…and I bet you did too.
Before I begin, I would like to say hello to everyone at the NSA, FBI, CIA, or anywhere where this blog is being scrutinized to make sure I don’t say anything ‘politically incorrect’ or criticize anyone. Yo.
So, as many of you know, I have always been a firm supporter of Pres. Bush. I still am. But his buddy Alberto Gonzales has decided to, um, with no outside influence (we’ll presume the RIAA and the MPAA are government agencies) bring a new bill which takes copyright infringement (what you do when you download a song off of LimeWire) to a whole new level. I will post the CNET article and explain it point by point.
“To meet the global challenges of IP crime, our criminal laws must be kept updated,” Gonzales said during a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Monday.
His contract with the MPAA and the RIAA is up.
The Bush administration is throwing its support behind a proposal called the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007, which is likely to receive the enthusiastic support of the movie and music industries, and would represent the most dramatic rewrite of copyright law since a 2005 measure dealing with prerelease piracy.
You’re doing good with the war, don’t screw up now, George.
The IPPA would, for instance:
* Criminalize “attempting” to infringe copyright. Federal law currently punishes not-for-profit copyright infringement with between 1 and 10 years in prison, but there has to be actual infringement that takes place. The IPPA would eliminate that requirement. (The Justice Department’s summary of the legislation says: “It is a general tenet of the criminal law that those who attempt to commit a crime but do not complete it are as morally culpable as those who succeed in doing so.”)
If you even simply visit LimeWire.com, and don’t download the program or download music, you are subject to 1-10 years in prison.
* Create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software. Anyone using counterfeit products who “recklessly causes or attempts to cause death” can be imprisoned for life. During a conference call, Justice Department officials gave the example of a hospital using pirated software instead of paying for it.
What do they consider “pirated software”? The difference between pirated and legal software, except in Windows, which a hospital shouldn’t be using anyway, is none. Who cares about murderers? Get IT managers!
Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations. Wiretaps would be authorized for investigations of Americans who are “attempting” to infringe copyrights.
What’s that little piece of paper that says you can’t do that? Oh yeah, the Constitution. Oh, ya’ll don’t know what that is.
Allow computers to be seized more readily. Specifically, property such as a PC “intended to be used in any manner” to commit a copyright crime would be subject to forfeiture, including civil asset forfeiture. Civil asset forfeiture has become popular among police agencies in drug cases as a way to gain additional revenue, and it is
Great. I don’t even have to commit a crime and they’ll take my PC. Gotta love freedom.
Increase penalties for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anticircumvention regulations. Criminal violations are currently punished by jail times of up to 10 years and fines of up to $1 million. The IPPA would add forfeiture penalties.
So, I can’t play DVDs on Linux anymore. Thanks, Microsoft and Apple (and Linspire).
Add penalties for “intended” copyright crimes. Certain copyright crimes currently require someone to commit the “distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period of at least 10 copies” valued at more than $2,500. The IPPA would insert a new prohibition: actions that were “intended to consist of” distribution. *
Innocent until proven guilty. This is guilty even if he didn’t do it yet.
Require Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America. That would happen when CDs with “unauthorized fixations of the sounds, or sounds and images, of a live musical performance” are attempted to be imported. Neither the Motion Picture Association of America nor the Business Software Alliance (nor any other copyright holder, such as photographers, playwrights or news organizations, for that matter) would qualify for this kind of special treatment.
HOMELAND SECURITY? Really? Why, because all the terrorists are in Gitmo already? Your tax dollars at work.
So, what can you do? DON’T BUY ANY CD OR DVD until these leaders of this idiocracy get straightened out.
