The PRO IP Act

**CingularDuality** · 12-10-2007, 01:46 PM

http://judiciary.house.gov/newscenter.aspx?A=887

A new law enforcement agency that can seize your computer and auction it off without a trial if you violate a copyright?

If you look for H.R.4279 on http://thomas.loc.gov/ , you'll be able to read the whole thing for yourself. It's pretty heavy handed.

I'll be writing letters to my legislators.

AMosely · 12-10-2007, 02:03 PM

This is a tough one - the proverbial double-edged sword. I agree that it could have unfair ramifications on inadvertent consumers of pirated material, but it seems that this is targeted at large-scale pirating operations, mostly focused overseas where illegal DVD's sell like legal products. Congress is currently under major lobbying pressure from groups like the MPAA and the RIAA. Add in this writer's strike, which is mainly over Internet revenues, and you have corporations claiming that they can't fairly compensate in this 'high seas' of piracy world that is the Internet.

I'm still against legislation on this because I don't believe the industry is hurting enough to require government action. If the lost 5% of US sales is $200-$250 billion, than annual sales must total somewhere over $4 trillion? That doesn't seem right - and if it is, big deal. I think the industry needs to be pressured to foster more revenue-generating online delivery mechanisms and associated price reductions in order to encourage people to seek out the legitimate product. As the war on drugs has shown, using penalties to discourage the movement of contraband just doesn't work - the improved 'net' costs more federal dollars to run, and it only catches more small fishes.

**CingularDuality** · 12-10-2007, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Under the new limits proposed by the PRO IP Act, someone who downloads each individual track from Guns N' Roses' 12-track Appetite for Destruction album could face a maximum statutory penalty of $360,000; as opposed to the current limit of $30,000 for the album.

That's a pretty steep fine for pirating an album.

AMosely · 12-10-2007, 03:36 PM

I'll bet for all the billions they've spent on lobbying they could have easily gotten DJ DP to do another vid for the playas out there! Yo! Problem solved!

**MagnaCentipede** · 12-10-2007, 04:30 PM

If your computer gets V& you're not getting it back anyway, so the auction of confiscated crap doesn't do much. The penalties don't matter because in any case, it'll either be settled for undisclosed sums, or bankruptcy is filed and it winds up defaulted.

Just more smoke and handwavium and not-solving of the actual problems.

**CingularDuality** · 01-02-2008, 02:25 PM

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/...ehaving_b.html

Quote:

Innocent consumers are being bothered by another round of the record industry behaving badly, via more lawsuits and anti-copying threats. This time, though, I've got a solution. We should do what we do to children who misbehave: Take away their privileges. Here's the deal.

The latest outrage in the record companies' ill-conceived war against their customers comes via a Washington Post report that the RIAA is suing someone for ripping to their computer copies of CDs they've bought and paid for. A subsequent clarification shows that this particular case is more about placing MP3 files in a shared directory, rather than ripping, per se. But the record companies says you still say ripping your own CDs is stealing.

The upshot is that the threat of winding up in court still hangs over the heads of everyone who owns a computer and listens to music. That Maroon 5 album you got for Christmas could conceivably get you sued if you dare to transfer it to your MP3 player without purchasing it all over again on iTunes or Napster.....

This situation can't be allowed to stand. It's time to pull the rug out from under the RIAA's legal strategy of intimidating lots of "little people" for whom several thousand dollars to settle is a cheaper way out than a lawyer they can't afford. (Here's an unusual case where the RIAA seems to have made the mistake of picking on somebody its own size.)

Pity the poor record companies. For years, they were given a license to print money, via the generous copyright laws which grant rights, in corporate-authorship situations, for 75 years. In 1998, just as Disney's key Mickey Mouse copyrights were about to expire, this was unbelievably extended to up to 125 years (in certain cases) in legislation introduced by former singer Sonny Bono.

Now that times are tough, though, the record companies have shown they're clueless. Rather than forge a new business model to make money in the age of the Internet, they're fighting a losing battle to hold on to an era that's already passed. Okay, if they're unable to handle the copyright benefits they've been like generously awarded, we should do what we do when a child shows they can't handle a privilege they've been granted. We should take it away.

How about we cut the copyright terms down to five years. Retroactively. So now "Stairway to Heaven" is in the public domain. Hey, the ongoing RIAA lawsuit problem is gone in one fell swoop.....

Think Congress will go for it?

mentholated · 01-02-2008, 02:32 PM

If this gets passed, I'm converting to islamic extremism.

ScratchMonkey · 01-02-2008, 04:53 PM

This week's Foxtrot cartoon is about the DMCA's prohibition against ripping your own DVDs to your iPod:

http://www.foxtrot.com/

AMosely · 01-03-2008, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

Think Congress will go for it?

Congress certainly won't go for dropping the copyright expiration to just 5 years, but I still don't think they'll go for the PRO IP act either.

mentholated · 01-03-2008, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMosely

Congress certainly won't go for dropping the copyright expiration to just 5 years, but I still don't think they'll go for the PRO IP act either.

If they did, I would have to emigrate. I'd rather be Danish or Swiss than have a government so corrupt. In fact, I would rather lose my self awareness than let them control the information we share. The people proposing this seek nothing but more.

