I guess $10,000 bucks a song isn’t enough.
The “Prioritizing Resources and Organization of Intellectual Property Act of 2007” is newly proposed legislation that seeks to strengthen civil and criminal intellectual property laws while ensuring that it gets ample attention from federal govt by creating an office of intellectual property within the White House. That’s right, it would create a new federal agency whose sole mission would be to track down on those who illegally share content using P2P and file-sharing services.
Calling it “Good for American business,” MPPA head Dan Glickman thanked the bill’s sponsors for their “leadership in the fight to protect America’s businesses, workers and consumers.”
“Intellectual property fuels the U.S. economy and stronger enforcement measures are needed to protect the many American business sectors and American workers that depend on it,” Glickman said. “In the motion picture industry alone, film theft costs foreign and domestic distributors, retailers and others $18 billion a year, not to mention the loss of more than 100,000 America jobs.”
It’s pretty obvious that he failed to mention to lawmakers that his industry made record profits last year, but I guess the real truth behind all those powerpoint “loss screens” isn’t important to him. What matters is potential profits, consumer freedom and privacy be damned.
Here’s some of the major details of the legislation:
- Fines in copyright cases dealing with compilations would be increased. Right now, as in the case of Xoom v. Imageline, the maximum penalty for infringement of one compilation is $30,000. Now courts would be able to make “multiple awards of statutory damages” when compilations are infringed.
- Maximum penalties for repeat copyright offenders would be easier to obtain. Current law says that anyone who “willfully” infringes a copyright by distributing over $1,000 worth of material (including over a peer-to-peer network) is a criminal. The PRO IP Act keeps the 10-year prison term intact for felonious repeat offenders–but, crucially, deletes the requirement that repeat offenders must have distributed at least 10 copyrighted works within 180 days.
- Any computer or network hardware used to “facilitate” a copyright crime could be seized by the Justice Department and auctioned off. The proceeds would be funneled to the agency’s budget. The process is called civil asset forfeiture, and typically the owner does not need to be found guilty of a crime for his property to be taken.
The most disturbing part of the legislation is Title III which establishes the Office of the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (USIPER), in the Executive Office of the President, to “enhance nationwide and international coordination of intellectual property enforcement efforts.” This new “piracy czar” would be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
The chief sponsors of the bill include House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA).
“This legislation is an important and necessary step in the fight to maintain our competitive edge in a global marketplace,” Chairman Conyers said. “By providing additional resources for enforcement of intellectual property, we ensure that innovation and creativity will continue to prosper in our society.”
“Protecting intellectual property, such as trademarks and copyrights, is critical to the preserving a strong American economy,” stated Ranking Member Smith. “Counterfeiting and pirating intellectual property costs American jobs, reduces American prosperity and threatens the existence of American companies. By protecting intellectual property, this bill preserves American jobs, encourages innovation and helps build a strong American economy.”
What’s funny is that the MPAA has allowed the debate over fake handbags, tires., and medicine to enter the debate over piracy.
“I believe that the American business community can speak in one voice today in support of these legislative efforts to protect intellectual property,” Glickman said. “From counterfeit medicine and fake automobile parts to pirated movies and knockoff handbags, the ill-effects of intellectual property theft are felt across many sectors of the U.S. economy. I am pleased to see a concerted effort by Congress to address this growing problem, and the MPAA looks forward to working with congressional leaders in the weeks to come.”
Though underhanded and deceitful, I have to admit it’s a pretty darn good tactic on their part. I mean it’s one thing to have to make case why the Feds should spend billions on busting little Billy for sending his friends a copy of “Transformers,” but when it’s about fake heart medication or faulty tires on a family SUV, the debate is pretty much over.
Lastly, you know its a practically a done deal when lawmakers start citing our founding fathers.
“Our founding fathers understood the importance of innovation so well that they specifically provided strong protection for intellectual property in the Constitution itself,” said Rep. Feeney. “Intellectual property piracy and counterfeiting undermine the creative spirit that drives our economy and constitute a threat to consumer health and safety, and this initiative will provide us with more tools to address this growing problem.”
Hmm. So you mean George Washington was Pro-DRM? Benjamin Franklin would’ve been upset if diagrams for his inventions appeared on The Pirate Bay?
With a number of Hollywood actors and actresses still able to make an obscene $20 million dollars a movie, and in light of it’s record profits last year, my gut tells me the movie industry is doing just fine.
