Comments on: RIAA, MPAA resume lobbying push to expand copyright law

Politicians are back from their summer holidays, and major copyright holders are renewing their lobbying efforts for two bills that enjoy bipartisan support.

[The_Decider]

The government and its corporate masters don't even try to hide the fact that the US is now by the corporation, for the corporation, screw the people.

[James7777777]

"The government and its corporate masters don't even try to hide the fact that the US is now by the corporation, for the corporation, screw the people."

Any why should they? The republicans and democrats are both in corporations pockets, and they somehow convinced the public that voting for anyone else is throwing away your vote.

[techman21]

This sounds expensive! How about lowering prices to meet the market? Now there's a simple solution. Prices are too high, so people are stealing what they want (not that it's right) - why should we have to spend tax money to protect the corporations that are keeping prices artificially high?

[Lerianis]

You hit the nail on the head. Corporations have been keeping the prices of movies, music and games way too high recently: that is the reason why people are 'stealing' them over the internet.
Easy solution: lower the freaking prices on movies, music and games, so that the people who want to buy them CAN buy them. In the long run, I am 100% sure that the cartels would make more money back than they were making at the higher prices.

[gr3gg0r]

This is one (big) reason why I'm increasingly disenchanted with both Republicans and Democrats. It's not so much the "protection of intellectual property" as it is that fact that they all bend and fold in face their their corporate friends. It's all about money of course.

[MaggieRed]

Interesting that none of this was a big issue when people use to record their LP albums onto cassette tapes.

This is just another example of corporations using the government to do their bidding against the people who elected them to serve.

That's right folks you just keep voting those extreme liberals into office and sit back and watch your rights as an American slowly fade into the past. It just amazes me how many of you just lie down and take this continuing building of bigger government to further control your lives. At least it is not on my conscience to leave this mess to our children, I tried to vote them out of office. But each of you who continue to support this and other increases in government control of your lives, step back and look what you are doing to your children and your children's children. And you say you love them. Ha!

[DougInKY]

Yeah right. Keep electing these extreme liberals like GW Bush and his Republican friends.

[HunterA3]

The more the US tries to enforce its laws on the world, the more the world moves away from American products and ideals and adopts those from other countries. This will only undermine any influence the US has in the world and America will have to buy the products from those nations because our own industries will have died off for lack of world interest long before.

The more the US government tries to enforce laws by adding more to the mountain already in place in America, the more "criminalized" we become as it's citizens and the less say we have in our own government. Over time, the government itself will be reduced to the lackeys of corporations rather than the representatives of the people for which it stands.

[Lerianis]

Uh.... it's already there, bubba. It's already there, where the corporations have all the power. Really, we need to BAN corporations from lobbying in Washington and anywhere else. They are not citizens, should not have the same benefits as citizens, and should be..... a whole lot MORE limited in their access to politicians than citizens.

[contentcreator--2008]

STOP STEALING OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK --- that's how to avoid all this. Do you make the 7-11 owner chase down the shoplifter (and maybe beat him senseless)? No, it's the rightful role of government to protect the people, all the people, from the unlawful thefts of others. You do not HAVE to have music or films or software, nor is it your right to have them. If you think they cost too much, do not buy them. It is the privilege of the rights-owner to set the price, and yours to accept or reject it ---- but in no way can you steal something no matter how outrageous you think the price is.

[oldguytoo]

You are absolutely correct.
Kid Rock did a you tube video I saw yesterday saying those whop steal music might as well steal i-Pods , stereos, and Toyotas too. Those businesses have plenty of money adn they won't feel the loss of shrink of a few bucks.
Digetari have a demented mindset and value of what is property and hat is not.
Just because they get free information from the internet, they believe music, movies, books, and games should all be "free"... Pity those fools. I guess they are communists.

[honorable1]

I don't NEED to chase him down and beat him senseless, but someone can sure put a bullet in them before the government knows what happened. It's not about stealing, it's about loss of rights. Grow up already.

[The_Decider]

Copyright infringement is not theft.

If you are going to come up with an analogy for your wrongheaded view, at least find one that doesn't make you sound like a blubbering idiot.

It has always been the copyrights holders responsibility to enforce their copyright.

[nachurboy]

MaggieRed: Only problem with your assertion is that the bills are cofounded by members of both parties. So if you want to lay blame on the Dems, you also have to lay blame on the Repubs. It amazes me that people keep voting along party lines and criticizing the opposite major party, as if "their " party isn't just as complicit. Extreme liberals and extreme conservatives do no service to anyone but themselves and their corporate masters.

[MaggieRed]

I don't consider Specter or Hatch to be true conservative republicans. Although I agree with you in some respects, many of both parties have gone over the edge. The brunt of it comes from the extreme liberal positions. Of course that is a problem with many a republican these days, they have lost their conservative ways. I don't vote for them either using an across party line approach. They all should be held accountable. This country was founded on conservative republican principals. And there is good reason for that.

This government we have today is out of control, and in more ways than just one. But the brunt of piling more government on the backs of the people is mostly the fault and principal of the democrat liberals.

