Proposed Copyright Law Goes Too Far

I've spent the past 22 years selling software and photography, but the proposed changes to the copyright law go too far. News.com has the details, Gonzales proposes new crime: 'Attempted' copyright infringement:

* Criminalize "attempting" to infringe copyright. Federal law currently punishes not-for-profit copyright infringement with between 1 and 10 years in prison, but there has to be actual infringement that takes place. The IPPA would eliminate that requirement. (The Justice Department's summary of the legislation says: "It is a general tenet of the criminal law that those who attempt to commit a crime but do not complete it are as morally culpable as those who succeed in doing so.")

* Create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software. Anyone using counterfeit products who "recklessly causes or attempts to cause death" can be imprisoned for life. During a conference call, Justice Department officials gave the example of a hospital using pirated software instead of paying for it.

* Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations. Wiretaps would be authorized for investigations of Americans who are "attempting" to infringe copyrights.

via Scripting News.

Comments

[weasel]

You can be arrested and sentenced for attempting just about any other type of crime, why not piracy? If I walked into a bank and attempted to rob it but didn't actually make off with what I came for, would you let me go because I wasn't successful?

[mikek]

I've worked for and owned companies that rely on copyright protection, but the proposed additions are written by lobbyists at the MPAA and RIIA, not our representatives.

Here are just a few reasons I have a problem with this:

- We used to be able to back up our content, but if we circumvent the DVD encryption to make a backup of "Snow White" so our kids won't scratch it we're violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. This negates "fair use" and is one more way that industry is taking away our rights. Read the FBI warning on a movie -- "...without monetary gain..."

- How does the punishment stack up against robbing and killing? I know there is large-scale copyright infringement by organizations, but will you go to jail for getting a song from a friend for your iPod? Backing up a DVD?

- It's getting so that installing a pirated software program or having ripped music will get you serious jail time. You should be able to install and test a program before buying it, but read some of the draconian license agreements. Software companies are installing spyware and rootkits on your computer in response, when they should be focusing on creating better products and lowering the cost to their customers. Look at the crazy prices for Office 2007 and Adobe Photoshop (I just spent $200 on an upgrade to Photoshop, and I'm looking at spending another $400+ on upgrading Creative Suite).

I buy movies and music (I've bought both this year), and I believe in paying for content. I just worry that our leaders in Washington are serving industry instead of us. Who is representing us? Why are our rights being taken away?

- Mike

[corey3rd]

I have no recollection of this legislation.

[Tester]

Mike, I completely agree with you. In answer to your question as to why our rights are being taken away I must say that it is because that ba$tard King george and his a$$hole cronies are all in bed with big business and none of them give a damn about any of us.

Weasel, I don't think you understand the implications. What they want to do is make it a crime to just have certain software on our computer. If, for example you have Decrypter, Shrink, AnyDVD, etc. that would be enough to arrest you. It wouldn't matter if you never used any of them to circumvent any copy protection. With that way of thinking they could arrest you for having a book about how to rob a bank.

Let's face it, the ba$tards in control right now have screwed up this country so badly that we may never be able to repair the damage. I just hope and pray that we are able to get the right people in place and that I am proved incorrect about not being able to turn this country around.

[danb]

Tester,

I hope that by "cronies" you mean the majority of American politicians. Bush didn't sign the DMCA into law, Clinton did. Congressmen (and women) from both blue and red camps continually support legislation that favors the copyright industry.

You have a narrow viewpoint if you think that a single administration or party can be blamed for this. The expansion of so-called intellectual property law has been occurring for much of the last century.

Mike,

There are ways to legally backup movies that are "protected" by CSS. For one thing, you can make an image of the entire disc and then burn it to a dual layer DVD (if it doesn't fit on a single layer). Not that I'm trying to negate your point that they would rather remove fair use from the equation.

Copyright infringement is not stealing. The two things are very different. If I infringe upon someone's copyrights then I've not taken anything away from them, except control over their work. There is arguably a loss of sale.

It is for this reason that Copyright has been treated, since its inception, differently from theft. Much has changed in Copyright law during the last hundred years and a lot of that is due to successful lobbying.

The industry wants to protect its business model, which is entirely dependent on this set of laws. They're asking for Copyright to be considered theft, even though it is not. They've been fighting a PR war on this issue and are, as demonstrated by the first reply, winning it. They're convincing the masses that infringement is theft which makes it even easier to lobby their ideas.

Software is another beast. The software industry has been fighting online infringement longer than any of the other copyright industries. They've developed some tactics that are very clever, though.

