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Congress readies broad new digital copyright bill
CNET ^ | 4/23/2006 | Declan McCullagh

Posted on 04/24/2006 7:51:04 AM PDT by FewsOrange

For the last few years, a coalition of technology companies, academics and computer programmers has been trying to persuade Congress to scale back the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Now Congress is preparing to do precisely the opposite. A proposed copyright law seen by CNET News.com would expand the DMCA's restrictions on software that can bypass copy protections and grant federal police more wiretapping and enforcement powers.

The draft legislation, created by the Bush administration and backed by Rep. Lamar Smith, already enjoys the support of large copyright holders such as the Recording Industry Association of America. Smith is the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees intellectual-property law.

Smith's press secretary, Terry Shawn, said Friday that the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006 is expected to "be introduced in the near future."

"The bill as a whole does a lot of good things," said Keith Kupferschmid, vice president for intellectual property and enforcement at the Software and Information Industry Association in Washington, D.C. "It gives the (Justice Department) the ability to do things to combat IP crime that they now can't presently do."

During a speech in November, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales endorsed the idea and said at the time that he would send Congress draft legislation. Such changes are necessary because new technology is "encouraging large-scale criminal enterprises to get involved in intellectual-property theft," Gonzales said, adding that proceeds from the illicit businesses are used, "quite frankly, to fund terrorism activities."

The 24-page bill is a far-reaching medley of different proposals cobbled together. One would, for instance, create a new federal crime of just trying to commit copyright infringement. Such willful attempts at piracy, even if they fail, could be punished by up to 10 years in prison...

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 109th; copyright; statists
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1 posted on 04/24/2006 7:51:08 AM PDT by FewsOrange
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To: FewsOrange

Anyone think congressmen have quit taking bribes? Think again.


2 posted on 04/24/2006 7:53:13 AM PDT by FreePaul
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To: FewsOrange

And yet these same people can't get together to vote on putting up a fence on our borders. WTF?


3 posted on 04/24/2006 7:54:47 AM PDT by Laptop_Ron
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To: FewsOrange

The more the industry pushes into the DCMA restrictions, the more I go out and actively look for open source software.


4 posted on 04/24/2006 7:55:09 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: FewsOrange

Well I for one am glad to know that our leaderships priorities are straight. Criminalizing more teenagers copying music files online is a serious issue...such copyright infringment is a threat to the long term health and security of this nation. Far more significant than terrorism, energy costs, social security collapse and federl deficit spending, illeghal copying of DVD movies threatens to undermine the very fabric of western civilization as we know it.


5 posted on 04/24/2006 7:56:27 AM PDT by Prysson
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To: FewsOrange
"quite frankly, to fund terrorism activities."

The magic words to pass any legislation.

6 posted on 04/24/2006 7:57:03 AM PDT by Glenn (There is a looming Tupperware shortage. Plan appropriately.)
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To: FewsOrange

US-based copyright laws become increasingly irrelevant when they are so far out of line with other nations. The internet is global; copyrights on music expire after 50 years in many countries, and there are already websites based in those countries legally offering bulk music downloads for next-to-nothing. A little thing called arbitrage comes into effect.

As expected, government's main role is to expand its own mandate and soak up power. This should come as no surprise.


7 posted on 04/24/2006 7:57:10 AM PDT by seacapn
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To: taxcontrol

I hear ya. I'm ready to try a Linux variation get completely away from Windows and anything to do with the RIAA.


8 posted on 04/24/2006 7:57:24 AM PDT by pctech
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To: Laptop_Ron
And yet these same people can't get together to vote on putting up a fence on our borders. WTF?

If the recording and video industries felt threatened by illegal imigrants, there would be a fence up along the border in a heartbeat. But they probably also use illegals, likely through sub-contractors, and don't want to lose the cheap labor.

9 posted on 04/24/2006 7:58:34 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: pctech

Try SUSE or Fedora Core (hell, try any of them). I've been Windows free for a long time and it is sweet.


10 posted on 04/24/2006 7:59:17 AM PDT by Laptop_Ron
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To: Laptop_Ron

It is called taking the easy way out. Go after americans. Make them the criminals. With enough law on the books every single one of us knowingly or otherwise, can and would be considered a crook, but keep the borders secure, IMPOSSIBLE.


11 posted on 04/24/2006 8:01:07 AM PDT by wita (truthspeaks@freerepublic.com)
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To: pctech
I work for IBM and we are actively rolling out a Linux based desktop for our end users. While the adoption percentage is low right now, and there is still some work that needs to be done to find alternatives for a few specific applications (MS Visio and Project and Blackberry/PDA integration) that are not supported, most traditional office functions are already supported.