[stlwest]

How about you just don't sell DVD's or CD's, only the movie theatre and concerts. Then you can protect your content. Slapping teenagers with no cash on the wrist is just stupid. You should probably inform them they can go up to the public library to borrow DVD's for free. If you can play it you can duplicate it. Perhaps the file sharing sites should set themselves up as libraries where you can check out and check in your copy and everyone on the planet can share thier media.

Hmmm...a global library where I can rip my cd's and DVD's and you can check them out and watch or listen to them. And then if I want to I can reserve or pull my media back out of the global library.

That would be legal wouldn't it?

[contentcreator--2008]

"How about you just don't sell DVD's or CD's, only the movie theatre and concerts." Why should you be telling me how to sell my product? (which is neither, btw. Books, software, lyrics, art of all kinds are protected intellectual property).

"Slapping teenagers with no cash on the wrist is just stupid." Why? Last I checked, telling people they shouldn't steal was considered a good thing, even a top-ten item. Stealing from a library is still just that.

This is all about trying to enjoy other's work without having to pay. Why should I work for you for no pay? If you were the one working, you wouldn't like it...

[BallisticGenius]

Again the ABA strikes to set up another jobs program for lawyers. The idiocracy in the Congress is clueless as to the impact this will have on the citizens, citizens who voted for them to be in Washington to represent them.

[James7777777]

contentcreator--2008

Although piracy is wrong it is not stealing. Your 7-11 example is idiotic. When you steal, whoever you stole from no longer has that item. For example if you steal a donut from 7-11, that 7-11 will be short one donut. In the case of online piracy a copy is made, so if you pirate a song, the music industry still has the song and so do you. Stop perpetuating false statements!

[contentcreator--2008]

James7777777 - So if 7-11 has a lot of donuts anyway, then it's OK? No. The copyright owner grants you access, conditional on your paying for it and not distributing the material and destroying the property's value to the owner. If you take my material from me and use it without paying, and/or give it to someone else, you are taking from me. Plain and simple. If there was a music download store and you came into it with a flash drive, downloaded something, and ran out the door real quick, you'd expect to be chased, right?

And lay off the "music industry" bogeyman. When you steal, you are stealing from individual people, sometimes many great and small, sometimes only just one. If you tried to run out the door from that one, and you got caught, what would happen? So quit pretending it's OK because there's an "industry" or two out there.

[linuxman1]

Why are our politicians wasting time on these issues. They should be spending this time trying to solve all of the problems that affect everyday citizens. Not wasting taxpayer time and money for big business. They should be ashamed of themselves and resign immediately, all of them. We need a new government that is really for the people!

[sismoc]

As long as copyright is "life plus 70 years" I will NOT respect any of the laws associated with copyright.

Make copyright 7 years, non-renewable, and I will respect the law.

Current copyright law is stealing our cultural heritage from all of us!!

Die MPAA!! Die RIAA. Abolish copyrights and patents. Let the corporate vampires leech from us no more.

[Lerianis]

Bingo! That is another of the problems: the long copyright periods. It should only be, at most, 25 years..... and that is for something that the cartels are still selling. If it isn't being sold in some fashion..... it falls into the public domain!

[contentcreator--2008]

Cut the corporate crap. Write some music, a book, or a program, make a film, create some art. Watch people steal your work. Go hungry. See what you think of copyright. Until then, quit stealing other people's work.

[JCPayne]

They have Joe Biden in their back pockets....

[imacpwr]

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of the RIAA and MPAA....

[dahnb]

Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It's a tax right off and they actually work for the individual's rights not these RIAA and MPAA leeches!

[dahnb]

Sorry- tax write off.

[sandkicker]

Personally I do not have a problem with copyright, per se.
I do though believe in the right of fair use. Not so much for movies but for music. I should have the right to copy and mix albums for my own private use without exclusion. Companies/Artists put ot a album of lets say eight songs, of which maybe only one song is good, so in essence I am buyin seven songs that I dont like.

Artists and the companies that produce them have a right to make a profit, its called enterprise, capitalism to name a few. Would anyone go to work at a company and not desire to be paid for their work. I do not think so.

Too, the government should not be the police agency for the RIAA or MPAA, Copyright infringement suits should be filed as any other grievence, by the offended party.

Maybe if a crime is committed by someone who is inspired by a particular song/album/movie the government can then file suit against the offending industry, sounds fair to me.

But we are a people of freedom, You want to raise the brows of the industry, Dont buy their products for a month or two. You might get their attention.

[troppp]

So what's next? The ATF will have authority to bash in your door in the middle of the night and confiscate your i-pod? I was hoping my life would be spent in somewhat of a normal world.

[honorable1]

RIAA and MPAA have no interest in copyrights. It is a smokescreen to cover the fact that they have been licensing us the music all these years and realize that this is a 'perpetual' license, which means, they can no longer make money selling you the same music more than one time. So, to get around this, they scheme up this copyright crap as a sabre rattling exercise to threaten everyone who might actually want to enjoy the true license they purchased. Worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive for personal, non-commercial purposes. THEY created this mess, and we will suffer the consequences while they bandage the wounds.

[The_Decider]

@contentcreater

Seriously, go educate yourself on the difference between theft and copyright infringement.