NJ Gubenatorial Candidate Speaks Out Against Six Strikes: ISP Shouldn't Decide What You Can Download
from the a-political-rallying-point dept
Via Slashdot, we learn that a gubernatorial candidate from New Jersey has staked out a clear position against the new "six strikes" Copyright Alert System. Carl Bermanson, a regular in New Jersey politics who entered the race a few weeks ago, made a nice statement about why six strikes is so problematic. Basically: why is it the ISPs' business at all?"The internet has become an essential part of living in the 21st century, it uses public infrastructure and it is time we treat it as a public utility. The electric company has no say over what you power with their service, the ISPs have no right to decide what you can and can not download". He went on to say that while he believes copyright infringement is unethical, it is not surprising that as the law evolves to disrespect the public domain, that the public would grow to disrespect copyrights.While some will just brush this off, it is significant in that, to date, most politicians have been playing down the whole six strikes thing as a "good example of voluntary agreements," without realizing just how angry it's making people, and how it's giving them less reason to respect copyright at all.
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Filed Under: carl bermanson, cas, copyright, copyright alert system, governor, new jersey, six strikes
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Just because he says it now, is no guarantee he'll follow through if he is actually in office.
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root - politic
politic : compound word -
poly - adj. : many
tic - n. : bloodsucker
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Better than nothing
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Happy to see the statement being made, but Christie is pretty darn popular right now in New Jersey, so I don't see this guy making much headway...
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Carl Bergmanson wrote the linked-to article quoting Candidate Bergmanson coming out against six-strikes.
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Really? Hadn't heard that one before. Got a link?
"Ruled" as in a court case? If so, that could still be changed with a new law in the future.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cable_%26_Telecommunications_Association_v._Brand _X_Internet_Services
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Thanks for the link. No need to be a dick about it though.
That case has never popped up on my personal radar, so I wasn't even sure where to start looking for it, that's all.
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Way to go.
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While they can unilaterally change the conditions of the contract (because they put a clause in the original contract that you agreed to that lets them), you may not be stuck doing business with them. If they have made a material (significant) change of the contract, you most likely will be able to get out of it without fees if you push back.
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ISPs aren't public in any sense, but they obviously don't sell information services either. You get the speaker's point ... don't be anal.
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Nobody respects it less than you, Mike.
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Copyright maximalists would do well to heed what moderates like Masnick say before they lose their cherished copyright goose completely.
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Nobody respects it less than you, Mike.
If it's respect for copyright that you are wanting, why aren't you advocating changes to copyright to restore the public's respect for it?
Seriously, you can only whack a dog so many times with a rolled-up newspaper before it turns and bites you. Even our four-legged friends have a basic concept of respect that far exceeds what some of the copyright maximalists around here can muster.
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The best line in the article was the end of the quote: " it is not surprising that as the law evolves to disrespect the public domain, that the public would grow to disrespect copyrights" Once the maximalists get past this "all your cultures are belong to us" mentality, and some real discussion opens up about bringing some balance back to copyrights, then maybe, just maybe, these cries to respect copyright won't fall upon deaf ears. Until then, the bilateral contract between rightsholders and rightsgrantors has been rendered null and void due to repeated breach of unilateral changes to a 2 party deal.
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Speaking only for myself, I can say with certainty that this is 100% completely false.
I have nothing but complete and utter contempt for copyright and the corporations who have sought (and succeeded) to expand it over the last several decades and the corrupt governments and politicians who willingly went along with it.
With each passing day that copyright maximalists pander to governments the world over to get new treaties (TPP, ACTA), new laws (SOPA, PIPA), abuse existing laws (DMCA) and try to go around the law (six strikes, guilty until proven innocent, no due process), I respect them even less.
These copyright organizations are parasites. And we'd all be better off if they were gone.
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But, copyright maximalists better straighten up and start adapting or they'll find themselves irrelevant.
I hope for the latter.
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This is no guarantee you will not be accused.
Guilty with no recourse, this is brilliant!
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Guilty with no recourse, this is brilliant!"
Yeah, until there is enough public outcry to overturn this. Or someone comes up with a new ISP which isn't beholden to corporate interests. Perhaps we could crowdfund such an effort.
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Copyright was supposed to be for the benefit of the public first and for limited times.
But, through the corrupting influence of lobbyist money, governments and politicians have altered copyright to the exact opposite of what was intended in our constitution, for the benefit of corporate monopoly special interests at the expense of the public.
