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Edame
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Use P2P, go to jail?
#1724621 - 07/17/03 11:45 AM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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This is just a proposed bill, but it's still pretty scary. From The Register:
Quote:
Congress mulls prison terms for KaZaA users By Thomas C Greene in Washington Posted: 17/07/2003 at 12:40 GMT
Not satisfied with hacking P2P networks, or destroying the computers of file sharers, House Hollywood sock puppet Howard Berman (Democrat, California) is now sponsoring legislation that would jail people who trade as little as one MP3 on the Internet.
Berman has hooked up with House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (Democrat, Michigan) to produce this Hobbesian proposal. "While existing laws have been useful in stemming this problem, they simply do not go far enough," Conyers is quoted as saying.
Details are sketchy but it appears that the legislation would simply assume that any P2P activity with a copyrighted file involves more than ten copies and represents a retail value of $2,500, automatically making it a felony and bringing in the possibility of incarceration. That's ten copies and a minimum of $2,500 assumed per individual file, we believe.
It's some pretty fuzzy math, the idea that a single song would cost $250 at retail, but that's what we elect these guys to do: ignore common decency for the greater benefit of the cartels that own them.
Berman has proven himself to be among the most eager of the RIAA's toadying eunuchs on Capitol Hill. He's proposed letting the recording industry attack P2P networks with malicious code; he's proposed forcing the FBI to drop anti-terror investigations in favor of copyright protection; and now he's offered to put people in jail for making a single music file available to others. A sterling record of devoted service by any measure.
Also, from Wired
Quote:
A new bill proposed in Congress on Wednesday would land a person in prison for five years and impose a fine of $250,000 for uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network.
The bill was introduced by Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.). They said the bill is designed to increase domestic and international enforcement of copyright laws.
More specifically, the bill targets peer-to-peer file trading, an aide working for the congressmen said. The law is meant to keep up with changing technology.
Content like movies, music and software are the country's No. 1 export, but the creators are being hurt by people who use technology to get the content for free, Conyers said.
Jason Schultz, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the bill "a sign of desperation" by the recording industry and Hollywood as they try to hold on to their business models.
The bill, called the Author, Consumer and Computer Owner Protection and Security Act of 2003, or ACCOPS, would allocate more money to the justice department to investigate copyright crimes: up to $15 million a year, compared with the current budget of $10 million. The bill would also enable information sharing between countries to help in copyright enforcement abroad.
The bill "clarifies" that uploading a single file of copyright content qualifies as a felony. Penalties for such an offense include up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. In addition, filming a movie in a theater without authorization would immediately qualify as a federal offense.
"We're giving notice that this is something we want specific attention paid to," said the aide. "The current law is very general."
ACCOPS also mandates that file-sharing websites must get consent from consumers to search their computers for content or to store files. In addition, those who provide false information when registering a domain name could also be charged with a federal offense.
Last year, Rep. Berman introduced a bill that would protect copyright holders from liability if they impaired or disrupted the unauthorized distribution of their content on P2P networks. The bill is still being debated.
EFF's Schultz said ACCOPS shows that the recording and movie industries "don't care what kinds of collateral damage they create." Sufficient laws are in place to punish those who violate copyright law, he said.
Plus, the poorly written bill sets up an unnecessarily wide dragnet, Schultz said. It criminalizes the placement of any copyright work on a computer network.
"If you have a file stored on your computer and your computer is connected to a publicly available network, you may not even know that you are committing a felony, but this law could put you in jail," he said.
"There have been hearings, year in and year out, and consumers have not complained about anything that is going on in this bill," Schultz said. "The only people complaining are the content industry folks.
"The content industry is asking the public to fund this kind of an effort against themselves."
-------------------- The above is an extract from my fictional novel, "The random postings of Edame". In the beginning was the word. And man could not handle the word, and the hearing of the word, and he asked God to take away his ears so that he might live in peace without having to hear words which might upset his equinamity or corrupt the unblemished purity of his conscience. And God, hearing this desperate plea from His creation, wrinkled His mighty brow for a moment and then leaned down toward man, beckoning that he should come close so as to hear all that was about to be revealed to him. "Fuck you," He whispered, and frowned upon the pathetic supplicant before retreating to His heavens.
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Cornholio
A liberal guy(on hiatus)
Registered: 01/13/03
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Loc: Austin, TX
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: Edame]
#1724851 - 07/17/03 01:19 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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I actually think swapping copyrighted music should be illegal, but making it a felony or imposing a $250,000 fine is absolutely ridiculous.
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Edame
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: Cornholio]
#1724893 - 07/17/03 01:42 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Well, it already is illegal, there's just hundreds of millions of people who don't care anymore. The scary thing is that they want this to be a felony, doesn't that put uploading an mp3 alongside things like rape and murder? Don't you lose a lot of your rights if you become a convicted felon?
