Lamar Smith Looking To Sneak Through SOPA In Bits & Pieces, Starting With Expanding Hollywood's Global Police Force
from the learned-anything? dept
While it didn't get nearly as much attention as other parts of SOPA, one section in the bill that greatly concerned us was the massive expansion of the diplomatic corp.'s "IP attaches." If you're unfamiliar with the program, basically IP attaches are "diplomats" (and I use the term loosely) who go around the globe pushing a copyright maximalist position on pretty much every other country. Their role is not to support more effective or more reasonable IP policy. It is solely to increase expansion, and basically act as Hollywood's personal thugs pressuring other countries to do the will of the major studios and labels. The role is literally defined as pushing for "aggressive support for enforcement action" throughout the world. A few years ago, we detailed how, at a meeting of these attaches, they bitched and complained about how copyright "activists" were making their lives difficult and were a "threat" who needed to be dealt with.In other words, these people are not neutral. They do not have the best interests of the public or the country in mind. Their job is solely to push the copyright maximalist views of the legacy entertainment industry around the globe, and position it as the will of the US government.
It was good that this was defeated as a part of SOPA... but now comes the news that Lamar Smith is introducing a new bill that not only brings back this part, but appears to expand it and make it an even bigger deal. Politico has a short blurb:
SMITH, OTHERS UNVEIL IP BILL -- House Judiciary Committee chief Lamar Smith and other members are unveiling today their new Intellectual Property Attache Act, which realigns the Commerce Department a bit. The measure as proposed would move the current attache program housed with the USPTO to the full agency, complete with an assistant secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. The proposal is slated for full committee markup on Tuesday. Named as supporters on the measure are a number of panel Dems and Republicans: Reps. Bob Goodlatte, Mel Watt, Darrell Issa, Howard Berman, Howard Coble, Steve Chabot, Jason Chaffetz and Adam SchiffYou can see the current draft of the bill (pdf and embedded below), but it has not yet been officially introduced. However, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark it up in the morning, suggesting that it's on the fast track, with almost no public scrutiny. In fact, I've heard from people worried about this bill that they were only told of its existence on Saturday.
The specifics of the bill appear to go further than the version in SOPA. It is clear that the bill itself is framed from the maximalist perspective. There is nothing about the rights of the public, or of other countries to design their own IP regimes. It notes that the role of the attaches is:
to advance the intellectual property rights of United States persons and their licensees;The bill also "elevates" the IP attaches out of the US Patent and Trademark Office, and sets them up as their own agency, including a new role: the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. Yes, we'll get another IP Czar, this time focused in the Commerce Department.
When even the USTR is recognizing the importance of limitations and exceptions to copyright, to have Congress push a bill that basically ignores limitations and exceptions and only looks to expand Hollywood's special thugs within the diplomatic corp. seems like a huge problem.
But the even bigger issue is a simple one of process. Shouldn't Lamar Smith have learned by now that you don't try to sneak through SOPA or any of its components without first getting widespread public opinion on these things?
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Filed Under: commerce department, diplomatic corp, lamar smith, sopa, ustr
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Re:
learn your manners and ask permission, politely.
http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/declaration-of-free-milk-and-cookies/
what I find fascinating about so many of these conversations is the proof that free works, because some artists chose to give their work away. OK, if there's so much great content being given away for free, why do you care if other people want to charge for theirs?
Take what is given, do without what is not. Ultimately this is about enterprise level organized crime... and ultimately, no matter how much people liked gangsters, that story didn't end to well for them either... or, the black hats in the wild west...
change, it's the only think you can count on...
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how do you figure? I don't think you understand copyright.
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how do you figure? I don't think you understand copyright."
Three little letters...
DRM.
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
In order for me to respect your IP rights you have to necessarily disrespect my physical property rights. In fact, in order for me to respect your IP rights, I have to necessarily disrespect my physical property rights.
We can argue about whether or not that tradeoff is worth it, but whether it is or not is separate from the fact that that is the tradeoff.
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*** Corruption of politicians and bribery are enterprise level organized crime... Are you aware that you support criminals? ***
are you aware you do the same? pot. kettle. black.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/23/2968686/google-joins-lobbying-elite
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Second, lobbying is not the same as bribing and corruption.
Third, Chris Dodd has admitted to out and out bribery.
