps’ for ‘thought’ crimes.
Texans know we have a problem. That is why Kay Baily was sent back to DC with her tail between her legs when she tried to run for Governor.
We have some serious rinoitis going on out there. These idiots totally forgot where they came from and Texas GOP conservatives are not sleeping anymore.
The biggest problem with KBH seemed to be where she could do the least damage to Texans.
FreeRepublic.com?
ping!
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