More Ridiculous Hollywood Backed Laws In California

from the getting-greedy dept

The folks in Hollywood just keep on trying. Somehow, they've managed to convince California state politicians to sponsor some incredibly ridiculous pieces of legislation. They would require anyone who sent "commercial recorded or audiovisual material over the Internet" to include their name and address with the file. If they didn't do this, they could face 1 year in prison and be fined $2,500. Ernest Miller takes a deeper look at the bills and the reason behind them. The whole point (obviously) isn't to collect names, but to basically create a new crime (not giving your name/address) that would give state prosecutors jurisdiction in going after people file sharing. In other words, between the civil suits from the entertainment industry and the FBI there aren't enough law enforcement types trying to stop kids from listening to music. He also points out that there's no exception for fair use and there's no exception for files that are completely legal to trade. Instead, you have to attach your name and address (even if you're a child - who's privacy should be protected by other laws) to any file you send. Hopefully, these laws aren't going anywhere, but it's scary that they've gotten as far as they have already.
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  • identicon
    devon, 18 Mar 2004 @ 9:45pm

    good idea!

    how 'bout we include the names and numbers of the major Hollywood bigwigs behind this bill with our files.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rootman, 19 Mar 2004 @ 6:17am

    How about . . .

    the "culprits" also drive themselves to the nearest FBI office, turn themselves in, fingerprint, handcuff and jail themselves. Not only is this intrusive - as pointed out in the article - it's ludicrous.

    Kind of reminds me of Blazing Saddles when Clevlond Little held the gun on himself as a hostage. :-)

    ----
    Visit my homepage: http://www.cox-internet.com/stevedavis/ - BORING! ;-}

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2004 @ 7:28am

    Nail your enemies

    That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

    I'd just download some popular illegal movie file, but the name and address of the person I hate the most, and send it around like crazy.

    It would be incredibly easy to set someone up with this. What the @#@$ are they thinking?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      OldYeller, 19 Mar 2004 @ 7:47am

      Re: Nail your enemies

      I guess the file-sharing software will just have to be modified to automatically paste in Jack Valenti's contact info as the default...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ConceptJunkie (profile), 19 Mar 2004 @ 8:49pm

    California...

    Why don't we just give California to Mexico? It would increase the average common sense of U.S. citizens by 50%.

    I thinnk we should also just rename the U.S. Congress to "Disney presents: The U.S. Congress"

    I can't figure out who's the legislature over there: The California Supreme Court with its kooky non-sequitur rulings, or the MPAA/RIAA who simply have made the legislature their bitch (much like they have with the U.S. Congress).

    Our system of government is being turned upside-down and no one seems particularly alarmed.







    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    |333173|3|_||3, 31 Jan 2007 @ 7:28pm

    Creative incompetence time

    Q: Who transmitted that file?
    A: Wat file?
    Q: *file, date and time*
    A: No idea. there are four of us who live here. Could have been anyone
    Q: I want to see your logs?
    A: What are logs?
    .
    .
    .
    Q: I want to see your logs
    A: I don't have any. I don't know how to keep logs.
    A: can I go now?
    Q: ARRGH

    Wuld this come under some child protection act. This time, "Think of the Childern" is relevant, ans the link points out.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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