Fourth, even if lobbying were the same as bribery, you're rebuttal would be merely admitting that you are scummy.
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Still, when Big IP is blowing the bank of several small nations lobbying the US Congress and you want to be heard above the cash register rings then you gotta join them as does the rest of the tech industry.
If they're criminals file a criminal complaint. You can do that you know. You'd be laughed out of court but there's the teenie tiny chance they might get convicted in a private prosecution. Why not try it?
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But, no, I see you're standing behind it. I said it before and I'll say it again: interesting...
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That's the only bit of your comment worth responding to, so here goes.
I don't care if you want to charge for content your created.
Things I do care about:
-I care about that content being locked up behind copyright for life+70 years, and preventing others from making use of it for going on a century.
-I care about fines and penalties for copying that content being thousands of times for severe than criminal acts which endanger public safety and people's lives.
-I care about the corruption of public officials and a dying industry's inordinate influence on legislation
-I care about our tax dollars being used to enforce said legislation in what is obviously a business model problem
-I care about our tax dollars being used to spread this pernicious view that ideas and culture can be owned to other countries' laws
In short, I don't care if you want to charge for your content - I care what happens when people refuse to buy it at your unrealistic prices.
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Here's me learning my manners: Please, fuck you and the copyright lawyer you rode in on.
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This article addresses this problem. It presents the results of a groundbreaking study of 31 CEOs, company founders, and vice-presidents from technology companies, the recording industry, and venture capital firms. Based on in-depth interviews, the article offers original insights on the relationship between copyright law and innovation. It also analyzes the behavior of the record labels when confronted with the digital music revolution. And it traces innovators’ and investors’ reactions to the district court’s injunction in the case involving peer-to-peer (p2p) service Napster.
The Napster ruling presents an ideal setting for a natural experiment. As the first decision to enjoin a p2p service, it presents a crucial data point from which we can trace effects on innovation and investment. This article concludes that the Napster decision reduced innovation and that it led to a venture capital “wasteland.” The article also explains why the record labels reacted so sluggishly to the distribution of digital music. It points to retailers, lawyers, bonuses, and (consistent with the “Innovator’s Dilemma”) an emphasis on the short term and preservation of existing business models.
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Derp, read the headline.
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They will find to their detriment that there is no free for life milk and cookies for the anti-innovation monopolist thugs. They will find that the people while quiet in sleep are a hornet's nest roused.
They best hope only finances are at stake. People are beginning to utter "treason", "usurping democracy" and other such criminal words and phrases in increasing numbers.
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That is a perfect summation for what is going on, and all of us should start using this when talking to others about the MPAA, the RIAA, and the politicians who carry water for them.
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Re: #9
On that note, I contacted my congressman and requested a transparent drafting process and also asked what is being done about the way big business, private, special interest groups are steamrolling the public interest in a wave of IP legislation & proposals. Something very simply needs to be done.
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Not the point
I have a huge problem with them being able to destroy large swathes of stuff in their efforts to crack down on people who are allegedly ripping them off.
I am all for people getting paid for their work. I am not okay with the liberties of everyone else being collateral damage from efforts to eradicate unauthorized copying. It's not cost-effective either economically or socially.
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Issa is for sale, plain and simple.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Works_Act
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...
That said, maybe it was a compromise? [/uncertain]
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...
That said, maybe it was a compromise? [/uncertain]
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My only question here is the alignment of supervisory roles. The individuals named as attaches would not be under the direct line of supervision of the Director of the USPTO (or at least this was my quick read interpretation), and yet the bill places them under the Director's supervision via what I term (as is done in industry) a "dotted line".
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Another Batman cameo?
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...
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Sheesh.
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BOTH parties (different faces of the same korporate duopoly) are in favor of gerrymandering, 'cause it makes for 'safe' districts... THEY DON'T want 'competition', they want to divide the spoils amongst themselves...
guess what ? we're the spoils...
just like, well, everything, it seems, kongresskritters simply legalize that which was illegal...
bribes ? ? ? no, you see, those are -you know- free speech units, not dollars to influence behavior... *snicker*
the system is broken and there are no courageous souls left to fight for us, only those looking to fleece us...
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
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It's ridiculous because courts shy away from gerrymandering and it's pretty bad with the recent maps thrown out because of this problem.
