Gives the Feds authority to file civil lawsuits on behalf of copyright holders, leaving the RIAA and MPAA free to sit back and collect the checks for damages.
As we all know, the MPAA and RIAA have many friends in the corridors of our nation’s capitol. They’ve been able to inject their priorities into everything from WTO talks to federal student loan eligibility. Now they wish to commandeer the services of the world’s largest law firm – the US Justice Department – for its own use in its fight against illegal file-sharing.
Formerly known as the Pirate Act, the Intellectual Property Enforcement Act, as it’s now called in its latest reemergence, would allow the Department of Justice to file civil lawsuits in addition to criminal ones against those accused of engaging in illegal file-sharing. The best part is that any restitution it receives is then awarded to the copyright owner “aggrieved by the conduct.” That’s right, we taxpayers would get to foot the bill for suing people whom the RIAA and MPAA believe didn’t fairly pay to watch or hear its content.
Even better is the fact that the legislation would mandate that the Attorney General, in consultation with the FBI, create an operational unit dedicated to crimes related to the theft of intellectual property. With the ongoing war on terror, our country’s 3 decades-long war on drugs, and increasingly turbulent, crime-ridden inner cities, doesn’t the FBI already have enough on its plate without having to add snooping for who’s sharing Lil Bow Wow’s latest album?
And Dan Glickman, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, said the Pirate Act will “strengthen the government’s law enforcement resources to crack down on intellectual property theft.”
Of all the crimes the FBI could be using its resources towards should copyright infringement really be one of them? We’re talking about using the already strained resources of the United States Govt to go after individuals and make them pay up for the damages they allegedly caused to to a copyright holder. We foot the bill, but the RIAA and MPAA get the checks.
I've been interested in P2P since the early, high-flying days of Napster and KaZaA. I believe that analog copyright laws are ill-suited to the digital age, and that art and culture shouldn't be subject to the whims of international entertainment industry conglomerates. Twitter | Google Plus
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But they don't have the resources to track down I.D. theft rings - namely banks and data processing centers which leech billions of consumer info yearly into offshore islands .... But d*mn those college kid file sharers could ruin this country. Yeah. Right. Let's make everyone a felon. No big deal that we are already paying to house the largest prison population per capita in the world - of dangerous criminals like pot smokers. Taxpayers have to pay double; first to make up for lost wages and second to pay the $100000 per year or so to house them. Yup. Let's add gays in too. Oh and don't forget evil immigrants. What about skipping court costs and just throw everyone who's taken a prozac in as well after all they won't ever be able to buy medical or life insurance again anyway. I gotta say. A lot of other countries are making more sense than the U.S. has been for a long time now.
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