One of the current favorites is to have no protection or weak protection on a young product. Then the product hits the warez scene and everyone gets a copy of it. Soon you have a large force of skilled users who honed their talents practicing at home. Then when they try to use their talents professionally you make them pay exorbitant fees to obtain a license. See: Photoshop, Flash, and Dreamweaver.

Others utilize piracy to gain market share and keep competition low. Take Microsoft as an example. They still dominate the office market even though OpenOffice.org has 99% of the same functionality for 100% less cost. Why? You can still easily obtain copies of Microsoft Office for free, which erases the cost advantage. Why have the "non-standard" when you can get the de-facto standard?

Of course, once the competition is out of the way they strengthen their copy protection measures. At that point they know they have you cornered. Why allow you to easily infringe? Now they have software that phones home and uses one-time keys. Sure, this helps the little guys too. It's mostly for the giants to enforce their market share.

On a final note, one thing that I think is interesting about this legislation is the life sentence stipulation. The circumstances that would legitimize a life sentence due to piracy are one in a billion. For the death of a patient to be due to infringing software would mean that the administrator in charge downloaded a copy from an ill-gotten source who had modified it. It would be gross negligence anyway. The real reason why this is in the law is so that Copyright warnings can start quoting that infringement carries "up to a life sentence and xyz fine." This inclusion is really to strengthen their propaganda, it's not to ever be used.

[progrocktv]

Yea we have LOTSA of space in our prisons right now!

Also even if you do have software capable of infringing copyright, how can they prove you're using it on copywritten works? I produced a Public Access Cable TV program about 10 years ago and I'm transferring them to DVD and making copies. Would they just assume I'd be using it to infringe copyright even though I wouldn't be? It's like owning a gun and assuming you're going to rob a bank. It won't hold water!

Also what the RIAA and MPAA don't realize is, this can go both ways. Recently the head of Warner Brothers records admitted his kid's "probably" downloaded illegally from the internet and he gave them a "talking to". If this crazy law does pass and someone is jailed for "infringement attempt" couldn't the Warners executive's kids get jailed as well? Sure he might be able to get around it however if the **AA's ramp up the penalties, you sure as heck know the counter lawsuits are going to be ramped up as well.

[Hunter McDaniel]

Unfoturtunately the copyright maximalists are well represented on both the blue and red teams in Washington. You have Howard Berman, D-Hollywood on one side and A. Gonzales R-Attorney General (for now) on the other.

The blue team is heavily dependent on the entertainment industry for campaign contributions. The red team are suckers for protection property, even though real property and "intellectual property" are fundamentally different. As one blogger I like said it, property rights let you control your stuff - your land, your house, your car, your boat. Intellectual Property rights, on the other hand, give you the right to control OTHER PEOPLE'S STUFF - their computers, their DVD players, even their inkjet cartridges.

[Tester]

Danb:

My statement about King george and his cronies was in response to Mike's question "Why are our rights being taken away?"

I agree with what you said about the DMCA. I do believe however that under the current administration we have seen our "rights" erode to a MUCH greater degree then ever before in our 200+ years history. We have also seen our status in the world erode to the lowest it has ever been. The arrogance, and lies, from King george and the rest of his minions is mind-boggling! Our country is not only at risk from abroad, it is also at risk from within. I honestly believe that King george fancies himself as a king, emperor or maybe even a dictator.

[Tester]

"Also even if you do have software capable of infringing copyright, how can they prove you're using it on copywritten works?"

That's what I am saying. They are going to make it so it will be against the law to even have that type of software.

[Hunter McDaniel]

Tester-
I see a lot of hyperbole in your rant against "king george", but not very much in the way of specifics. What rights, specifically, has this administration taken away from us? Where are the prison camps of dissenters? Please don't make some fevered reference to the Patriot Act which, whether a good idea or not, was drafted and passed by a huge majority from both parties.

Fact is there is a movement out there (Al Qaeda) which wants to kill us - all of us. The only way we know they don't have nukes is because they haven't exploded one in L.A. - but if and when they get one, you'd better believe they will. How do you proposed to deal with that threat? Bash "king george" all you want, but I think he is just up there in the batter's box at twilight, trying to swing at the pitches he can see.

[progrocktv]

"That's what I am saying. They are going to make it so it will be against the law to even have that type of software."

Agreed. However that's why it's not going to work. That would mean not only families who want to produce their own home videos would be considered criminals, audio and video production houses (not to mention movie production studios) would shut down and technology wouldn't be able to advance AT ALL. I know Apple who produce things like DVD Studio Pro would probably have a say against this.

[danb]

I agree, Tester. This administration and the congress that has surrounded it for the last 7 years has been particularly bad. While I would like to avoid getting into a debate on national security, as I don't think this is really the place for it, it is obvious that the situation that our government finds itself in is easy to exploit.

