There is a new proposal that could further restrict copyright laws in the United States. With the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on the minds of many people around the world, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is calling the new copyright proposals potentially catastrophic.
Copyright and surveillance laws have been the subject of much discussion in the last few months. While some are more specifically copyright related pieces and others are more surveillance and privacy related, they all could affect peoples digital lives. For some, it’s hard to imagine that copyright laws could get much worse in the United States, but that is exactly what could be happening if the latest proposals actually make it to law.
The EFF has no doubt spent the week analyzing the “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008″ and what it could mean for the average American.
The first point the EFF makes is that the proposal would give the Attorney General brand new powers to file copyright infringement lawsuits against average people on the record labels behalf. There’s little wonder why the EFF calls this aspect disturbing since it would effectively mean that tax-payers would then be funding the RIAAs lawsuit campaign that has financially devastated thousands of citizens. The argument is that the “milder” cases could be covered by the Attorney General while the RIAA targets larger operations. “This new provision would allow the AG to sidestep that high burden of proof,” the EFF comments in their analysis, “a burden that gives the average citizen an important measure of protection from the overwhelming power of the government.”
The EFF further analyzed the proposal with the following:
The bill also seeks to create an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator position in the Executive Office, with an advisory committee consisting of members from various government departments and agencies. Given the extraordinary budget pressures lawmakers now face, it is shocking that they would consider funding a new layer of federal bureaucracy. In fact, the DoJ itself has spoken out against similar Congressional efforts to rearrange its priorities with bureaucratic meddling.
There’s more: another provision creates new categories of infringement at the border, suggesting that individuals need the permission of copyright holders to bring copies of music or movies with them overseas or even through the United States. If the bill is passed, something as simple as taking your iPod to Mexico could be considered an infringement of the copyright owners’ distribution right. The bill also proposes to lengthen the list of items that can be impounded as part of a civil copyright infringement suit, while broadening the list of articles that can be seized and destroyed by the government. (Meanwhile, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is being negotiated in secret by a number of countries, pairing this unprecedented public threat with a potentially catastrophic secret one.)
Whether or not you believe the entertainment industry’s claims about the extent of the piracy problem, there is no reason the American taxpayer should be picking up Hollywood’s legal costs when while movie studios are celebrating record box office returns and record-breaking single-title revenues.
ACTA has obviously been in the copyright discussions internationally for some time now. Last week, we reported that the ACTA discussions would continue this week in Australia; as per usual, in secret for the most part. It was discussed partially in Europe after we broke the story when it was first leaked onto the internet. We also highlighted how the current proposed copyright legislation contains a legislative back-door for ACTA.
Perhaps one of the unique aspects that is difficult to grasp is that ACTA transcends borders. It’s not simply some law being made up in some far away land for some far away land. It’s an international proposal that many countries will be pressured to adopt. It’s unlike the FRA law that just affects Swedish citizens and people accessing Sweden through the internet. It isn’t just Bill C-61 that just affects Canadians. This isn’t just the DMCA that the copyright industry frequently pretends that it applies in countries outside the US as well as inside the US. This is an international law proposal that will affect many people around the world.
Nevertheless, the US IP enforcement law is definitely a piece of legislation to watch for. If there is anything that the proposal proves already, it’s that the copyright industry operating in the US will never be fully satisfied with the laws and will keep demanding more no matter what the cost.
Related
- Senators Push for Transparency for ACTA
- Report – ACTA Stalled Amid War Between Australian ISPs and Copyright Industry
- Consumer Groups Want to Halt ACTA Negotiations
- Another Critical ACTA Leak Surfaces
- Pressuring Other Countries to Enforce Copyright to Be Part of US Foreign Policy
like i said… It’s massive attack on civil liberties the treat is constant and the only way to beat them is to take them down before it’s too late…the world is on the teetering edge of despotism because we all let it get this far…we indulged in rasp assumption the law was there to protect us…but the law fickle and can deceived or bought out in peoples favor…there’s an illusion of justice but it’s not real ….theres a face to the law but their is no substance behind it…
the worst crimes are dared by few practiced by more but tolerated by all …. we could be heading into a real world 1984 “big brother” the super rich run the world not our governments…
George Orwell’s ‘1984′ anyone? King George Bush I’s New World Order anyone? Can you say Multi-National Corporations anyone? One more instance of the demarcation between the Haves and the Have-Nots and the former grinding the latter under their boot heels anyone? Whatever happened to copyrighted works becoming Public Domain anyone? SHEERGREED is what happened people! Receiving monies on intellectual works for fourteen years was no longer sufficient remuneration for these greedy bastards people. Now they want to be compensated into perpetuity…so that vague progeny they’ll never have a hope in hell of living long enough to meet will get a slice of the pie people! When does the insanity end people?It is up to US to takw steps to ramp back this insidious and evil cancerous growth of pure avarice and blind stupidity. We have erected and appointed “officials” passing judgements on technology they can’t even BEGIN TO COMPREHEND! And like the sheep many of us are we ‘just go along with it’; we don’t want to rock the boat don’t want to make waves. That’s how villians likw Hitler and Mussolini managed to rise to such high power people! If we don’t learn from history WE ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT people!
Whatever happened to Fair Use Policies anyone? As in we bought a copy of a copyrighted work therefore by doing so we HAVE the copyright holder’s implicit AND explicit permission transport said work with us wherever we go. By this same line of reasoning we can no longer be permitted to take a legally purchased copy of a PRINTED work with us across national borders. How soon do ‘they’ start enforcing this branch of “Copyright Protection”?
You know if some of this passes I may just have to look into moving my field of study to politics. When I say this I’m dead serious their is a certain deal of bullshit I’m willing to put up with and when someone pushes I push back. If Canada starts to allow tax dollars to go to civil suits that will be my breaking point.