House Panel Deletes Higher Copyright Fines From Pro IP Bill, Leaves Plenty Of Other Bad Stuff

from the this-is-not-a-good-idea dept

Thu, Mar 6th 2008 5:27pm — Mike Masnick

Last year, the House of Representatives introduced a bi-partisan "Pro IP" bill that had a ton of horrible parts to it that many realized was actually very anti-IP. One of the problems with the bill was that it attempted to raise the fines for copyright infringement even higher than the already ridiculous fines. However, with the RIAA unable to give a good reason why fines should be higher, it looks like Congress has agreed to remove that one section of the bill to get it approved by the IP subcommittee.

This makes an absolutely awful and dangerous bill marginally better, but still extremely problematic. It still involves the creation of a new federal bureaucracy designed to focus solely on trying to track down and stop "pirates." Even the Justice Department is against this part of the bill -- though, perhaps only because it wants to retain the job of going after copyright infringers. Also, just because the higher fines have been removed, supporters of the bill make it clear they may not be gone for good, and could very well be added back in later in the process. What isn't explained is why Congress needs to get involved at all. The industry has long been exposed as exaggerating the extent of this problem, and as we see day after day after day, new business models keep showing up that suggest this issue is merely a business model problem, not a legal issue -- and certainly not a legal issue that requires a brand new federal bureaucracy charged with protecting a single industry's business model.

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Filed Under: congress, copyright, pro ip

7 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 6 Mar 2008 @ 6:14pm

Bad Bill
In this bill, would copyright infringement no longer be a civil matter and become a felony ?

This is not within the governments duties.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Mar 2008 @ 6:57pm

Re: Bad Bill
Lots of things aren't within government duties, that doesn't keep them from getting involved though.
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Le Blue Dude, 6 Mar 2008 @ 7:11pm

The house
is the house of reps still blocking it?
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Mar 2008 @ 9:35pm

That's a good idea. I agree with #1, copyright should be civil, but hey, if you have the money you can lobby congress for anything.
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Rekrul, 7 Mar 2008 @ 11:52am

A government of the corporations, by the coporations, for the corporations.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Mar 2008 @ 12:23pm

Why not stop the pirates?
I don't see why it is bad to try to stop "pirates." If they actually stop pirates without affecting the legitimate users of torrents and p2p, then why worry about it unless you are a pirate.
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Qzaki Webmaster, 29 Mar 2008 @ 2:34pm

Follow the money...
Here is a link to an article that follows the $1,100,000 money trail that secured a PRO-IP bill sponsorship from Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA, Pasadena). The Schiff Files $1,100,000 Campaign Cash Secures PRO-IP Sponsorship [PDF] discuss As you will note from the links, he totally brushed off his constituent concerns on PRO-IP. Do you think Disney executives have to go to his town hall meetings to discuss the issue?
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