It should be noted that the wiretapping provision of this law has the marks of this administration all over it. They really do like spying on people and eroding any expectation of privacy and due process.

[danb]

You're on the wrong track, progrocktv. What they're trying to do is further criminalize CSS decoding, DRM cracks, and p2p applications. This will help them win infringement cases where the defendant can show reasonable doubt that their tracking methods were flawed. If they have any of those applications on their computer then they will still be guilty of a crime.

It may also make it easier to prosecute larger scale disc copying operations. In the absence of duplicated media they could still charge them based on the presence of the duplication hardware.

While I wouldn't put it past the Copyright industry to go after self-publishers (ever think why YouTube scares them so much?), I don't think that is the real point of the legislation. They would be afraid to go after software and devices that would have such legitimate uses because a judge may rule against them and the findings may weaken the legislation. This happened when they abused the subpoena exemption they were granted by the DMCA. Someone finally took them to court on it and won, essentially voiding that part of the law.

[type-cast]

Come on. We don't have enough people in jail from the silly War on Some Drugs. We need to keep our prison industry healthy. Let's lock up another few million citizens for baseless crimes. The DMCA does not exist. It's only a bad dream. This is why we should boycott DRM wherever it exists. Accepting their mindless copy protection just encourages the idiots.

[leonardodicrapio]

"The only way we know they don't have nukes is because they haven't exploded one in L.A."

Not true -- Jack Bauer failed for the first time in six years to prevent a nuclear bomb from going off on U.S. soil.

[leonardodicrapio]

"...from going off on U.S. soil" in a metropolitan area (specifically in the Los Angeles) -- nukes going off in Nevada don't count (as happened 2-3 years ago).

[type-cast]

"There are ways to legally backup movies that are "protected" by CSS."

No, there aren't. The courts have ruled that you the back-ups are legal, but the software that defeats protection isn't. So, there are no fair use rights if you accept their laws.

"For one thing, you can make an image of the entire disc and then burn it to a dual layer DVD (if it doesn't fit on a single layer)."

You can't make a 1:1 copy of a DVD if that's what you are implying. DVD must be decrypted before burning, because writeable discs have no support for CSS. This is the latest silly assault on freedom, along with the "Hundred Year" War on Drugs. Like most mindless laws against personal freedom, it's only randomly enforced, of course.

Like Hunter and danb noted, this legislation is proposed and voted by Dems and Repubs by a majority, if not unanimous. The problem is that we've got a corrupt two-party system of government where both parties owe allegiance to Big Business more than the public. Until people are willing to vote for third parties and secure public-funded campaigns, run-off elections, and proportional representation, these abuses of power will continue.

[Tester]

"What rights, specifically, has this administration taken away from us?"

Hunter, I find it interesting that you want proof about our rights being eroded but you didn't ask for proof about the lies georgie-boy has told us, nor did you ask for proof about how we are now looked upon by most of the rest of the world.

It appears to me that you agree with what King george has done, and that's your right. Because of that I will not bother to post about any rights that we have lost or are in danger of losing, because of him, since you would find a way to either deny it or circumvent it. If someone else feels like doing it that is fine. I know you may try to make it seem that I will not answer you because I don't have the answers. To that I say think what you like because that's what you would do even if I gave the answers to you.

[type-cast]

Hunter:
"Fact is there is a movement out there (Al Qaeda) which wants to kill us - all of us."

You are regurgitating the Republican Project for the New American Empire propaganda. Your arguments make you seem like a coward. Let's look at what Benjamin Franklin said: "Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." (and may lose both.) I am not afraid of terrorist attacks. I will do what I can to prevent them, but I am not going to be paralyzed by fear and hand over all of my freedom to the government, which poses far more danger to us than terrorism.

"The only way we know they don't have nukes is because they haven't exploded one in L.A. - but if and when they get one, you'd better believe they will. How do you proposed to deal with that threat?"

Be vigilant. That is supposedly the price of liberty, according to many people. handing over your freedom to the governemnt is the way to tyranny. I propose we end the Hundred Year War on Drugs and the War of Terrorism. Get out of Israel and let them fight their own despicable battles. Reduce dependence on oil by subsidizing solar panels on every new home and existing home. The discovery of oil peaked in the 1960s, and global oil supply has peaked according to most geologists. We must change our wasteful suburban lifestyle.

http://dieoff.org/page140.htm

[Tester]

"Agreed. However that's why it's not going to work."

As long as we have a$$wipes like King george in office it will work.

