Congress Gives $30 Million To Fight 'Piracy'
from the why? dept
Recent studies have shown that -- despite a massive recession -- both the music and movie industries are having fantastic years. However, both industries are complaining about how they're being "killed" by "piracy." There's no evidence of this of course, but when it comes to copyright, politicians don't seem to believe evidence is necessary. They just spring into action. So, just as a bunch of Federal government representatives sat down for a private meeting with entertainment industry bosses, Congress agreed to earmark another $30 million toThank 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.
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analogy time
if you played music in your own home, your neighbours only needed to complain about the noise three times, before your electricity got cut off.
Under the new rule, the neighbours would need 3 police reports, before your electricity gets cut off.
It's marginally more fair, but hardly the right punishment.
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Re: analogy time
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Alternatives.
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Remove the piracy, and explain to me how the business model is "obsolete".
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The Flip Side - Consumer Protection
Companies incessantly whine about how "consumer protection" will hurt their business, so we have to give them "flexibility". Furthermore, many claim that we need "small" government and consumer protection is the consumers responsibility. After all we don't want to have a Nanny State.
Well if we want smaller government and not a Nanny State, logically we should NOT be enhancing (enlarging) the law enforcement bureaucracy. It also logically follows that when consumer protection is the responsibility of the consumer, then protection from piracy is a company responsibility and NOT a State responsibility.
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Not to mention they screw over the artist every chance they get, both before and during piracy.
This means they are obsolete as they are no longer needed.
It is quite easy these days for bands to be more in touch with fans and get promotion plenty of ways without one of the old archaic labels stealing all the money from them.
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But this is a project to protect jobs
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Hope everyone is ready to speak doublespeak and think doublethink.
Remember, everything is true, nothing is true.
so is next year 1984?
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A horse drawn carriage still works just fine, but it's still obsolete. And shitting on someone's property seems less wrong then what the RIAA is doing.
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Remove Wahhabism and tell me how Islam isn't all warm and cuddly?
Remove all of our territories and military bases in foreign countries and tell me how America is imperialistic?
Hey, this nonsense is kinda fun!
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As for the road thing, it's not free money. The government has to provide the actual roads. Same with a lot of other stuff.
I have no idea what you're talking about with the sugar.
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30 million?
the principle sucks, of course. but the money is chump change.
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How many hundreds of millions have been put into making the Internet more available in rural areas? Turn the internet off, it's a government money pit, a bad business model!
The logic is shockingly ignorant.
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Have you never studied economics?!!
In your world, is the government god? "The gov giveth, and the gov taketh away"? Government interference was NEVER required to make any of these things happen.
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Civil issue?
Is that really a given? If you view copyright as a form of property or natural right then it makes sense. But if you view copyright as a way to try to promote the public good, is it then really so strange to view it as a criminal issue?
Just wondering...
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I'm about as dark as cottage cheese....
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So now there's a music tax?
Sounds good to me.
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Re: Civil issue?
There is plenty of basis for the government to step in a take action to fix the legal definitions of theft to include software and music piracy. The legislative bodies might actually catch up to the end of the 20th century one of these days.
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I love that word, piracy is so cool today.
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My true physicality ain't all that intimidating face-wise....
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why not..
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Re: The Flip Side - Consumer Protection
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Re: Civil issue?
I'm not worried about that, they will destroy themselves out of greedy.
But the pain society will have to endure because of a few is just not fair.
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Re: The Flip Side - Consumer Protection
Otherwise, you are in the tin foil brigade.
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India.
People all around the world should do the same.
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Re: Re: The Flip Side - Consumer Protection
Create community financial institutions, create their own community networks that will link to their own IXP(local and international), create our own culture with films and music that is accessible to all excluding the parasitic corporations and their bad influences.
This probably would create a better market for local jobs.
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Remove the piracy, and explain to me how the business model is "obsolete"."
#1. Copies of content are free to make.
#2. Piracy is part of any system that is free to copy.
#3. They can no longer charge for content, but must charge for a service, just like everyone else does now-a-days
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Re: Re: The Flip Side - Consumer Protection
What proof do the record and movie industry's have? If anything, all the proof is pointing to the fact that piracy is actually HELPING their bottom line, not hindering it. And yet, they have made theses claims that they have been defrauded to the government, and the government is buying it and is forking out more money to help them, when in truth they don't need help at all.
And yet, record and movie industry are not a part of the tin foil brigade are they? No no, they are the 'victims' here. Not the artists, not the fans, not the consumers. No, the oppressors are the victims b/c their power is being taken away.
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Re: Re: The Flip Side - Consumer Protection
Now if the they do something wrong to me, I have to hire a lawyer at my expense and go through an agonizing 100 year civil process to get my $20 thingy fixed.
What is wrong with this picture?
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By "pirates", you mean BOOTLEGGERS....
Now I understand! Well, if it weren't for bootleggers, I never would have discovered many of the bands I know and love (and have given lots of money to in the form of legitimate purchases).
