This new copyright/anti-p2p legislature that the lame duck U.S. Congress is trying to ram thru...

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Has anybody else heard about this?

Senate May Ram Copyright Bill
By Michael Grebb

02:00 AM Nov. 16, 2004 PT

WASHINGTON -- Several lobbying camps from different industries and ideologies are joining forces to fight an overhaul of copyright law, which they say would radically shift in favor of Hollywood and the record companies and which Congress might try to push through during a lame-duck session that begins this week.

The Senate might vote on the Intellectual Property Protection Act, a comprehensive bill that opponents charge could make many users of peer-to-peer networks, digital-music players and other products criminally liable for copyright infringement. The bill would also undo centuries of "fair use" -- the principle that gives Americans the right to use small samples of the works of others without having to ask permission or pay...

[..]

Hollywood's involvement has even irked the American Conservative Union, which holds considerable sway with conservative Republicans in Congress. The ACU plans a major print ad campaign this week to oppose the bill, mainly because some provisions would require the Justice Department to file civil copyright lawsuits on behalf of the entertainment industry...

I wonder if this means that quoting blocks of text would be illegal, too.

kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 21:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The bill would also permit people to use technology to skip objectionable content -- like a gory or sexually explicit scene -- in films, a right that consumers already have. However, under the proposed law, skipping any commercials or promotional announcements would be prohibited.

morris pavilion (samjeff), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow. A complete compendium of everything the entertainment industry wants in ONE HANDY BILL! I'M SO EXCITED!

Kenan (kenan), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

this might be an interesting contest between the religious/pro-business-over-everything conservatives vs the more libertarian/less-gubmint conservatives.

....but probably not.

kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it's time to show them your penis.
xpost

Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

not just yet. I have to oil up, remember.

Kenan (kenan), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)


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