You should remember that starting about seven weeks before the election last November, gasoline prices fell quite a bit and they continued to fall until right after the election. They then slowly climbed and then in the last two months they shot up like a bat-out-of-hell.

I mention this to show the friends that King george has will do anything to try to help the ba$tards like bush who are doing whatever it takes to make the record profits that these people are making. If it is believed that passing such a law would greatly increase their profit margin it will pass.

I guess the next thing will be "thought police"!

[Tester]

"It should be noted that the wiretapping provision of this law has the marks of this administration all over it."

That is an excellent point! I really didn't think about that.

[Hunter McDaniel]

The fundamental reality of the 21st century is that technological progress is bringing greater and greater mayhem within the reach of smaller and smaller groups. People being what they are, someone always has a grudge. I think that sucks, but calling it propaganda is just ignoring the threat. I have no desire for an "American Empire", but my first priority is to make sure I don't have to be part of someone else's empire.

[Tester]

"I have no desire for an "American Empire", but my first priority is to make sure I don't have to be part of someone else's empire."

Agreed. The problem is that I believe that King george's way is to make this an "American Empire" while supposedly stopping the others.

[type-cast]

Hunter, let me repeat. I would rather have a terrorist set off atomic bombs than have the government locking people in jail for life & stealing property because they of copyright infringement, drug use, and other ridiculous "crimes." The price of liberty is vigilance. Our government is more dangerous than every terrorist in the world. In fact, the foreign policy of Bush and "Project For New American Empire (aka PFNAC) is a driving force behind terrorism. If we want to stop terrorism, we should stop being terrorists. To quote Moore and Chomsky, among others.

[type-cast]

http://www.prisonsucks.com/

With 5% of world population, USA has 22% of the world's prisoners. About 8 times as many black as white, 2.5 times as many Latinos as whites, and 10.6 times as many men as women.

Make no mistake. The prisons are an industry and there are people who want more people in jail for absurd charges, more jails created, and more draconian laws like this. They want mandatory-minimum sentences for drug offense instead of ending the failed "Hundred Year" War on Drugs. They want people thrown in the jail for sharing files, backing up DVDs, or time-shifting rentals.

* South Africa under apartheid (1993), Black males: 851 per 100,000 in prison.
* U.S. under George W. Bush (2004), Black males: 4,919 per 100,000 in prison.

5.8 times as many blacks are in prison under our drug laws as under apartheid. What crime have they committed? Mostly selling or using drugs. Many have accused Ronald Reagan of a push for incarcerating blacks selectively on drug charges. The laws are certainly racist, if we compare the punishment for cocaine and the punishment for crack. Businessmen and/or celebrities are free to snort coke and get a slap on the wrist. How many times was Robert Downey Jr. arrested and freed? Compared with the average black male in the ghetto.

America is slipping further and further into totaliarian fascism. We need to abandon this stupid war on drugs and war of terror. Wanna make America safer? Get out of Israel. Leave the Middle East. Cut our military budget by about 90%. Spend more on alternative energy, homelessness, education, and poverty.

[Old Timer Too]

Hm, the last change to the copyright law went too far, in extending copyright protection well beyond the life of any creator of original material. I'm a budding author (well, I spent a number of years writing tech stuff, and now I'm spending a number of years writing my own fiction) and I feel the copyright laws have gone too far. Why? Because the changes have granted business rights above and beyond reason. Protecting the mouse's first cartoons is a nice idea, but Disney isn't doing itself any favors. If anything, I feel that company owes it to history and the United States to release those to public domain. Obviously, they wanted to protect themselves against something, but I'm not sure what.

Like the patent laws, the copyright laws extend to places where they shouldn't be. You cannot legislate morality, and yet, we still try to do so.

Time to write the candidates and representatives and let them know that you, as a voter, will not support any attempted re-election / election by those who are the lackies of this kind of legislation.

[dassiebtekreuz]

Type-cast, chill. Leave your room, enjoy the fresh air, meet people and enjoy the beauty of life. Then after, a few weeks allow yourself to hate Bush and worry about America for five minutes a day. Not more than five minutes, for sure. You know, all this foam at your mouth makes you look rather ugly.

[progrocktv]

HA! Now instead of "stealing" from the internet, we can rob a record store at gunpoint, putting innocent people in danger, and get LESS jail time!

[Tester]

"HA! Now instead of "stealing" from the internet, we can rob a record store at gunpoint, putting innocent people in danger, and get LESS jail time!"

Yeah, instead of making a backup of your DVD just go to a local video store, Kmart, WalMart etc. and steal the titles you want backups of. At least you'll get less jail time.

These people (MPAA, RIAA) are a real bunch of nitwits!