Maybe a better way to take care of the unions and working class people it seems to be so concerned about would be by paying them a decent wage in the first place, and by not ripping them off like they do currently the writers who get a measly 3 cents for each DVD they sell.
But, we both know that what’s really going on here is that already rich movie studios and Hollywood producers aren’t making as much money as they THINK they could. But, unfortunately for them the “agony” of only making say $20 million instead of the $30 they think possible doesn’t play well in the media.
I guess last year’s record profits just wasn’t record-setting enough for them.
With Jammie Thomas already having been ordered to pay $222,000 for illegally sharing a measly 24 songs, is increased penalties really necessary?
Looking for more stuff to watch or download?
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Well what about Osama Bin Economy Destructo Laden What about Bill Shintons NAFTA Agreement to take away our jobs increasing crime piracy and drug dealing.
Why isn’t the RIAA blaming their loss of music profits on Terrorists Bill Clinton for taking away our jobs hurting poor people and blame it on the Iraq War because we are spending so much money on it I’m surprised the Govt. still gives out Social Security for the very poor Heck why are we blaming filesharers who share copyrighted data why don’t the RIAA blame the credit card companies for putting Millions of Adults/Teens in debt and college student loans Plllllease.
God why don’t the RIAA blame their loss of sales on our Countries Real True Economical Problems why are we blaming file-sharers the RIAA needs to adapt that File-sharing is the future the ways of the Future Why Don’t They Freaken Adapt geeze the RIAA are a bunch of idiots that rather sue the poor average Pirate file-sharer then sue Bill Clinton (who took away our jobs) Bush (The one who’s wasting valuable tax dollars and putting our country billions in debt) Scammy Debt Collectors that rob from the poor and give to the rich (Lets call them Rochinhood) AT&T (because they stolen already $40 from my grandma and stole $5 from me and that money could be used to buy maybe wut 3 or 4 Music CDs).
Why on’t the RIAA sue the big cheese instead of the little guy they did nothing but freely share.
Well what about Osama Bin Economy Destructo Laden What about Bill Shintons NAFTA Agreement to take away our jobs increasing crime piracy and drug dealing.
Why isn’t the RIAA blaming their loss of music profits on Terrorists Bill Clinton for taking away our jobs hurting poor people and blame it on the Iraq War because we are spending so much money on it I’m surprised the Govt. still gives out Social Security for the very poor Heck why are we blaming filesharers who share copyrighted data why don’t the RIAA blame the credit card companies for putting Millions of Adults/Teens in debt and college student loans Plllllease.
God why don’t the RIAA blame their loss of sales on our Countries Real True Economical Problems why are we blaming file-sharers the RIAA needs to adapt that File-sharing is the future the ways of the Future Why Don’t They Freaken Adapt geeze the RIAA are a bunch of idiots that rather sue the poor average Pirate file-sharer then sue Bill Clinton (who took away our jobs) Bush (The one who’s wasting valuable tax dollars and putting our country billions in debt) Scammy Debt Collectors that rob from the poor and give to the rich (Lets call them Rochinhood) AT&T (because they stolen already $40 from my grandma and stole $5 from me and that money could be used to buy maybe wut 3 or 4 Music CDs).
Why on’t the RIAA sue the big cheese instead of the little guy they did nothing but freely share.
Well what about Osama Bin Economy Destructo Laden What about Bill Shintons NAFTA Agreement to take away our jobs increasing crime piracy and drug dealing.
Why isn’t the RIAA blaming their loss of music profits on Terrorists Bill Clinton for taking away our jobs hurting poor people and blame it on the Iraq War because we are spending so much money on it I’m surprised the Govt. still gives out Social Security for the very poor Heck why are we blaming filesharers who share copyrighted data why don’t the RIAA blame the credit card companies for putting Millions of Adults/Teens in debt and college student loans Plllllease.
God why don’t the RIAA blame their loss of sales on our Countries Real True Economical Problems why are we blaming file-sharers the RIAA needs to adapt that File-sharing is the future the ways of the Future Why Don’t They Freaken Adapt geeze the RIAA are a bunch of idiots that rather sue the poor average Pirate file-sharer then sue Bill Clinton (who took away our jobs) Bush (The one who’s wasting valuable tax dollars and putting our country billions in debt) Scammy Debt Collectors that rob from the poor and give to the rich (Lets call them Rochinhood) AT&T (because they stolen already $40 from my grandma and stole $5 from me and that money could be used to buy maybe wut 3 or 4 Music CDs).
