Attorney General's copyright plan draws criticism
Proposed expansions to criminal copyright law put forth by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Monday aren't exactly getting rave reviews from some inside-the-Beltway groups.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association on Tuesday blasted the sweeping proposal as "outlandish" and argued it would undermine the legitimacy of the nation's intellectual property laws.
"Will office workers be wiretapped for lingering too long near the photocopier?" CCIA president and CEO Ed Black asked in a statement. "Will music fans be sent to prison if they fail to secure their digital devices to the satisfaction of the record companies?"
The Bush administration proposal calls for elevating criminal penalties for copyright infringement, including "attempts" to commit piracy, in a number of ways. The draft legislation would also authorize wiretaps for investigations of Americans who are "attempting" to infringe copyrights, a tactic now reserved for probes of murder and other federal felonies.
Gigi Sohn, president of the Washington D.C.-based advocacy group Public Knowledge, called the proposal's penalties "out of touch with reality" and the overall approach "full of bad ideas."
The most vocal advocates for antipiracy policy, however, continued to keep their views under wraps. Representatives for the Recording Industry Association of America and the Business Software Association both said Tuesday that they was still reviewing the documents internally and could not comment.
fascism:
1) a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
the rights of an individual author/musician/artist/programmer, I
think your comparison to fascism is totally ridiculous.
That's not to say that I agree with the idea being put forward by
your Attorney General, though.
Criminalising some forms of infringement *might* work as a
deterrent, for the same reason that it largely works for
shoplifting, but there's one very big difference here, which is
that the general public appears to find copyright infringement
acceptable where shoplifting is generally regarded as
unacceptable. I think you really need the support of the general
public when you criminalise something, otherwise all you
succeed in doing is making an ass of the law (something we
have a lot of experience with here in the U.K., I think).
I think we (speaking here as a copyright holder myself) need to
make the point that the overwhelming majority of us simply
aren't huge corporations or faceless industry bodies like RIAA or
MPAA, and what's more, most of us aren't really "rich" by any
sane definition of the word either. The public seem to perceive
this as a fight between the little guy and big nasty corporate
entities, when in fact a much more important problem is the
damage that the big nasty public are doing to smaller operations
and individuals. The big guys can look after themselves with or
without copyright; they'll still make money whatever. Its
independents and small businesses who really lose out.
Attorney General's copyright plan draws outrage.
Make no mistake about it, people aren't critical over
it, they are pissed off.
Oh wait, you never served the American People, you've only served your Master Bush,
Like a good little Neo-Con Puppet.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070516/ap_on_go_co/hagel_gonzales
- Testing the Waters?
- by taphilo May 16, 2007 1:29 PM PDT
- Maybe he is putting this out just to get all the rancor up - then really submit what they really want and since it would be less than this - everyone will "settle" for something less but JUST as bad in the long run.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(7 Comments)Setting the law to that if someone just thinks about it or appears to about to violate the US law is like giving tickets to people who do not run a stop light and stop in time - but since they appeared about to run it they should still get the ticket!
I would say that Attorney General Gonzalas is either a total idiot or that he just hires total idiots to propose new laws that do not benefit everyone - just the 10 major copyright holders in the US.
As for the fake reason to protect artists that is false. Most record / movie artists never own their own material at all - when you sign you are now work "for hire" and the people who you work for OWN the material. I suspect that these companies are the ones behind this grab of pretty much unlimited power to go after people - mainly those who cannot defend themselfs with a few million dollars lying around to pay lawyers.
If it was so important then they should go to the Far East and shut down the open and blantant copying of material there - but they don't. Going after a person with a broadband connection is more important than a compmany churning out 100,000 CDs a month in a factory in Malaysia.
This is of course the same administration that thinks 1.5 million people permanently crossing the border into the US from Mexico is no big deal all the while trying to create a universal ID card for US citizens - if he did not encourage and allow them to not cross (and actually violate his oath to uphold the laws of the US) there would not be a need for a universal ID card for US citizens!
Tom Philo
http://www.taphilo.com