-------------------- The above is an extract from my fictional novel, "The random postings of Edame". In the beginning was the word. And man could not handle the word, and the hearing of the word, and he asked God to take away his ears so that he might live in peace without having to hear words which might upset his equinamity or corrupt the unblemished purity of his conscience. And God, hearing this desperate plea from His creation, wrinkled His mighty brow for a moment and then leaned down toward man, beckoning that he should come close so as to hear all that was about to be revealed to him. "Fuck you," He whispered, and frowned upon the pathetic supplicant before retreating to His heavens.
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Cornholio
A liberal guy(on hiatus)
Registered: 01/13/03
Posts: 845
Loc: Austin, TX
Last seen: 20 years, 4 months
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: Edame]
#1724907 - 07/17/03 01:52 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Exactly. That's why I think this is ridiculous.
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Sorted
Monkee
Registered: 12/26/98
Posts: 301
Loc: UK
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: Cornholio]
#1725106 - 07/17/03 03:14 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Laughable really considering how many millions of people swap files every day. Then again, in a country that thinks locking people up is the answer to every problem who knows what screwed up laws will get passed once record companies etc have thrown enough money in the right directions..
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shakta
Infidel
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: Sorted]
#1725996 - 07/17/03 08:00 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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I don't see that going anywhere. Something that unpopular would be tough to get through the group of people voting on it that want to get reelected. Were the hell would we put that large a percentage of the country? We already have the stupid WOD making our prisons bust at the seams.
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DoctorJ
Registered: 06/30/03
Posts: 8,846
Loc: space
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: shakta]
#1727359 - 07/18/03 10:40 AM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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I cant believe that the RIAA and BMI/ASCAP and all those motherfuckers have the audacity to pull this crap considering the fact that they are already facing a class action suit for price fixing.
$17 for a CD? No wonder people are pirating! And most people don't know that the artist sees so little of that money... thats why musicians have to tour becuz they dont make shit on albumn sales.
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Edame
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: DoctorJ]
#1727568 - 07/18/03 12:23 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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I like the point they made in The Inquirer.
More people file swap than voted for George W. Bush
No effing logic to bill, EFF says
By INQUIRER staff: Thursday 17 July 2003, 09:12 THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER Foundation (EFF) launched a stinging attack on a bill introduced yesterday which it claimed will criminalise 60 million US citizens.
The EFF described the Author, Consumer and Computer Owner Protection and Security Act (ACCOPS) as "an overbroad and misguided attack" on P2P file sharing technology.
EFF lawyer Jason Schultz said: "More Americans are using file sharing software than voted for President Bush in 2000. Throwing the book at music swappers makes great political theatre, but jailing 60 million music fans is not good business".
Presumably it's good business for the firms running gaols.
The EFF said that ACCOPS and its proponents are "casting aside privacy, innovation and even our personal liberty as collateral damage in their war against file sharing". ?
-------------------- The above is an extract from my fictional novel, "The random postings of Edame". In the beginning was the word. And man could not handle the word, and the hearing of the word, and he asked God to take away his ears so that he might live in peace without having to hear words which might upset his equinamity or corrupt the unblemished purity of his conscience. And God, hearing this desperate plea from His creation, wrinkled His mighty brow for a moment and then leaned down toward man, beckoning that he should come close so as to hear all that was about to be revealed to him. "Fuck you," He whispered, and frowned upon the pathetic supplicant before retreating to His heavens.
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infidelGOD
illusion
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Loc: there
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: Edame]
#1727610 - 07/18/03 12:36 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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the recording industry should stop trying to push overpriced, obsolete technology on consumers. I mean, who would pay $15 to listen to two good tracks on a CD? those fuckers should get with the times instead of trying to sue everyone who has left them behind.
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iglou
enthusiast
Registered: 03/08/02
Posts: 295
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: infidelGOD]
#1727682 - 07/18/03 01:03 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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$15? Geez more like $18.99.
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iglou
enthusiast
Registered: 03/08/02
Posts: 295
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: Edame]
#1727684 - 07/18/03 01:04 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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EFF lawyer Jason Schultz said: "More Americans are using file sharing software than voted for President Bush in 2000. Throwing the book at music swappers makes great political theatre, but jailing 60 million music fans is not good business".
Now that is a quote! I'll save that one.
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monoamine
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Re: Use P2P, go to jail? [Re: iglou]
#1728434 - 07/18/03 05:53 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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I'm still waiting for the feds to bust down my door in the middle of the night and take my computer....I just don't think it's ever going to happen. This is obviously a last ditch effort for the RIAA. They know they are going down and they are trying anything to stay afloat.Those fuckers days are numbered...hahahaha!!!
-------------------- People think that if you just say the word "hallucinations" it explains everything you want it to explain and eventually whatever it is you can't explain will just go away.It's just a word,it doesn't explain anything... Douglas Adams
Edited by grandmasterfat (07/18/03 05:54 PM)
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