There's a way to allow better voting but it's going to have to go through a ton of partisanship.
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So... yeah, they ain't gonna do it.
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The best (human) results I'm aware of are from Canada, where committees made up of judges and appointed (by a non-partisan officer) community members draw the lines. They don't really have a problem with gerrymandering. But Texas judges are elected, and tend to be partisans themselves, so good luck with that there.
You could try an algorithmic method.
Shortest splitline: http://rangevoting.org/GerryExamples.html
Shortest distance-to-center: http://bdistricting.org/2010/
There are others. But they have detractors too (mostly because they still occasionally come up with horrendously inelegant districts; look at the splitline for Colorado, or the distance-to-center for Virginia (particularly the end of the DelMarVa peninsula.)
Or you can throw the whole idea out and use proportional representation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation But changing the electoral system is a whole other kettle of fish (and currently against Federal law for US House seats.)
To recap: No, there isn't an easy answer.
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How Canada does it.
Actually it's rubber stamped as the short list is selected by other judges.
The rules are fairly simple. The riding boundaries are drawn up strictly on the basis of representation by population. The idea is that each MP represents the the same number of people plus or minus a certain percentage. Municipal boundaries may be taken into account, natural boundaries such as rivers, straits, mountain ranges may vary the number of constituents. Remote area ridings may be adjusted in terms of size so the MP can properly service the constituents.
There was an idea of taking minority populations into account in the 1970s which was dropped when it was discovered that election by election the result of riding distribution based on overall rep-by-pop resulted in equal representation of such groups. As a result the system is colour blind.
Since the current system was adopted there have been no allegations of gerrymandering where before it was there were more than a few. It doesn't mean people are always happy with the results of the changes though by and large most Canadians like it.
Parties may complain every now and then but they like it too as it's predictable even if the riding boundaries are not and everyone knows how the system works. Parties move their supporters list from the old riding to the new one and just carry on. The result is that each MP has a similar workload.
A lovely side effect of this system is that when their constituents in neighbouring ridings are sharing the same issue it forces the MPs to work together even if they're from other parties.
It's a good system.
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Perfect Obedience of the Law
If criminal activity in the IP arena is so horrible that corporations need what basically amounts to police powers to keep all of us in line, I think we must take even bolder actions.
Since the elimination of all criminal activity with respect to IP is desired, I must contend that we need to redouble our efforts in curbing criminal activity of all kinds.
To that end, I think the Movie and Music industries should be forbidden by congressional law from making any movie or musical recording that references, depicts, or glamorizes lawbreaking of any kind. The internet has encouraged enough lawbreaking, and we are on our way to eliminating that lawbreaking with this legislation. Think how much more criminal activity could be stopped if our entertainment didn't present any scenarios that showed our children how to break the law, or glamorized those that do break the law.
The entertainment industry, with their extreme zeal for following the letter of the law, should be overjoyed to sign on to this and promote legal obedience for all of us buy only creating content that promotes subserviently following the law. Right, right?
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Lamar Smith - on the take
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Re: Lamar Smith - on the take
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Re: Re: Re: Lamar Smith - on the take
the party system makes getting rid of those who take the bribes almost impossible (and it's massively worse in countries where the concept of a party whip is an actual thing. ... ... though most of them, correspondingly, also have less of the bribery issue in the first place because you have to convince the party leadership (more than one person) in order to change Anyone's vote. though a two party system is still a disaster. )
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Re: Re: Lamar Smith - on the take
As for Issa, well, you can easily play both sides against the middle when it suits you.
I suspect that the diplomatic US IP cop will be about as welcome as the CIA types who are in embassies around the world. Maybe less.
America The Beautiful -- Marked Down at WalMart!
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Re: Re: Lamar Smith - on the take
Lobbying and career politicians are just the tip of the iceberg, here, I hate to have to say. :(
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Re: Lamar Smith - on the take
Federal Oath Of Office -
"The current oath was enacted in 1884:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
Each and every one of our esteemed congresscritters, and the members of the Executive branch, are blatantly violating their oaths of office. In most cases, they are also violating the duties of their offices. They are sworn to uphold and protect the Constitution. Instead, they are attacking it at every turn.
