Showing posts with label congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label congress. Show all posts
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Joe Biden is an Internet Idiot
Senator Joe Biden (D-Del) thinks that you can 1) monitor all P2P traffic easily 2) pick out files that are illegal or infringe copyright by looking at their file names. Idiot.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Imprisoned for life for "Piracy"?
Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pushing a new bill, the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007. This bill has a number of ridiculous clauses, such as life imprisonment in certain circumstances for "piracy."
Additionally, it has provisions that would bring a tear of joy to any RIAA prosecutor's eye. These include expanding the rules by which wiretapping is allowed to detect copyright infringement, criminalizing attempting to infringe copyright, generally making punishments harsher for copyright infringement, and even having the department of homeland security notify the RIAA about "pirated" importing of CDs (it's notable that no other copyright holder qualifies for this kind of treatment).
There was a bill before congress like this last year and it didn't go anywhere. Hopefully this bill will suffer the same fate.
Additionally, it has provisions that would bring a tear of joy to any RIAA prosecutor's eye. These include expanding the rules by which wiretapping is allowed to detect copyright infringement, criminalizing attempting to infringe copyright, generally making punishments harsher for copyright infringement, and even having the department of homeland security notify the RIAA about "pirated" importing of CDs (it's notable that no other copyright holder qualifies for this kind of treatment).
There was a bill before congress like this last year and it didn't go anywhere. Hopefully this bill will suffer the same fate.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Who is in the RIAA's pocket now? Congress!
It is a sad day when our elected officials turn on us on the command of the RIAA, et al. Congress has sent letters to universities asking what they are doing to prevent illegal downloading of copyrighted works. Congress warned that it would be "forced to act" if it was not provided with "acceptable answers."
The RIAA has co-opted the FBI, police, and judicial system against us in the past, and now it seems like they're directing their efforts towards the legislative branch. Aren't we fighting a war? Aren't we destroying the earth? Aren't there any other social problems that deserve Congress' attention? Why are they wasting their time getting paid off by the RIAA to do their dirty work? Oh, right... they're politicians. I can almost hear the auctioneer:
"Now bidding on Lamar Smith's (R-TX) vote! Can I get seven thousand dollars? Cary Sherman places a bid in the back for seven thousand; can I get eight?"
The RIAA has co-opted the FBI, police, and judicial system against us in the past, and now it seems like they're directing their efforts towards the legislative branch. Aren't we fighting a war? Aren't we destroying the earth? Aren't there any other social problems that deserve Congress' attention? Why are they wasting their time getting paid off by the RIAA to do their dirty work? Oh, right... they're politicians. I can almost hear the auctioneer:
"Now bidding on Lamar Smith's (R-TX) vote! Can I get seven thousand dollars? Cary Sherman places a bid in the back for seven thousand; can I get eight?"
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