Re: [dvd-discuss] Digital Millennium Anti-Connectivity Act Introduced

[Marcia Wilbur <aicra(at)well.com>]

If this goes through, there goes my whole AHRA arguement.

Question, since it would be a new act or say newer law, how would that
work if it conflicts with current law?~

And well, frankly, I understand the ethic or financial issues involved,
but isn't making song sharing a felony a little extreme?

Does this mean that for every time I lost money I could pass a law...





On Thu, 17 Jul 2003, Seth Johnson wrote:

>
> (There's just no stopping them.  First the DMCA; now a "DMACA."  Utterly
> unwilling to confront reality, they simply turn their fellow citizens into
> felons, rather than consider that outmoded, unfounded, and useless notions
> of exclusive rights must not be allowed to take priority over newfound
> capacities to exercise our freedoms.  -- Seth)
>
> > http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Politics&storyId=764305
>
>
> Bill Would Put Net Song Swappers in Jail
>
> By Andy Sullivan
> Wednesday, July 16, 2003 5:10 p.m. ET
>
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Internet users who allow others to copy songs from
> their hard drives could face prison time under legislation introduced by two
> Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday.
>
> The bill is the strongest attempt yet to deter the widespread online song
> copying that recording companies say has led to a decline in CD sales.
>
> Sponsored by Michigan Rep. John Conyers and California Rep. Howard Berman,
> the bill would make it easier to slap criminal charges on Internet users who
> copy music, movies and other copyrighted files over "peer-to-peer" networks.
>
> The recording industry has aggressively pursued Napster, Kazaa and other
> peer-to-peer networks in court and recently announced it planned to sue
> individual users as well.
>
> In a series of hearings on Capitol Hill last spring, lawmakers condemned
> online song swapping and expressed concern the networks could spread
> computer viruses, create government security risks and allow children access
> to pornography.
>
> Few online copyright violators have faced criminal charges so far. A New
> Jersey man pleaded guilty to distributing a digital copy of the movie "The
> Hulk" in federal court three weeks ago, but the Justice Department has not
> taken action against Internet users who offer millions of copies of songs
> each day.
>
> The Conyers-Berman bill would operate under the assumption that each
> copyrighted work made available through a computer network was copied at
> least 10 times for a total retail value of $2,500. That would bump the
> activity from a misdemeanor to a felony, carrying a sentence of up to five
> years in jail.
>
> It would also outlaw the practice of videotaping a movie in the theater, a
> favorite illicit method of copying movies.
>
> "While existing laws have been useful in stemming this problem, they simply
> do not go far enough," said Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary
> Committee.
>
> A Conyers staffer said the bill had won the backing of many Democrats but
> Republicans had yet to endorse it.
>
> The staffer said backers hoped to discuss the bill at a hearing on Thursday
> and combine it next week with another sponsored by Texas Republican Rep.
> Lamar Smith.
>
> A Smith spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
>
>
> --
>
> DRM is Theft!  We are the Stakeholders!
>
> New Yorkers for Fair Use
> http://www.nyfairuse.org
>
> [CC] Counter-copyright: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/cc/cc.html
>
> I reserve no rights restricting copying, modification or distribution of
> this incidentally recorded communication.  Original authorship should be
> attributed reasonably, but only so far as such an expectation might hold for
> usual practice in ordinary social discourse to which one holds no claim of
> exclusive rights.
>
>