They are sworn to "well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter". Instead, they ignore or directly violate those duties with impunity. They seem to regard Federal service as license to print money, curry favor with the rich and powerful, and directly ignore the reason they were elected or appointed.
Somebody needs to grab them by the scruff of the neck and shake them up a little. Some prison time wouldn't hurt.
I don't know, yet, what to do about it. They're pretty deeply entrenched. But there must be an answer somewhere.
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Re: Lamar Smith - on the take
Face it bub, this is a battle between big companies. Some comapanies make so much money on "fair use" that they don't want it to go away.
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Re: Re: Lamar Smith - on the take
Thanks.
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a metaphor
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Re: a metaphor
+1 Interwebz.
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Re: a metaphor
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Words...
If I could materialize my hatred, all of Washington DC, the RIAA and the MPAA would cease to exist.
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Re: Words...
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How does a Texan, Republican, career politician get so cozy with Hollywood. I thought they were the enemy?
-CF
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Lamar Smith: Enemy of the Internet still lives...
It would take nothing short of a PR screw-up to topple him. And if it's something that Hollywood's good at, it's making any negative aspects take a backseat to what the Texas 21st district want to hear to keep him there.
Whoever is his PR manager must be laughing at the futile attempts to dethrone him...
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He's a meat puppet, being worked by the corporate fist shoved up his ass. I hope he reads this. So that even if he doesn't believe it, he'll know just for a moment what real people think of him and the way he's sold out his constituents, and his oath.
Lamar Smith, you are whats wrong with america. I heard your mother seduces bears.
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Re: Bought and Paid For
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If the point is to have them pushing for changes in the law beyond what's already on the books, I'm balking.
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to advance the intellectual property rights of United States persons and their licensees;
Somehow I doubt it's the first. It may simply mean that they're to be pushing for enforcement of US copyright law, but given how nuts US law is compared to just about any other country, enforcing US law would almost certainly require pretty drastic changes to another country's laws.
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Sighhhhhhh.....
Courage.
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About that headline...
This post relates to a single piece of legislation, but the headline seems to allude to a grander scheme. Is this just speculation or do you know of other (b)ills coming down the pike?
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Re: About that headline...
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Re: About that headline...
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Re: Re: Re: About that headline...
Have you reminded Phil to start marketing his spit as shoe polish? Must be working better than that recording studio he runs; if he's running a recording studio I don't think he'd have time to come here and complain!
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Is that going to include Antarctica ?
Since it's aiming to expand your control ans surveillance on a GLOBAL scale?
But seriously, you're gonna make way for more under the tables and shadow deals if you even manage to make that one pass.
especially since your so-call reasonable price is a quite painful for others to bear....
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MESSAGE TO ALL THE EDITORSOF TECHDIRT
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Re: MESSAGE TO ALL THE EDITORSOF TECHDIRT
I think they did that already..
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Seriously...
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Re: Seriously...
Just a thought, maybe we could get the tea party to take IP minimalism as a core value.
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Apparently not! He's got a bunch wad of money stuffed into his ears and thus, he doesn't care abut the American people. He is pure scum and should be voted out of office NOW before this new bill called IPAA/Real original Lamar can get out of hand.
Call up your representatives, send in emails, send petitions, I don't care. If it worked with SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA/I'm pretty sure that they did work, we should rise up and do it again.
Let's vote Lamar Smith out of office while we're at it as well.
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Anomalies
Like Agent Smith these copyright maximinalists anomalies like their Sith masters in hollywoodland need to back off and release the web from their oppresive regime. Thus allowing the glorious free internets to seek its own equilibrium and purpose in the world.
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Re: Anomalies
That's the best description of Lamar Smith and his cronies I have ever seen in a long time.
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Good luck...
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To serve?
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Re: To serve?
"That's not a pocket..."
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Re: To serve?
thats disgraceful, because as anyone knows he STARTED corrupt before he even entered politics..his only political goal was to serve his hollywood masters.....and he blackmailed his way back into government multiple times.
Hell he's been bitter and corrupt so long, his mother could have strapped a vinegar bottle to her chest and baby mandelson wouldn't even have noticed.
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Enough already
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Democrats Backing SOPA Rehash?
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discourage clear thinking. If that is what Smith's bill says, that
alone shows it is ill-conceived.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html.
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why can't they stop?
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