In fact, I'm already in a dual boot configuration mode.
12 posted on 04/24/2006 8:02:22 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: taxcontrol

This law could make playing DVDs under Linux a federal crime.


13 posted on 04/24/2006 8:04:28 AM PDT by MediaMole
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To: FewsOrange

At some point you would think that these industries would get a clue. The billions they spend trying to shut down copyright abuses does NOT return to them in increased revenues. If you make it a crime for teenage Cindy Sue to download a Shakira mp3 that DOES NOT mean that she is going to then go out and buy Shakira's album. Or take someone like a good friend of mines brother in law. I garantee you he isnt going to stop copying DVD's he gets from netflix just because this law has passed. sure in the end he has to understand that he is running the risk of going to prison for theft..but he (and most others) are not going to think that is ever going to happen to them. These laws and the enforcment of them (which is impossible in anything other then the most arbitrary methods) dont increase the sales of these companies...its already stealing now..why would making it "worse stealing" stop them moving forward. The industries would I think better serve their share holders by not spending all the dollars in litigation and lobbying to stop something that just flat out isnt going to stop.

Especially since copying dvd's and cd's you own is already allowable under fair use..once they can do it for themselves its already a lost battle. Its like passing a law in 1980 saying its illegal to record a song on the radio to a cassette tape. How on earth is it every going to be enforcable. It isnt..and that makes the legislation stupid irresponsible and a waste of taxpayer dollars.


14 posted on 04/24/2006 8:06:07 AM PDT by Prysson
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To: FewsOrange
The draft legislation, created by the Bush administration

Well, I didn't think the Bush administration could get any worse. 

I was wrong.

15 posted on 04/24/2006 8:11:41 AM PDT by mathprof
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To: mathprof

People who voted for "Rep. Lamar Smith" might want to take a closer look next time around.


16 posted on 04/24/2006 8:13:44 AM PDT by seacapn
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To: FewsOrange
I would like further information on the AG's alleged large scale criminal organizations getting involved in IP theft. I would think a large scale criminal organization would just steel shrink wrapped boxes of software and sell them off the back of a truck.

IMO:
The main outlets of pirated IP are small scale rings at flea markets or swapmeets, and the institutionalized stealing nationwide like you see in parts of Asia, (China, Indonesia, Malaysia).
I may be wrong since I have little knowledge of the Bit Torrent and Usenet scenes, but if the music and software folks think they are doing themselves a favor I think they are shooting themselves in the foot.
Finally. I am seriously thinking about buying a new machine, (yes Windows) with XP toward the end of the year, before Vista and the really invasive DRM junk goes into wide distribution. I might even get motivated enough to look at the Linux alternatives. I think folks are going to get pretty upset when the CD they bought or tracks they downloaded and paid for no longer copy since they've already been moved, or copied, or burned for the specified number of times, and now all you can do is listen on the one device you first put them on, are you listening SONY?
17 posted on 04/24/2006 8:20:07 AM PDT by thinkthenpost
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To: MediaMole
This law could make playing DVDs under Linux a federal crime.

Technically, it already is. The library [libdvdcss] for decoding the the disc is illegal in the US (under DMCA), although its legality has never been tested in court. Well, it was sent to court in Norway, where the DVD CSS was cracked, but the case was dropped. But its out in the wild so its a moot point.

18 posted on 04/24/2006 8:29:35 AM PDT by AFreeBird (your mileage may vary)
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To: FewsOrange

I understand the difficulty of enforcing such a law, the different standards applied in different countries, and the relcuctance to feed big stoopid goovermint anymore power.

The point remains:

It's 1960s, prior to the hippy and communist infestation. The King has produced another album. A john Wayne Wester n is making the rounds. suddenly, a wonderful new technology was created that allowed people to use any of these products wihthout any of the artists or actors ever seeing a red cent.

The million dollar question is, since the Good Lord proclaimed "Thou shalt not steal." and you are taking advantage of entertainment created by the hard work of others whereas they never recieve any profit from it, is it theft?

On the flip side, is recording videos and music tapes also theft?

Technology complicates morality.


19 posted on 04/24/2006 9:06:04 AM PDT by Killborn (Pres. Bush isn't Pres. Reagan. Then again, Pres. Regan isn't Pres. Washington. God bless them all.)
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To: FewsOrange

Yet another reason to NOT vote for Republicans this November.

They've become addicted to the power and money that comes to those in the majority party. They need our help going cold turkey.


20 posted on 04/24/2006 9:09:17 AM PDT by savedbygrace (SECURE THE BORDERS FIRST (I'M YELLING ON PURPOSE))
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