Bush Administration Spending More Taxpayer Money On Intellectual Property Prosecutions
from the ain't-that-great? dept
Back when former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was running around pushing for stricter copyright laws, including making "attempted infringement" a crime, we figured that he was just looking for some sort of distraction from the Congressional investigation concerning some of his other actions in office. However, it appears that pressure from the entertainment industry has actually been effective in turning the Justice Department into the personal enforcement agency of Hollywood. The Bush Administration is proudly talking up how the Justice Department has increased its investigation and prosecution of intellectual property violations. Considering that this is mostly a business model issue, and given the current state of the economy (not to mention the war we're still involved in), aren't there somewhat more important things for the administration to be focused on?
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Filed Under: bush administration, department of justice, intellectual property
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Is it wrong to expect the law to actually be enforced?
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Why open your mouth and let everyone know?
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Not very shocking
Lobbying, Bribing, Kickbacks, violations of Personal Freedoms, Pressure Tactics, Spying, Corporate & Political Bullying, Policies of FEAR, and outright corruption have been very visible throughout this administrations history, it was very obvious form the beginning what their goals were, and they achievement everything they've set out to do! All their "financial backers" got what they were promised, plus they made they're little tight circle of friends 10x richer, and convinced half the country that Bush is on a mission from god!
At this point, the Bush admin doesn't care about approval ratings or even if history paints them as vilians.
They are simply trying to make as much money as they can before they leave office. Why does that come as a surprise to anyone?? Is anyone who's followed this administrations policies and attitudes really shocked by any of this?
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You will still die, and no, you can't anything with you, even though Harvey Birdman may try to pursuade you to think otherwise.
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Since when SHOULD intellectual property disputes and copyright infringement be anything but a CIVIL matter? The problem is that the BUSINESSES that are pushing for laws in their favor and special attention happen to be the SAME businesses that are lining the pockets of our elected officials: you pay enough, you get to have things your way.
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riaa shill
i did my research and discovered that this gentleman, before he went to washington, worked as a p.r. flack for the record industry up in new york :)
looks to me like he is just trying to please his old bosses so he can go back to work for them as soon as the bush admin is out of town. his position is what's known as a political appointee, so: new administration, new appointees.
back then i also took the liberty of sending him an e-mail outlining my analysis. shockingly, i got no reply :).
this was written by the converted for the converted.
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Re: riaa shill
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Yes "there are bigger problems" is kind of a cop-out but it is still appropriate.
Copyright is a civil issue to be taken up in a civil court. This is why the cops don't come busting down your door when you copy music. It is for civil courts. It is not to be taken upon the federal government to track down and prosecute these people.
A civil issue is to be handled outside of the cops. First the offended party is to file a civil suit with the courts. The courts serve the papers to the offender. Then they go to court (note: no jail involved) and (if found guilty) a fine is placed (note: still no jail). Nowhere in there are the cops or the FBI or any other federal body tracking anyone down (except if you don't show up to court).
These issues are best left in the civil courts and out of the federal budget. Wouldn't you prefer your tax money go to solving some issues like homelessness, murder, actual theft instead of enforcing something that was never meant to be enforced by the federal government?
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SCARY
"She said the Bush administration is still hoping that Congress will enact a set of sweeping intellectual-property law changes recommended last year. It would like politicians to criminalize "attempting" to infringe copyrights, permit wiretaps for piracy investigations, and increase penalties for intellectual-property violations, among other things."
From:
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9869492-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=25 47-1_3-0-20
WOW. "wiretaps for piracy investigations"
That's scary shit!!!
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People that often break "small" laws usually have no problem breaking big laws. A criminal is a criminal, no matter how serious. Some deserve more punishment than others, but no law should be allowed to be broken.
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Statistically meaningless, as there is no way to prove any causation between the two.
'A criminal is a criminal, no matter how serious'
So the man who steals a loaf of bread to feed himself should be persecuted with the same fervor, committment of resources, and extent of punishment as the man who engineers an ethnic genocide?
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Nice strawman, but I think when I posted "Some deserve more punishment than others" covered your objection.
And no, you are not free to only obey the laws you agree with. You can protest them, you can work to have them changed, but no, you can't just ignore laws you don't like. People who do that are known as criminals.
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There's several skill sets that speak to increasing the maturity level of processes, They are OPM3, CMMI, Six Sigma, Toyota Production System, and TQM. They are all focused on lowering operational costs, increasing transaction quantities and dollar value, revenue and profitability, and automating processes.
A study should be completed on the entire overhead cost of the current system. I believe once numbers are compiled, and costs are realized, real discussion could occur on how to lower these costs, and increase productivity and sales for our customer set.
The alternate approach is to wait.
This has it's own troubles. If a 3rd party study was commissioned that detailed the true costs involved with maintaining the process, if those numbers were shared with the public people start asking if:
1.) Is this a business problem that should be handled in the board room?
2.) Does public funding even need to be allocated?
3.) Should laws be created to change Interest in Copyright/ Patent Law?
I was speaking with a consultant of a large retailer based in Minnesota during Christmas time... You would be surprised how many business plans they have created to re purpose the entire CD section...
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Anonymous Coward sure likes posting constantly
Flames aside, copyright law has _recently_ been changed and pressure to enforce it over more important matters (such as preventing murder, rape, public shootings, making sure Telcos are held accountable for violations of wiretapping laws) has been present.
Yes, downloading music is illegal. It used to be 'just' a case of copyright infringment, with a reasonable fine. Now instead of being forced to pay damages equal to what you've done however (eg pay 16 bucks because you downloaded a single CD) you have to pay several thousands of dollars, AND THEY ARE TRYING TO RAISE THE FINE TO OVER A MILLION. That's not justice. Hell, that's not even remotely reasonable.
Oh and there's more! Before if you made a personal video for fun and no vested commercial interest, you were fine. But not now, oh no! Now you get sued because the crappy quality clip of a song that was on your homevideo is "stealing."
Anonymous Coward, shut the hell up. You're obviously either an ignorant hack or a corporate tool. Next you'll be telling me Disney has a right to trademark the name 'Cinderella' even though the real story has been public domain for hundreds of years.
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un just law
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Re #30
Chrono got it very right.
So did the rest of you with similar arguments.
Those arguing against what they are saying.
Well, you haven't really presented any good reason why it requires my tax money to prosecute.
Let the companies spend their money.
And IF they use federal money for it, the government should get it back, not the companies.
That way they can afford to waste the 22K$$ on a freaking 3 foot mini fridge sent to Iraq like they are spending right now.
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