Comments on: House approves MPAA-backed college antipiracy rules

Buried in a mammoth higher-education funding bill is a new requirement, attacked by universities, to come up with alternatives to illegal downloading.

[this1!]

maybe if i didnt have to pay 5 figures a semester

i would have some extra spending money to waste on the entertainment industry...

this claus in the bill is ridiculous...

[dondarko]

well...

even five figures per semester can't teach you how to spell clause...

tee hee

jk...it can happen to anyone

this crap bill is ridikulous

[gumpman155]

MPAA and RIAA

I think the MPAA and RIAA are more like how the communist are in china. They want to bring our government down to the level of communist china. Liberals and Demacrats back these people and people clame to be republicans but are republicans only by name back them also. If liberalisem wasn't here in america then the MPAA and RIAA wouldn't be allowed to get away with all of the things they are doing. Vote republican and Vote for Mike Huckabee for President becasue he will put the RIAA and MPAA and the Commies and Liberals in thire place and give the american people back thire rights. Once again vote for Mike Huckabee for President 2009.

[richto]

Another clueless American

It IS the Republicans that back these facists - driven on by th emassive bribes that they receive.

Strange that you seem to think the 'Liberal' is a bad thing. Liberal values are for personal freedoms - not for the massive restriction of personal rights and freedoms that the Republicans have presided over and the election of a moron for your president.

Liberalism refers to a broad array of related ideas and theories of government that consider individual liberty to be the most important political goal.

The complete opposite of Communism and Republicanism.

[dahnb]

Ideas are naive & sad, spelling is a joke.

Liberals and Commies? What century are you living in? Plus truly puke worthy spelling and grammar. Good work!

[Dalkorian]

wow

Gumpman155 posted this:

"Vote republican and Vote for Mike Huckabee for President
becasue he will put the RIAA and MPAA and the Commies and
Liberals in thire place and give the american people back thire
rights."

I guess that says it all right there, now doesn't it. Not only is this
person unable to comprehend that these problems are caused by
repukinazicons, but (s)he's unable to even figure out the spell
checker. Hopefully it's because this person is in elementary
school and is unable to vote.

[Imalittleteapot]

800?

I think a bigger problem might be an 800 page bill. Who reads that? I don't think signing entire books into law is good for the country. I just don't know if it really needs to be that big or not because of the legal stuff because I'm not a lawyer or anything. However, sometimes I really feel like the Government passes way too many laws. I mean most laws are just a little bitty tiny restriction of freedom right? I know sometimes old laws get removed though. However, I really think we're on the wrong side of that line.

Maybe a law where every Congress member that wished to vote on a bill voted by writing that bill out by hand and then signing it. Now that would be fun.

[Renegade Knight]

Unfunded Mandate

One more reason the cost of education is going up. What's the bigger picture? Noting more than lining the pockets of corporate media companies.

If congress actually believed the rheteroic then the answer to this question would be yes. Do you think that Johnny Starving RockStar is on an indie lable is going to get much out of the deal?

The answer is no. Congress is not doing this for the good of the country or the people or the universities. Must be something else they are doing it for the good of.

[dougjake]

Obscene Greed

The greed and ignorance of the AFM and MPAA are apparently infinite.

[oldguytoo]

about time

IF people, especially college students, would quit stealing music (via file sharing) the government, manufacturers and artist groups wouldn't have to step in and make laws to protect the artists, songwriters, labels, and law-abiding industries such as the music industry.

[chuck_whealton]

Re: About Time

Guess you missed this part in the article:

"Even the MPAA has admitted recently that it had significantly overstated the damage caused by piracy at the nation's universities. "

Basically, they didn't present valid data. In fact, they gave seriously flawed data. Funny how it was tilted their way.

Why are educational administrators supposed to play baby sitters?

Don't get me wrong, I don't illegally download music, nor do I condone it, but I don't want my tax dollars withheld from institutes of higher learning and I don't want my tax dollars wasted on provisions that the schools shouldn't be responsible for implementing.

Once again, Congress proves that it needs education on issues regarding technology.

Oh, by the way, what law-abiding industry were you talking about? The music industry?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1457874/20021001/id_0.jhtml

Payola, price fixing...

I'm not one that normally holds a couple of strikes against individuals, or even organizations, but these guys seem to always be doing something wrong. Don't speak about them as though they're innocent; they're anything but innocent.

[godlyfrog]

Absurd reasoning

This is absurd. Music is a monopoly by definition, and the music companies intentionally exploit that fact. If you like the music from a particular band, you cannot choose to buy it from someone else if the pricing is bad. Music companies know and understand this, which is why there is zero incentive for them to change their pricing and ways of marketing.

From the standpoint of the customer, they want a product, but don't perceive the value to be as high as the music companies perceive it to be. The customer has no choice but to either buy it, or get it in another fashion.

Capitalism rewards a company with growth and money when they provide a customer what they want at the price they want. On the other hand, it punishes the company that ignores the demands of their customer. The member companies of the RIAA have been ignoring their customers for nearly 20 years, and have been continuously forcing them to buy what they don't want. Contrary to popular opinion, nobody wants to be a thief, which is why music companies are still making money; because people still buy the monopolistic product.

What makes your reasoning absurd is that you purport that the natural result of a company not listening to their customer-base should result in laws being passed to lock people into place, and who's going to enforce and pay for this lock? We are. My tax dollars will be spent to help prop up a company that is spitting in the face of capitalism by exploiting its monopolistic position by trying to force feed their customers. No matter how immoral it is to steal music, it does not justify the government stepping in to endorse the stupidity of the RIAA members ignoring their customers.

[zincmann]

I didnt think government officials could take bribes...Oh thats right

Special Interest group donations..If you dont think your government officials are being bought and sold by large corporations think again!

[Jusgart]

Can you say Fascism

This Country is more and more being run by corporations and special interests then the people. We are being led by the corporations and not our best interests. ie: RIAA MPAA et al

Ben Franklin said it well; Government should be afraid of the people: People should not be afraid the Government.

Fascism: Is an authoritarian political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers the individual subordinate to the interests of the state, party or society as a whole. Fascists seek to forge a type of national unity, usually based on (but not limited to) ethnic, cultural, racial, religious attributes. The key attribute of fascism is intolerance of others: other religions, languages, political views, economic systems, cultural practices, etc. Various scholars attribute different characteristics to fascism, but the following elements are usually seen as its integral parts: corporatism,
nationalism, statism, militarism, totalitarianism, anti-communism, populism, collectivism, autocracy and opposition to political and economic liberalism.

It is time to take back our country and and have those we elect stand up for the people and not for special interest nor any other money grubing groups that want to repress our freedoms.

It is time for us to be heard by all candidates running for office that we will pay reasonable prices for reasonable services, However, threats of lawsuits will cost ALL corporations more losses than they can recover by higher prices.

[lazypoet]

Ruckus, anybody?

Simply by providing students with a school email address such as [e-mail] or something, they can sign up for ruckus, which is free music downloads for college students (advertisement supported). It's not that tough.

[knowles2]

Yeah

perfectly legal, but from what I hear, have not bothered to check it out it provides nowhere near the amount the songs/films available from illegal places, and some time the quality is apparently even better on illegal services , so why change to paying/advertised service when it a inferior product, when they out perform the illegal services, ie free, same quality, same amount of content then people will switch and not a second before.

Through it still not available in Britain, so this just from people who have used it that tell me.

[DormRoomDude]

This is a good bill but should not be enforced at the college level, it is not the college responsibility to police the college students. <a href="http://www.dorm-room.com">dorm room supplies</a>