Copyright maximalists really don't want the public to wake up about what is truly happening. That's why they try and label their fight as a fight against "freeloaders" and "pirates." Copyright infringement is nothing, it's been going on for decades and will continue on for decades more. What they're really attempting to achieve is the ability to retain control and power. They feel they need that control and power in order to prop up corporate profits and shareholder returns. That's why they want to extend copyrights into perpetuity and invent more draconian methods of enforcement.
This isn't artists doing this. This is corporations doing it. They have entirely too much power and it is high time they were reigned in. But, they have the government in their hip pocket so its not going to happen often.
The public needs to wake up and put tons of pressure on their elected officials to stop pandering to the copyright lobby. This happened with SOPA, PIPA and ACTA. It needs to continue to happen.
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"The public needs to wake up and put tons of pressure on their elected officials to stop pandering to the copyright lobby. This happened with SOPA, PIPA and ACTA. It needs to continue to happen."
I'd go one step further -- return copyright to its original status. The way it was always meant to be.
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They totally do not care what copyright was intended to be. They only care that they are paid.
For life plus 70. Or, preferably, forever minus one day.
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Hopefully YOU get YOUR first strike soon. Maybe then you'll stop stealing all your ad hominem rhetoric from 2002. This isn't about "artists" and "cheapskates."
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It was corrupted decades ago, it's called gerrymandering.
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Let's hope this gains momentum
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It's a joke anyway, no one wants it.
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They block phones, disconnect users, block connections???
This is very interesting, do tell us more.
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The ISP has agreed to be a conduit between an unproven accusation against an IP address -- errors in collecting the evidence about that IP address are declared to be impossible -- and a paying customer. Errors, which are inevitable, in matching that IP address to a paying customer, are declared to be impossible.
Like the Pope, Six Strikes is declared to be infallible. :-)
But, the ISPs have no discretion in this system.
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True ... but they are making decisions to impact your service based on certain other parties claim you shared, and those parties don't even need to submit legal proof.
The ISPs never know what you downloaded, if anything. Honestly, MarkMonitor doesn't even know - they don't check for that before sending the notice.
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This is exactly the kind of stuff that makes me lose sleep at night.
Bandwidth restriction without proof of infringement, no discounts during the restriction, and more importantly NO PROOF.
Can't we just run our own wires all over the place?
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Yes you can. Maybe head over to Kickstarter and have a go.
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"The electric company has no say over what you power with their service,"
Less seriously, the "Six Strikes", not yet fully in place making a practical difference is only making a few pirates angry; as usual, Mike mistakes his few fanboy-trolls for general sentiment.
More seriously, ISP interests align with Big Media: MONEY is why they're implementing this.
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ATTENTION, WHORE!
Fixed that for you.
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Re: "The electric company has no say over what you power with their service,"
Uh we already pay proportionally for it. Data caps. Throttling. Etc.
As for bandwidth-hogging, it's not just pirates downloading/uploading lots.
You're aware that Netflix and Pandora and Spotify and all that are LEGAL streaming services that use up quite a bit of bandwidth, right?
Ditto video games, which are now being updated through torrent protocols and clients (so as to lessen bandwidth costs on the developers).
I'd go on and on but it'd be pointless to do so with you, seeing as reality and the facts are both things you're pathologically allergic to.
"Less seriously, the "Six Strikes", not yet fully in place making a practical difference is only making a few pirates angry; as usual, Mike mistakes his few fanboy-trolls for general sentiment."
Yes, that's exactly why non-pirates haven't complained about the potential privacy issues, connection cuts, etc. /s
You're seriously getting more retarded by the day Blue.
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But as we all know, copyright laws don't apply to the law-makers.
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Secondly, this article is about six strikes, and the fact it is a bad idea. You all complain because copyright wants too much control, and we can't have that. You also complain over too much regulation, or govt. intervention, if you will.
The bottom line is that this is about money. You all will also scream corruption, greed, blah blah blah while you are too busy forgetting it's the capitalist way. You don't get to choose, it's not a free country, and the system is broke, and has been for way too long.
NOW kudos to the guy who openly and publicly has likely already killed his political future by standing up and saying six strikes is bad.