Steeler · 01-04-2008, 08:01 PM

Depends on whether they can do it on the sly. It's much easier for the FCC to sneak through unpopular rulings than it is for Congress to pass sweeping legislation that alters the landscape, but both cases are dependent on how distracted the media is.

In general, there are only a handful of legislators that are willing to take a strong stand against things like media consolidation and corporate over-reach. Stuff like that lines too many pockets.

ScratchMonkey · 01-08-2008, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steeler

Depends on whether they can do it on the sly. It's much easier for the FCC to sneak through unpopular rulings than it is for Congress to pass sweeping legislation that alters the landscape, but both cases are dependent on how distracted the media is.

A campaign exists to stop that:

http://www.downsizedc.org/write_the_laws.shtml

Quote:

You loan your car to a friend, and the friend loans it to someone else. Are you okay with that?

Congress does something similar . . .

The people gave Congress the power to write our laws. Congress has loaned that power to un-elected bureaucrats. Each year bureaucrats issue tens-of-thousands of new dictates. None of these rules are written by Congress, read by Congress, debated by Congress, or voted on by Congress. Are you okay with that?

Acreo Aeneas · 01-08-2008, 07:23 PM

We need to start a "Gamers United" campaign to protest this not-so-well-thought-out bill before it passes.

There's what? 3 million+ gamers in the U.S.? That's a lot of people. We could redefine the definition of spam when we start sending out protest letters.

12-10-2007, 01:46 PM	#1 (permalink)
CingularDuality Join Date: May 2003 Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas, USA Age: 33 Posts: 16,516	The PRO IP Act http://judiciary.house.gov/newscenter.aspx?A=887 A new law enforcement agency that can seize your computer and auction it off without a trial if you violate a copyright? If you look for H.R.4279 on http://thomas.loc.gov/ , you'll be able to read the whole thing for yourself. It's pretty heavy handed. I'll be writing letters to my legislators. __________________ Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market! Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage." TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

12-10-2007, 02:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
AMosely Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Maine Age: 33 Posts: 2,427	Re: The PRO IP Act This is a tough one - the proverbial double-edged sword. I agree that it could have unfair ramifications on inadvertent consumers of pirated material, but it seems that this is targeted at large-scale pirating operations, mostly focused overseas where illegal DVD's sell like legal products. Congress is currently under major lobbying pressure from groups like the MPAA and the RIAA. Add in this writer's strike, which is mainly over Internet revenues, and you have corporations claiming that they can't fairly compensate in this 'high seas' of piracy world that is the Internet. I'm still against legislation on this because I don't believe the industry is hurting enough to require government action. If the lost 5% of US sales is $200-$250 billion, than annual sales must total somewhere over $4 trillion? That doesn't seem right - and if it is, big deal. I think the industry needs to be pressured to foster more revenue-generating online delivery mechanisms and associated price reductions in order to encourage people to seek out the legitimate product. As the war on drugs has shown, using penalties to discourage the movement of contraband just doesn't work - the improved 'net' costs more federal dollars to run, and it only catches more small fishes.

12-10-2007, 03:36 PM	#4 (permalink)
AMosely Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Maine Age: 33 Posts: 2,427	Re: The PRO IP Act I'll bet for all the billions they've spent on lobbying they could have easily gotten DJ DP to do another vid for the playas out there! Yo! Problem solved!

12-10-2007, 04:30 PM	#5 (permalink)
MagnaCentipede Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 1,624	Re: The PRO IP Act If your computer gets V& you're not getting it back anyway, so the auction of confiscated crap doesn't do much. The penalties don't matter because in any case, it'll either be settled for undisclosed sums, or bankruptcy is filed and it winds up defaulted. Just more smoke and handwavium and not-solving of the actual problems. __________________

01-02-2008, 02:32 PM	#7 (permalink)
mentholated Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 597	Re: The PRO IP Act If this gets passed, I'm converting to islamic extremism.

01-02-2008, 04:53 PM	#8 (permalink)
ScratchMonkey Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: San Pablo, California Posts: 3,529	Re: The PRO IP Act This week's Foxtrot cartoon is about the DMCA's prohibition against ripping your own DVDs to your iPod: http://www.foxtrot.com/

01-04-2008, 08:01 PM	#11 (permalink)
Steeler Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Taxachusetts Age: 30 Posts: 2,861	Re: The PRO IP Act Depends on whether they can do it on the sly. It's much easier for the FCC to sneak through unpopular rulings than it is for Congress to pass sweeping legislation that alters the landscape, but both cases are dependent on how distracted the media is. In general, there are only a handful of legislators that are willing to take a strong stand against things like media consolidation and corporate over-reach. Stuff like that lines too many pockets. __________________

01-08-2008, 07:23 PM	#13 (permalink)
Acreo Aeneas Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: DePaul University (Chicago) Age: 22 Posts: 3,475	Re: The PRO IP Act We need to start a "Gamers United" campaign to protest this not-so-well-thought-out bill before it passes. There's what? 3 million+ gamers in the U.S.? That's a lot of people. We could redefine the definition of spam when we start sending out protest letters. __________________ Acreo_Aeneas Former 9th Member "...I had my tonsels removed and my breasts enlarged, now I dont need to bother the wife if I want some big nipples in my face. Cha ching!" - Thesleeper01

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