Why on’t the RIAA sue the big cheese instead of the little guy they did nothing but freely share.
Well what about Osama Bin Economy Destructo Laden What about Bill Shintons NAFTA Agreement to take away our jobs increasing crime piracy and drug dealing.
Why isn’t the RIAA blaming their loss of music profits on Terrorists Bill Clinton for taking away our jobs hurting poor people and blame it on the Iraq War because we are spending so much money on it I’m surprised the Govt. still gives out Social Security for the very poor Heck why are we blaming filesharers who share copyrighted data why don’t the RIAA blame the credit card companies for putting Millions of Adults/Teens in debt and college student loans Plllllease.
God why don’t the RIAA blame their loss of sales on our Countries Real True Economical Problems why are we blaming file-sharers the RIAA needs to adapt that File-sharing is the future the ways of the Future Why Don’t They Freaken Adapt geeze the RIAA are a bunch of idiots that rather sue the poor average Pirate file-sharer then sue Bill Clinton (who took away our jobs) Bush (The one who’s wasting valuable tax dollars and putting our country billions in debt) Scammy Debt Collectors that rob from the poor and give to the rich (Lets call them Rochinhood) AT&T (because they stolen already $40 from my grandma and stole $5 from me and that money could be used to buy maybe wut 3 or 4 Music CDs).
Why on’t the RIAA sue the big cheese instead of the little guy they did nothing but freely share.
Well what about Osama Bin Economy Destructo Laden What about Bill Shintons NAFTA Agreement to take away our jobs increasing crime piracy and drug dealing.
Why isn’t the RIAA blaming their loss of music profits on Terrorists Bill Clinton for taking away our jobs hurting poor people and blame it on the Iraq War because we are spending so much money on it I’m surprised the Govt. still gives out Social Security for the very poor Heck why are we blaming filesharers who share copyrighted data why don’t the RIAA blame the credit card companies for putting Millions of Adults/Teens in debt and college student loans Plllllease.
God why don’t the RIAA blame their loss of sales on our Countries Real True Economical Problems why are we blaming file-sharers the RIAA needs to adapt that File-sharing is the future the ways of the Future Why Don’t They Freaken Adapt geeze the RIAA are a bunch of idiots that rather sue the poor average Pirate file-sharer then sue Bill Clinton (who took away our jobs) Bush (The one who’s wasting valuable tax dollars and putting our country billions in debt) Scammy Debt Collectors that rob from the poor and give to the rich (Lets call them Rochinhood) AT&T (because they stolen already $40 from my grandma and stole $5 from me and that money could be used to buy maybe wut 3 or 4 Music CDs).
Why on’t the RIAA sue the big cheese instead of the little guy they did nothing but freely share.
quick question…
does increasing the penalties actually make you feel more worried about downloading things? thats the only reason to do this. more reason to NOT download. for me i dont give a rats ass.
quick question…
does increasing the penalties actually make you feel more worried about downloading things? thats the only reason to do this. more reason to NOT download. for me i dont give a rats ass.
quick question…
does increasing the penalties actually make you feel more worried about downloading things? thats the only reason to do this. more reason to NOT download. for me i dont give a rats ass.
I agree mountian range…..It is a very sad and dangerous day in America when ordinary Americans lives are being slowly controlled by corporate intrest groups.
Look at what America is today…..we have a president that could not give a rats ass about the working man in this country a congress that bows to special intrest groups and a basic population that is basically willing to let it happen!
Where are the marchers in the streets over the policies of the US Government? Not just copyright but health care Iraq broken borders and on and on?
What is really scary is that the corporate elites do not seem to have people willing to stand in their way. Unless you count small groups like the EFF or other lobby groups that are more for what the people want than corporate elites….yet those are small in number compared to the huge lobby groups that the RIAA and MPAA have.
It really makes you stop and wonder as an American “How did we allow ourselves and our government to get to this point”? And even more important…”What can the American people do to get their government back”??? THAT IS THE BIG QUESTION!
Well heres the issue. People with the most money are getting the most air time making them the only front runners in elections. Rich people are usually out of touch with the reality of the working class American family or just don’t give a rats ass as they are making a killing off of the kickbacks and/or passing laws that benefit their personal interests. For something to change a new type of political party has to emerge and somehow catch the attention of the people. Sadly they will never get any attention from the media as usually the media doesn’t want them to get any attention. Sadly for these things to change legislation has to be passed to allow change yet you need the idiots currently in office to pass it. So in the end nothing will happen unless things get to the point where the majority of the population is pissed to the point of action. This is still far from happening as far too many people are ignorant about politics and just don’t care anymore.
