Gives Feds power to file CIVIL lawsuits against accused file-sharers which means the govt can sue you in court WITHOUT a court-appointed attorney for those unable to afford one.
The RIAA and MPAA are ratcheting up their efforts to combat copyright infringement in this country and around the world with the Senate Judiciary Committee’s recent passage of the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act by a 14-4 margin. Say what you will about Republicans, but it should be noted that all four dissenters were Republicans: John Kyl of Arizona, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Sam Brownback of Kansas, and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
Chief among the disturbing new powers the bill will grant to federal authorities is the power for the Attorney General to “…commence a civil action in the appropriate United States district court against any person who engages in conduct constituting an offense [of copyright infringement].” In other words, the Feds get to use taxpayer money and the full weight of law enforcement resources on behalf of copyright owners.
The scary thing is that in a civil lawsuit, unlike a criminal prosecution, the plaintiff is responsible for the cost of litigation. This means that just like standard MPAA or RIAA copyright cases where accuse file-sharers must come up with thousands of dollars to afford attorney’s fees so too must they now if the Feds are able to pursue them in civil court proceedings. The govt would now be able to try you in court without you having the benefit of adequate court-appointed legal representation.
To make matters worse, the of proof in a civil lawsuit is significantly easier to satisfy than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard of a criminal case. In a civil lawsuit, the case must be proved by a “preponderance of the evidence,” that is, by enough evidence to conclude that it is more likely than not that the victim’s claims are true. Criminal prosecutions require a unanimous decision by all twelve jurors, which can be difficult to achieve. Civil lawsuits require agreement by only ten of twelve jurors for a decision. These significant differences between civil and criminal cases were highlighted in the highly publicized O.J. Simpson case. The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were able to obtain a $33.5 million dollar settlement against O.J. Simpson in civil court even though he had been acquitted of the murders in the criminal prosecution.
“We all know that intellectual property makes up some of the most valuable, and most vulnerable, property we have,” said Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who introduced the bill back in July with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) “We need to do more to protect it from theft and abuse if we hope to continue being a world leader in innovation.”
The bill will also create stricter IP laws and toughen civil and criminal laws against counterfeiting and piracy. The act also expands the power of the White House by creating an IP Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) position within the executive branch, and the IPEC will direct other agencies in a coordinated strategy to fight counterfeiting and piracy.
“Intellectual property is widely recognized as an important economic engine for this country,” said the undoubtedly giddy Mitch Bainwol, Chairman and CEO of the RIAA. “Real, bipartisan efforts to protect this national resource with new, meaningful tools are necessary to energize the economy and maintain our global competitiveness. This legislation is a welcome verse in a great song. We applaud Senators Baucus and Hatch for their work.”
The bill also creates 5 new International Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordinators, in addition to those already serving, who shall be deployed “…to those countries and regions where the activities of such a coordinator can be carried out most effectively and with the greatest benefit to reducing counterfeit and pirated products in the United States market, to protecting the intellectual property rights of United States persons and their licensees, and to protecting the interests of United States persons otherwise harmed by violations of intellectual property rights in those countries.”
“We are pleased to see this important piece of legislation continue to move through the legislative process,” said a certainly likewise giddy Dan Glickman, Chairman and CEO of the MPAA. “During a time when America’s economy is struggling, it is encouraging to see Congress take action on a measure that will create jobs and promote American ingenuity. We are encouraged that the Senate Judiciary Committee has ushered this bill out of committee and are hopeful that Congress will adopt the legislation in these final weeks of the legislative session. There are few things more important that Congress can do in its closing weeks than to pass this meaningful legislation that will put more Americans to work and protect our nation’s intellectual property.”
Sadly, Glickman fails to note that the movie industry is in great shape, that it has enjoyed record profits for each of the last 5 years.
Moreover, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act is a startling example of corporations attempting to abuse our legal system by tailoring it to meet their own fiscal needs. By allowing law enforcement to try you in court without the benefit of court-appointed legal representation we will effectively turn the executive branch of govt into a legal arm of the entertainment industry and vastly expand the number of accused file-sharers charged unable to properly defend themselves in court. We do this at great peril and create a precedent of mind boggling proportions.
With the federal govt already facing limited resources to combat much more important threats to society like guns, drugs, violence, and terrorism, is pursing John Doe for downloading a screener copy of “The Dark Knight” really in the best interests of society?
Shame on those who voted to pass this ball and a nod of congratulations is in order for those Republicans who voted against. It’s about time we had some Republicans, who are supposed to be for limiting the powers of the Federal govt, stand up for what they believe in.
jared@zeropaid.com
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It’s unfortunate that these aren’t the Republicans who are running for office. The Bush administration has only encouraged the prolification of the lawsuits we see today. Obama on the other hand is pro-technology and I believe he would do more to protect the citizens of this country brought before this proposed kangaroo court. Also it looks like Specter a Republican helped draft this legislation so the Republicans aren’t completely exonerated from this blatant corporatist crap.
