Ars Technica reports on the PRO-IP Act, new proposed copyright legislation where copyright infringement in the case of CD albums would award statutory damages on each individual song:
The issue is compilations, which now are treated as a single work. In the RIAA's perfect world, each copied track would count as a separate act of infringement, meaning that a copying a ten-song CD even one time could end up costing a defendant $1.5 million if done willfully.
Hmmmm...I guess all those poor college students trading files aren't paying nearly enough in restitution.
But seriously, isn't it about time that any new, proposed copyright legislation reflected the interests of society rather than those of the content industry and their lobbyists? We should be reducing non-commercial copyright infringement damages and expanding fair use, not attempting to move the currently disproportionate intellectual property situation further in the wrong direction.
RIAA
It's really mind-boggling how non-progressive the MPAA, RIAA, SPA, etc, have been regarding this stuff. I guess they think the "more money = good" argument ought to shut up any resistance instantly. What other industry tries to make those claims? We'd be outraged if suddenly farmers decided to let half the population starve to death so that they could make more money selling wheat.
You'd think these guys could come up with something a bit more compelling by now. Heck, even I could come up with better reasons to support copyright protection than I've seen from them. They're being really crude and crass, and while their money still talks, I've noticed a few prominent musicians trying not to stand too close to them at parties.
I guess it's pretty clear that we're dealing with an embarrassingly corrupt political administration, and that has to be lowering morale and eroding faith in our government, especially with teens. Unfortunately, I've heard ZILCH from any of the presidential hopefuls about reforming the system, though I'd love to know Ron Paul, Nader, or even Edwards (yeah, he's gone) would say about it.
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Check out Barton's gaming blog at Armchair Arcade.
edwards and obama
Both Edwards and Obama have talked extensively about eliminating lobbyist influence from Congressional decision making. In fact, Lawrence Lessig has long been a big supporter of Obama because of his positions on corruption. Check out Obama's website and you'll see that the donations page specifically forbids campaign money from lobbyists, political action groups, or corporate funds.
While not immediately addressing the intellectual property situation, that sort of reform would work here. If the lobbyists weren't telling and paying Congress to pass more restrictive copyright legislation, it's certainly doubtful that Congress would come up with it on their own.
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Charlie | cyberdash
national initiative for democracy
If we enact the National Initiative for Democracy then the RIAA would go out of business. Not only that, but the having a national initiative system would be a permanent and long-term solution to prevent legislation from favoring corporate lobbies.
i hate the riaa
may all the artists publish their own music on the internet with tools like ijigg.com
Michael P. Staton
www.edumorphology.com
ijigg
Just glancing at ijigg.com. Wondering--how do the artists make money with this? Or is this strictly a freebie type deal?
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Check out Barton's gaming blog at Armchair Arcade.
corruption everywhere you look
cel4145, I am sorry to say that I have doubts about Obama's integrity. Check out Mike Gravel's recent video: Corruption
empty claims
I'm afraid the video is simply a collection of statements that aren't backed up. I wouldn't let a student drop claim after claim without some evidence and call it good, and I can't do that here either. What does that say about Mike Gravel's integrity? Nothing good I'd say.
By the way, I'm looking at my cat sleep on the couch. I'm not seeing corruption everywhere I look, especially as I watch him sleep. When I look in the mirror, well, that's another story. Rotten to the core.
bradley || bleckblog.org
empty claims?
Well, you can always look it up. This is all public data. Open Secrets
empty claims?
The site is a little bit confusing to navigate. There is the data for Obama.
That data is misleading
That data is misleading since it doesn't bother to state that Obama's campaign contribution page specifically requests that people not make donations from PAC or other funds, that the money come directly from an individual. Besides, it's obvious. Many, many people contributing to campaign funds have jobs and belong to organizations. It's always going to be possible to milk the data of a candidate who receives that much individual funding to show that there are some group trends in funding.
As long as an individual can freely chooses to contribute funds, if it happens that it is along the same lines as the other people in the company she works for or the organization she belongs to--even if the choice is influenced by other peoples' opinions in that organization--so be it. That kind of influence is how we function as social creatures. If a person is pressured by potential job loss or other kinds of unethical or immoral pressure, then there needs to be some kind of legislation in the same way that I am certain there is already regarding voting. But I don't think we can blame the candidate for this if it happens.
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Charlie | cyberdash
ijigg spam?
I just received an empty message from myself at ijigg. I forwarded a song to my wife, but it seems messages are being forwarded to others, from somewhere, in my name. I don't like the looks of that. It's not often I forward music to myself and don't know about it. Something fishy at ijigg. bradley || bleckblog.org