This is no longer a fight against copyright infringement. This is a fight against civil liberties and privacy. Ben Franklin once said that any society willing to give away some of it’s freedom to gain some security deserves none and will lose both. What happened to USA? Since when did the term “corporate fascism” became a reality for a country that boasts so much with the freedom of speech and information? What will happen next? How further can USA sink in slime of corporate interests? This is very very disturbing…
Oh and before Josef Stalin makes a smart ass comment about the way I spelled dumb I’ll admitI was upset when I typed that and made a mistake! And because Zeropaid for whatever reason does not let you edit posts after they are posted I could not change it. so sue me Josef Stalin. That or go fuck yourself I really don’t care.
“#7 I think Vampyre Blade is just meyou123 on a second account. They have the same grammar school grasp of political theory.”
@JosefStalin…There you go making dubm remarks about things you know nothing about. Just like YOUR view on the world!
Stupid idiot you don’t even know that it is two separate people that posted. All you seem to want to do is attack me. But that is OK I will try to get your ass banned!
All you can do is make dumb ass comments. And those are not even right. Go to school and learn something before you try to make comments on something you know nothing about!
An from now on when you start posting comments about ME I am gonna do the same to you miserable FUCK!
Here’s a slogan for you guys Democracy not DRM or perhaps Privacy over Pocketbooks.
Meh I tried at least
I thought about voting Democrat in ’08 ! Yeah Right !
Is there anyone here with a good enough grasp of the current political climate who can forecast the likelihood of this bill being passed?
Anti-piracy bills have failed before. Seeing a committee chair and bi-partisan sponsors concerns me but until we know more there’s no guarantee that this will get passed.
If the bill is most likely NOT going to be passed worrying about it is silly. If on the other hand the chances of it being passed are high the American filesharing community needs to mobilize- quickly.
This place desperately needs a political expert.
Soulxct: you’re probably right although to accept laws like this seems to be a little more than just ignorance.
I mean what happens in the U.S should stay in the U.S. Unfortunately they tend to try to shove their laws into other countries.
If the U.S wants to punish all it’s citizens so be it but leave the rest of the world out of it. That being said the world shouldn’t also sit by and watch this once great nation become like this and treat it’s people like this.
Sad world we live in. I have some great American friends and American bashing isn’t really fair on them. It’s not the peoples fault their government is this messed up. or is it? :/
If this law passes and i have no doubt it will because the media giants would be paying a bit for it the government says then you download a movie we’ll treat you worst than if you committed an armed hold-up at your local 7-11. That’s pretty messed up.
@Spurge
Well to be fair it’s not CORRUPT just IGNORANT.
LOL @ 16 !
Come on Americans show the world that old American spirit what happened to the power of the people?
#11 is right the people from the 60′s and 70′s wouldn’t put up with this shit. Protest like there’s no tomorrow or live in a hellish country.
I just can’t believe how corrupt your whole government is and yet they go preaching about democracy this and democracy that. Yeah right please.
Form a group organise and protest.
Not with letters.. people.. March! Hold up banners just do something now before you get areested just for mentioning you’re going to protest.
Is that picture from fucking Word 1993 DOS edition? It fucking looks like it. More tit and arse.
this is bullshit.
Death would be too kind. Let them live off of social insurance and remove their work rights. Let them come to the realization that they are fucked so they can do the dirty deed themselves.
I imagine that if all the filesharers in the US wanted to they could walk into Washington and physically remove our present government and take over the country. That is just how many of us there are. To try to imprison that many people would just invite a total revolution. I really would like to see it happen. People like Berman and Glickman should be hung. I would like to see that too.
We may need proxy servers in other countries soon. Or something to cover up identifiable info about downloaders. One way or another we’ll find someting
Fakking ‘ell and here I was thinking the US couldn’t sink any lower if anyone ever watched that 4 part made for TV miniseries / movie thing called ‘The Triangle’ this is reminding me of that bit where it has one of those temporal quakes and it turns the US into a fascist country for about 5 seconds before the quake subsided.
And I know for a bloody fact that Copycat Harper will fold like a bad hand of cards once the US puts any pressure on him and that does not bode well for Canada either if this legislation slips through like so much chaff that goes through congress on a daily basis.