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One question
I'd like to know so I can let my reps know how displeased I am with the earmark -- you know, participate in my government.
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Piracy
(1)Turn off the entire Internet...permanently.
(2)Confiscate and or replace every computer in the entire world along with every piece of software.
(3)Arrest and intern every computer programmer indefinately.
Being as this would be absurd (not to mention impossible) it is not unreasonable to suggest that perhaps the music industry is going to have to change its business practice in order to survive. Some of the artists dont help matters by flaunting their wealth so ostentatiously you cant blame a youngster for thinking its ok to copy music files when all they see is Diamonds and Bling
you cannot blame a youngster for thinking
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Possibly not as bad as it sounds...
Mike, how are your writing skills? :-P Could you pull some people together like Lessig, et al, and look into submitting a report? $30M in the whole grand scheme of things isn't a lot of money.
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Re: One question
I was under the assumption that we'd simply discuss it in the comment sections of a blog and things would resolve themselves...
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Yeah you know what is going on! ! ! ! !
I personally as do many a people that when I buy something all-be-it a book, movie, etc... I paid that money to own that, and with that cost I should be able to do what I want with it. You don't see when people sell their used junk at yard sales the record companies, or movie studios diving in for their cut. All they want is more money for that to pass from one hand to another. Personally I think that is wrong when a person buys a copy of a copy.
Personally I think its completely asinine that the government decided to step in on this. Granted with all that has happened through out the past year, and all the money the spent to other businesses to bail them out of trouble. They don't need to spend money on areas of services that when times get tough people spend their money to take their minds of what is going on. Common you don't see Wal-Marts stocks going up during a recession. People don't flock their to buy groceries. spending $150 a week for food when they can spend 1/4 to half 1/2 that a week by going to McDonald's. You should have seen McDonald's stocks go up at the end of last year...
I am pretty sure you would have seen the same trend in the movie, and music industries (concerts). when times are down people dont want to be depressed thinking about how bad stuff is simple as that.
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Re: Re: Civil issue?
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Re: So now there's a music tax?
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Piracy as Bootlegging
From The Register (UK): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/14/congress_earmarks_30m_ip_crime/
"This is the season these criminals lure in unwitting holiday shoppers and sell them substandard and sometimes dangerous goods."
And yet, two thirds of the $30 million are going towards "targeting piracy on the internet or using 'high technology.'"
It looks like the MPAA and RIAA are doing the old bait-and-switch: asking for money to fight organizations that sell counterfeit goods for profit, and using it to target consumers who share content as fans.
If our politicians can't see the difference between the two, no wonder they're in the coporations' back pockets.
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This is about MISUSE of taxpayers money
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priorities
Bootlegging is commercial copyright infringement: movies or music is copied and mass produced for retail sale, often to an unsuspecting public. Bootleggers make a profit.
Piracy should more properly be called Personal Use Copying because it is non commercial copyright infringement. Pirates don't make a profit. But of course the word “Pirate” sounds so much sexier... my son tells me teen age girls are still swooning over Johnny Depp.
"Pirates" infringe copyright for various reasons, sometimes
The growing European “Pirate Party” movement is now setting up in Canada. It exists to push for sane copyright reform.
As Mr. Masnick points out copyright should be (and still is in most parts of the world, at least until ACTA, anyway) a civil issue. Music Bootlegging didn't start with the internet, it began the moment the first consumer tape recorder existed.
The irony is that these laws don't actually do anything to fight bootlegging. If anything, industry attempts to criminalize consumers ensures we will not lift a finger against commercial infringement (the same way that bandits are idolized and supported under any repressive regime.) If you accidentally purchase a bootleg movie are you gonna call the RCMP or the FBI? And risk going to jail? I don't think so.
The the movie studios have seen what has been happening in the music biz. 30% of the music industry has gone independent, so musicians no longer have to sell their souls in inequitable record company deals to get recorded. The technology has made DIY possible. It isn't cheap but it is do-able. The movie biz is worried it will happen to them too. Look at Nina Paley's wonderful movie Sita Sings the Blues
If Congress has an extra $30 million laying around I would have thought there would be no end of good works they could perform with that... it might be better spent supporting Bookshare's efforts to make copyright works available to the reading disabled. (Particularly since the increased copyright laws will only make Bookshare's work much more difficult.
But the movie biz (even with record profits) wants the government to become their collection agency. Um. In a world so cash strapped it is difficult to understand why governments would want to do this. Law enforcement is bloody expensive. Who will be paying for this? (Too often governments forget that we are the prime source of their income.)
Tell your government representatives what you think about copyright. If you don't, they will continue to bask in the glow of the “movie star treatment” that has them all aflutter. They need to be reminded that their first responsibility is to you.
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Re: 30 million?
that way your tax dollars would actually be stopping piracy.
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but by god i swear id MUCH rather see 30mil go towards something else like schools employment programs and homeless shelters.
this is just pure insanity.
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