Bill SB 550 would allow law enforcement to inspect “commercial optical disc manufacturing facilities during regular business hours without a warrant” to ensure they aren’t producing pirated CDs.
The RIAA is always looking for ways to give law enforcement new powers to protect its business model, and new legislation being proposed in California goes so far as to suspend the 4th Amendment in this endeavor.
Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) submitted bill SB 550 earlier this month to give police the ability to conduct warrantless searches of the state’s commercial CD and DVD manufacturing facilities.
“The bill would authorize law enforcement officers to perform inspections, as
speciied, at commercial optical disc manufacturing facilities during regular business hours without a warrant for the purpose of verifying compliance with these provisions and would authorize law enforcement officers, in performing these investigations, to seize any optical disc or production part manufactured in violation of these provisions,” it reads.
If suspending the 4th Amendment wasn’t enough, SB 550 also allows the RIAA and other copyright holder groups to assist law enforcement during their warrantless searches.
“Any inspection may be carried out with the assistance of a professional organization designated by law enforcement,” it continues.
Senator Padilla said the anti-piracy bill is necessary for the usual reasons – to save jobs, and protect the entertainment industry – but, is copyright infringement really a good reason to suspend the 4th Amendment? I think not, and it’s sad to think that an elected official actually does.
“The crime of illegal mass reproduction of music and movies is a serious problem,” said Senator Padilla earlier this month after it was approved by the Senate Public Safety Committee on a vote of 4-2. “Last year alone, more than 820,000 illegal discs were seized by law enforcement authorities in California. Fraudulent CDs and DVDs undermine our economy and California’s role as a global leader in music and film. They steal revenue from artists, retailers, and our entertainment sector.”
That may be the case, but arguably stealing rights away from the public to protect a private economic interest is hardly any way to address the problem, and what’s to stop other industries from wanting to conduct warrantless searches of their own?
Moreover, I’d even argue that the problem is far less than the RIAA claims as people switch from physical to digital music consumption. Who do you know even buys CDs these days, bootleg or otherwise?
Stay tuned.
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
You'd think California legislators would have better things to do than consider bills that are so blatantly unconstitutional any appellate judge in the US would laugh them out of court... like fixing their deficit or finding a few jobs for their citizens. Since when were bootleg DVDs (much less CDs) even a significant problem in the US? 820,000 bootlegs in a year is only around $10-15 million even at full retail... considering the billions the recording and movie industries pull in that's chicken feed. I'm not at all in favor of commercial piracy but come on people, get your priorities straight! You'd probably spend more on the stupid inspections (99% of which would merely inconvenience perfectly legitimate businesses) than you save in lost sales, and that's assuming the people who would have bought the bootleg buy the real thing instead rather than just torrenting it. (Which may be a valid assumption if you're talking about people dumb enough to buy bootleg DVDs.) Not that you'll get to actually DO the inspections for long since the law will be smacked down so hard on appeal they'll feel the thump in China.
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