A pity Canadians cannot lobby against crap like this as it is obviously an American issue however is there no recourse at all to stand up with can you only support the Pirate Party and *HOPE* for a better future?
This falls under the category of: America wants to police the world and thinks it still holds a significant advantage trouble is they can’t see through their rose colored glasses anymore to the truth half the world thinks they’ve gotten impotent the other world’s pissed off at them for acting like a bunch of schoolyard bullies.
I understand that there are many Americans that see the error of their ways but silence just means that you accept it for crying out loud hippies had more backbone than today’s youth they actually protested they actually stood up for what they believed in now we got a bunch of lethargic post-emos who don’t know any better than to take what’s spoon-fed to them from the government.
I may be speaking out of turn but seriously guys paying for Jamie’s bill isn’t going to fix things it’ll help someone out of a bind that is to be sure but it won’t fix stupid period you have to take a stand and Vamp it’s great to say those things but why not organize something I can’t due to the fact that well I’m a little too far north for my opinion to count in the states but you obviously aren’t.
Good luck and if nothing else at least pray that the legislature doesn’t pass.
JosefStalin You dont like my opinion dont read it but the facts remain the government gets more power over us all the time and they use police fbi dea atf and all the rest to enforce their laws they make for us. we may vote these people into power but once they are in they do what they want and even if you dont agree it is the second amendment that keeps us free once its gone the police wont fear killing someone that video tapes they abusing someone because right now they dont know if that person might be able to defend themself. really think about it if a cop gets taped breaking their laws and all they have to do to avoid going to jail themself and they can get away with because it their life or the person who video taped them what do you really think they are going to do? and i am not meyou123.
I’m so scared. I’m going to download more movies and music!!!
The United States Of Anti Privacy…uhum i mean Piracy! 30.000 dollar penalty for downloading movies like “High School Musical” would be quite annoying since half of the movie productions SUCK AND ARE NOT WORTH THE SWEAT ON MY BALLS! Although as soon as people are losing their jobs there is a moral that needs to be lived by.
See that ain’t worth it people have family’s to feed and bills to pay.
But on the other hand there is NO HARDCORE evidence that states that people are being totally ruined by piracy. I believe that if a product is worth it people should go buy or pay for the effort put into producing that product. But let’s face the facts and look at the FACT that movie studios make FUCKING MORE MONEY THAN WE CAN EVER FUCKING IMAGINE and that if they have the power to make 60 million dollar productions you really have to doubt their motives.
Torrents make movies and products popular yes even products that simply sucks donkey balls!
So my advice?
If a product or movie is worth it pay for the effort but the big shots ain’t losing so many dimes as they talking about. It’s more of a vendetta or personal quest for them to fight that of which they do not have any control over.
See these people have more money than people like Bill Gates these people get what they want whenever they want. They are used to having TOTAL CONTROL and their selfish pride is damaged by piracy. It’s not about the shillings but about selfishness megalomania power greed and control.
Anyway cheerio!
I think Vampyre Blade is just meyou123 on a second account. They have the same grammar school grasp of political theory.
@fake
Yah its being PROPOSED.
Sounds to me like this country is moving towards communism total control by the government only thing that still stops it is the second amendment if that were to fall so would all freedom and a total police state would reign
“That’s right it would create a new federal agency whose sole mission would be to track down on those who illegally share content using P2P and file-sharing services. ”
@fakexloser…….Apparently this isproposed legislated that has not passed yet according to the article quote. It said “would create”…so I guess that means it has not went through both houses of congress yet.
Now is this Bill still in the work or did they pass this Bill already ?
Thats fuqing it I’m done buying any movies from theses ass bags!!
All the US Congress has become is a corporate whore! This bill reflects that. The MPAA and RIAA have very powerful lobbying groups on their side. It is not exactly as though Congress has nothing better to do with their time.
If the US Congress would DO THEIR JOB and try to balance the budget…secure the borders…pass laws against dangerous imports…deal with illegal immigration…..they may just find that they have a job waiting for them at the end of2008!
But the way they are going they shouldn’t count on it.
The way these Democrats are going they are not much different than the Republicans that held the majority in congress a few years ago!
Oh and yes….they are going to have a 5 day work week….but where they failed to inform the American people…is that they have only scheduled THREE weeks out of the entire year as a five day workweek! The rest of the time it will be three or four day work weeks.
Gee I am glad though that they are hard at work passing laws on copyright….after all….they don’t have time to tackle the real issues….gotta get in that round of golf!
I hope they kick all the bums out and start over.