More Bad Legislation - Fair Use Be Damned
from the just-get-rid-of-it-all dept
The latest idiotic bill from Congress would specifically eliminate our fair use rights. It would make it illegal, among other things, to videotape a movie and hand it to a friend to watch. What's weird about this bill is that even those who wrote it don't necessarily agree with all of the provisions. Though, Rep. Berman (the man who's salary appears to be paid by Hollywood more than the people) says he disagrees with the one section that most people think is the only good section in the bill - the one that protects webcasters. This bill seems to be so ridiculously over-the-top anti-consumer rights, it really makes you wonder. I guess it's become so obvious that many people in Congress work only for their corporate benefactors that they don't feel the need to even pretend to hide it any more.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Fair Use Be Damned!
Wrong....this should read "The biggest impediment to more licensed, lawful services online is the RIAA's greed and a legal uncertainty surrounding the transient rights of those online services...after all, the RIAA changes its mind on an hourly basis as to what it wants, and most legislators blindly follow what the RIAA requests, whether it makes sense legally, technically, or socially. And the reason he is pushing his peer-to-peer bill is solely due to the fact that the RIAA and MPAA are financing his next election."
What will be funny is when this bill passes, and the US Government finds it impossible to enforce, as millions of American citizens flip the government the bird and continue violating the law for what they see as "peaceful demonstration against an evil law."
Oh, by the way, the US Government has officially changed its name. This country is now to be known as the United States of Ted Turner, and from now on, the government is no longer to be "for the people, by the people," but "for the entertainment industry, by the entertainment industry."
Can someone please pass the Soma...I need to be entertained for a while....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]