We've got pirates crossing our borders 24/7 but kissing up to the RIAA is more important. Our tax dollars hard at work as usual. 
Posted on 10/13/2008 9:48:43 PM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law on Monday a controversial bill that would stiffen penalties for movie and music piracy at the federal level.
The law creates an intellectual property czar who will report directly to the president on how to better protect copyrights both domestically and internationally. The Justice Department had argued that the creation of this position would undermine its authority.
The law also toughens criminal laws against piracy and counterfeiting.
The Recording Industry Association of America and Motion Picture Association of America backed the bill, as did the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"By becoming law, the PRO-IP Act sends the message to IP criminals everywhere that the U.S. will go the extra mile to protect American innovation," said Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Counterfeiting and piracy costs the United States nearly $250 billion annually, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Richard Esguerra, spokesman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said he was relieved to see lawmakers had stripped out a measure to have the Justice Department file civil lawsuits against pirates, which would have made the attorneys "pro bono personal lawyers for the content industry."
But the advocacy group Public Knowledge had argued that the law went too far, especially given that fair use of copyrighted material was already shrinking.
Public Knowledge particularly opposed a measure that allowed for the forfeiture of devices used in piracy.
"Let's suppose that there's one computer in the house, and one person uses it for downloads and one for homework. The whole computer goes," said Public Knowledge spokesman Art Brodsky.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
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Well if you can’t be the best might as well be the worst. At least your name lives on.
> “Let’s suppose that there’s one computer in the house, and one person uses it for downloads and one for homework. The whole computer goes,” said Public Knowledge spokesman Art Brodsky.
So they’ll be arresting my computer and NOT me?? I’m cool with that. (sarc)
*
On a lighter note: I couldn’t find the exact words on the bill. There’s bound to be loopholes in it, plus enforcement sounds more draconian than it should be.
We've got pirates crossing our borders 24/7 but kissing up to the RIAA is more important. Our tax dollars hard at work as usual.
Damn right. The country is stuck between a Bush and an Obama. And McCain with his mortgage bailout plan isn’t much better. I’m beginning to think we’d get better political leadership in a state of total anarchy.
LoL Ultra Sonic 007 makes a good point ..teehee.. :)
Soon big brother will be watching all your downloads/all your chat convos/web browsing/reading all your emails/text messages/letters/checking all your parcels and having you pay them for doing so in more ways then one..ahh the land of the free I bet you must be feeling so free and independant now.. oops did i say that a loud..my bad..you get my drift..
The RIAA borders on being a terrorist group. They attack people who sometimes aren’t even computer literate and sue them for thousands based on supposition.
Their influences make expensive equipment work poorly and computer systems slow down all to further their own greedy interests. They even tax media arguing that it could be used for illegal purposes.
Nothing good can come from this law.
The RIAA is comprised of Lawyers that sue any and everything to try to stop the illegal sharing of music and other media. Much like Scientology does, they will sue almost anyone to make an example of them.
The younger generation, and some of us that are technologically “in the know” have a beef with the RIAA as they get legislation like this passed by people who haven’t a clue what they’re signing. This is bad for the world in the long run, as for example what BuffaloJack wrote, they cause ISP’s to filter/slow down their network speeds, it makes legal use of music and media difficult for the average user and all in all is just propagating horrible business practices.
Good deal. Protecting copyrights is a Constitutional issue!
Costs the US??????? I'm gonna take a wild guess and say this is about tax $$$ not coming in from sales.......think I'm wrong?
With a little change in perspective the line could just as well have been written:
Counterfeiting and piracy saves United States consumers nearly $250 billion annually, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
stiffen penalties for movie and music piracy at the federal levelOh, yeah, right, that'll work. To finance the extra enforcement and prosecutions (and imprisonments), the most sensible thing, the most fair way to do it, is a federal excise tax on recorded works of all kinds. :') Otherwise, we'll all pay taxes to support efforts to keep the non-working class (the entertainment industry) in imported cars, $7000 handbags, and dope. Thanks US007.
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