@tronix
Yah but this isn’t about being pro-technology its about being pro-business and shaping technology to suit it. Which will Obama be more for?
Please post an article that lists all the current members of the federal House of Representatives and the Senate along with their phone #s and e-mail addresses. It’s time we started pounding on these retards on a daily basis. The copyright laws are absurd. NO ONE except for corporations will reap any benefits from such insanely long copyright periods. 95 years now right? WE NEED TO START HASSLING THESE FUCKS EVERY SINGLE DAY NON-STOP.
I’m glad to see that the U.S. has finally stopped human trafficking of women and children for sex that the Drug War is finally over that they finally found Osama bin Laden the cure for cancer etc. etc.
Funny there is a huge number of studies that suggest strong IP does nothing but create a monopoly for those who hold the rights. This in fact limits competition and creates and unfair market. We wouldn’t allow a monopoly in other markets so why are we allowing it with IP. Then again I assume this issue is being raised more by pocket books than legitimate issues. So now you can be sued by the government for ignoring laws society doesn’t want that was paid to be put in place by lobbiest organizations. Is it any wonder their is a growing animosity towards government.
http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/papers/pci23.pdfript-ed/vol3-2/ghosh.asp
http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/sc
http://www.iprcommission.org/papers/pdfs/study_papers/sp5_story_study.pdf
You are an idiot if you think Obama gives a damn about your digital rights. Evert left-wing nut job in the motion picture and recording industry is supporting him. If this issue comes across his desk in the oval office he will most assuredly take the side of the greedy record companies and studios. They have Obama in their pocket.
The corporations have both parties on their payroll. It can be easily forgotten that Obama supported warrantless wiretapping not too long ago but that is precisely what he did. I fail to see how either party would ‘be more likely to protect the citizens’ honestly.
@Ope U
I will.
@Nuke Baby
Never thought of it that way….
DEMs = Hollywood = Increased IP Enforcement
Specer is a penis.
it is right now in congress and probably will get shot down.
I really don’t think this law will get through Congress. This is an election year and not much will happen in the next months.
I will craft a sample letter that can be sent to our Congressmen/Senators. Jared I’ll e-mail it to you if you want you can make it available to everyone as a form letter. Give me a day or two.
Sample letters are good if used as a template to hand-write & mail your concern. One hand-written letter is worth 100 typed form-letters and 1000 cut n’ pasted emails.
Though I’m somewhat of an Obama supporter I would NOT expect any support from him on these issues. It would probably be best for the community if he and his administration just remained conspicuously silent on the issue rather than forcing them to pick sides. The Dems are influenced (financially) by the entertainment business. And both parties are beholden to corporate America in general. You have a real choice in November: “The Capitalist Party” or “The Other Capitalist Party”.
@Bosh
This is why I’m in favor of being able to vote for more than one party in the election. If your primary vote fails then you would default to your second vote. I think they call this runoff elections that have worked successfully in other countries. Overall I would vote for the Green party or Pirate Party (they won’t be on the ballot) if I knew they had a chance. As it stands if you vote for a smaller party you hurt the party you normally would have supported and help the party you don’t want to get nominated.
@SoulXTC
Although it would seem like Obama would go along with the Democratic pro-RIAA agenda McCain has spat out a lot of hyperbole with regards to how he would clamp down on IP theft should he become president. I guess the only good thing about Obama is that he hasn’t actually said anything about P2P one way or the other..that and the Pirate Party of America does endorse him.
Public Knowledge has sent an action alert on the subject and is urging people to contact their congressperson:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/alertfax/1744
I think the work has been done here Open Universe.
McCain has admitted he doesn’t know how to use a computer the internet or anything computer-related! I don’t think he has an opinion on the issue beyond what his advisers tell him
@DrewWilson
Superb website. Thanks!
I’m really getting sick to the stomach of these people… And manakazero is totally right it’s just as in the case of many other things they don’t know much about…It’s not only just file sharing thats beyond their intellectual perspective/Scope; It’s also the real world situations in daily life in general that executives don’t even have to deal with let alone fully understand; from drugs to prostitution and fuck knows what else…
Their bureaucrats man! they stay in their offices all day and then they drive home from work thats it! they read reports and figures given to them…many things are biases because the whole idea that they are given is that good guy bad guy story… business are making losses due to this that and the next thing! bla bla bla.. And “file sharing is illegal” so do something about it… it’s the mpaa and riaa that have the money to throw about getting then to do this sort of nonsense and so long as they keep paying money to the courts and senates to spend there time listening to them whinging on about this crap wile the people in the real word feel the pain a and don’t get heard! it’s the exact thing thats made me sick and tired of politics for the past 10 years….it’s not possible to have honest JUSTICE system when it’s all about the money…