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Re: "The electric company has no say over what you power with their service,"
Proportionally is exactly how Internet is typically sold you idjit. 56Kbps is a rarely chosen but still existing connection where the customer purchases 56 x 1000 bits (a 0 or 1) of information every second downloaded typically the contracts are for a month, use it or lose it, no discounts or refunds. A more commonly chosen contract is for 10Mbps. 10Mbps is 10 x 1,000,000 bits (a 0 or 1) every second with typical contracts billed monthly, use it or lose it, no discounts or refunds. Purchasing a 56Kbps connection or purchashing a 10 Mbps connection or buying more or buying less, is proportionly.
As far as the upload side it already does cost significantly more for large amounts of upload bandwidth with most ISPs.
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So Idjit-Blue, if you utilize your phone service are you "line-hogging"?
Keep up your brain damaged comments, because you help your own opposition by discrediting yourself and others by affiliation.
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This is THE crucial point and I am glad that a politician has had the courage to stand up and say it. If the entertainment industries etc have no respect for the law or our rights why should we have any respect for the law or their rights?
Respect should be earned and it should also be a two way street.
Well done, that man.
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Everyone buys a package of some sort for internet connection. Unless you can hack the account in some way, you can't exceed your package plan. It's another red herring the ISPs use to cover their ass for not investing in expansion of the net. They over sell their resources and when people complain they aren't getting what they bought... it's bandwidth hogging.
Sure thing. Another addition showing you can't think and string two sentences together without someone else thinking for you.
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Well, sure its hard for him to think clearly. You would have difficulty thinking clearly too if you had the hand of a huge organization like the *IAA's jammed up your ass 24/7 to sock-puppet you into saying what they want.
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Everyone buys a package of some sort for internet connection. Unless you can hack the account in some way, you can't exceed your package plan. It's another red herring the ISPs use to cover their ass for not investing in expansion of the net. They over sell their resources and when people complain they aren't getting what they bought... it's bandwidth hogging.
Sure thing. Another addition showing you can't think and string two sentences together without someone else thinking for you.
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I hope there is a huge Backlash which affects the Big Content Industries and the large ISP's who Signed on.
Sick and tired of their corruption and utter contempt they feel towards us Consumers.
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That's nice, but you seem to be under the impression that your individual vote matters to these people.
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The electric company has no say over what you power with their service
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Carl A. Bergmanson is a conservative Democrat and was the mayor of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, a borough 10 miles west of New York City, from 2004 - 2007. Bergmanson is a vocal critic of the Democratic Party establishment in New Jersey. Wikipedia
The only problem with these guys is that after they get into office they too often become kowtowing party toadies.
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Private enforcement of copyrights
More importantly, how did we get from ISPs acting like common carriers to ISPs becoming copyright enforcers? We know about the government's involvement (under Victoria Espinel) in getting the ball rolling, but what exactly motivated ISPs to participate at all? Part of the story is missing, and I'd like to know what it is.
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Overly dramatic, but I believe that's basically the gist of what happened.
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As consumers we are blind
YouTube, you click on a video that happens to have a song. It later gets taken dwon but not until Stike Two. How about Hulu. Well known enough but do we get to read the contract between the content creators and the site to see if they have a right to air it. Strike Three. Jonathan Coltan had a song reproduced by Glee and apparently every episode Glee steals content and deal with copyright issues later. Well you downloaded the song from Itunes, strike 4 then you bought the video on Amazon ...strike five. Oh that was just one week and you were done in 30 minutes of web browsing. Is this going to happen (yes). Because if you can imagine any screw ball combination of things going wrong then it probably will.
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I have nothing but complete and utter contempt for copyright and the corporations who have sought (and succeeded) to expand it over the last several decades and the corrupt governments and politicians who willingly went along with it.
Hear, hear! As far as I'm concerned, intellectual property has effectively turned what was once billed as the information superhighway and a limitless library into a monster. If I had any say, I would round up the MAFIAA and have them each rot in a small cell.
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considering this was an enforced agreement between the ISPs and the entertainment industries and happened without any input from the public or any of their representative bodies, how can it for one second be regarded as 'voluntary'? all this has done id further show the contempt that the entertainment industries and now the various ISPs have for their customers. it also shows, yet again, how little the entertainment industries are prepared to do themselves, at their own expense, to correct the biggest fuck up they have ever made by not listening to or catering for the people. the cost of this 'voluntary agreement, as usual, is being paid for by anyone and everyone except those very industries that have forced others to comply with their wishes.
'voluntary agreement', my fucking arse!! these politicians want a voluntary agreement implemented on to them whereby they cant receive any more campaign funds. let's see how they like that fucker!!
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