Public Knowledge – Public Knowledge Statement on Justice Department Proposals — Now they want it to be a violation of copyright even if you actually did NOT violate any copyright. What is wrong with these a-holes? There are violent crimes out there and this is what they want to enforce?
Public Knowledge supports the enforcement of copyright law and the protection of copyright holders’ rights. We are concerned that the Justice Department’s (DoJ) proposal attempts to enforce copyright law in ways it has never before been enforced. Making the “attempt” at copyright infringement the same as actual infringement puts it in the same category as far more serious criminal offenses.
found by Ima Fish
And I though Ashcroft was bad.
Gonzalez is the one on the left, correct?
One way to divert focus back to real crime is to make copyright enforcement against individuals too expensive for any meaningful return in the form of convictions. If MP3 players allowed person to person copying of the internal files, the enforcement effort would encompass such a large population as enforcement of “national prohibition”. Given that most users consider making a single copy of music or video files less of a moral dilemma than achohol consumption, this would seem a reasonable comparison.
If focus is moved from disorganized crime to the more organized variety, society and the individual would be better served by government.
Specifically the random targeting of single copy infringers for extreme punishment by the MPAA/RIAA mafia is effectively disproportionate enforcement. Anywhere else, for any other crime, this would be justification for dismissal.
You watch what will happen… pretty soon the DRM will become a per-play proposition, where you will have to buy a rechargeable license for your iPod in advance, and pay for every time that a song is played. All songs will come with encrypted keys, tied to the player S/N, so only the player that is licensed will be able to decrypt the song. All songs when downloaded will have embedded and hidden codes that tie the song to the purchaser, so that songs will be traceable, and the owner of the original license will be liable for any copy found in violation. Music will need to be authorized by a call-home scheme that will require reauthorization every specific number of plays.
Ownership of a non-DRM enabled player or non-DRM enabled software will be proof of intent to violate the law and therefore punishable.
We in the older generation find the above to be bad because we grew up in an environment where governmental interference was very limited. But younger people are starting to grow up in an environment where corporate wishes are equal to governmental wishes. Under the conservative agenda, government=business, so if the USA continues in the direction that it is going, expect to be soon charged an ‘entertainment fee’ every time that your TV plays a commercial.
“pretty soon the DRM will become a per-play proposition, where you will have to buy a rechargeable license for your iPod in advance”
You mean like how Napster works now. All the song you want as long as you pay and pay and pay. Stop paying and you have nothing.
Just the LENGTH of modern copyrights defeat the original intent of our founding fathers — to balance benefits to the originator and that of society:
One-hundred-year copyrights (or even more!) are effectively “unlimited” because, after a century, nearly all copyrighted material is worthless to the public.
I think the original 28 years is a much more fair balance: 28 years is long enough so that nearly all originators have received 100% of the profits they are every going to see; but 28 years is short enough that copyrighted material may retain some value for society.
But we’re stuck with that stinky Sonny Bono.
So, we need legislation for an attractive incentives to voluntarily give up copyrights.
(By the way… I say this as a person who has created many copyrighted works.)
I believe Awake has pretty much nailed it (in fact, that’s pretty much the exact same thing I outlined to some friends earlier today…and no I’m not paying him for infringing on his intellectual property…). In any case, it seems apparent that digital media could be about to take a nose-dive of some sort. Which is sad and not a little annoying, of course.
However, in all actuality, I wouldn’t mind having things a bit more like they were back in the days before radio, tv and the internet, when people would read real books, and then actually sit around and take time to discuss them in depth because there wouldn’t be another one for several months, at least. And people took time to appreciate a piece of art that had been worked on for years, instead of a glance and a click to the next website. When kids actually went outside to play, and had actual imagination. Or when we weren’t so inundated with computer enhanced music that going to a live concert was actually a treat, rather than an opportunity to realize how bad your favorite artist actually sounds. Or (this is the last one, honest) people actually knew how to write in complete sentences, with correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Okay, that got a little off topic. My point is that maybe if we hit a few roadblocks with digital media and communications, we’ll have an opportunity to realize some of the good things that have gotten shoved aside (unintentionally) in our incredible pace of advancement. And maybe even find some kind of balance. Here’s hoping anyway.
I can’t understand why violating copyrights should have criminal componant. In real theft, someone is denied their property right. For example, if my car is stolen, I cannot use it, sell it, whatever.
However, when a copyright is violated the copyright holder still has the right to sell, lease, use whatever. Sure they lose potential profit due to a potential lost sale. But companies lose money all the time. The courts are filled with breach of contract cases involving billions of dollars ever year. Yet no criminal cases are filed despite the intentional nature of the breach.
And other than so called pirates, the vast majority of violators are not gaining anything financially in their infringing! We’re going to send people to jail MERELY because of a POTENTIAL lost sale?! That’s total BS. The RIAA and the MPAA (and the BSA) all have enough money to file their own lawsuits. The government shouldn’t be involved at all.
You know what, guys? This is one of those issues where the vast majority of people agree that copyright law has gone too far. Unfortunately, nobody has taken the needed steps of notifying their congressman or senator.
We can write in here all day long bitching and moaning about how our rights as users are violated by the MPAA and RIAA, but those folks are spending money talking to the people who can change the law. And guess what? They have. If you don’t like the law as written, write your representative and tell them.
If your representative refuses to answer, keep writing. If the law doesn’t change, vote the SOB out.
One word Ima Fish….. “Greed”
Mike T
gquaglia with a smart comment? I am surprised. These nuts have 3 more years to dismantle the whole Republic (the US is NOT a democracy contrary to misinformed knuckleheads). What all US citizens except for the truly wealthy have is taxation without representation. The writers of the Constitution were they alive would say we are compelled to throw off the shackles these fascist wannabe tyrants are trying to impose. Small businesses & the economy are being destroyed in the interest of corporate consolidation & The People are being marginalized & being slowly kicked out of the political arena.
&, for anyone who wonders where I am politically, I am an old school conservative Republican without a party. The Democratic party is also reprehensible as they just try to out-Republican the fake Republicans why the economy disappears. Not one net job has been created since Bush stole office or was inserted as president (take your pick on which way this imbecile was installed).
Awake, dead on in your analysis. A tyrannical government that will turn the people against it & probably around the same the Chinese start marching into other places sensing the USA on the ropes in a title fight where we won’t have any troops. For example, look at France. If it was easily invadable by an enemy now, it would be toast. Don’t think the dragon is lying in wait for the faltering of the West. Clashes for the dwindling natural resources is why they & Russia are joining their military, plus they’re making friednly with the USA’s enemies. Tsun Tzu techniques, “every battle is won before it’s ever fought.”
My typing sucks.
“”old school conservative Republican without a party””
OSCRWAP….yep…I can identify with that. Let’s start a party!