There goes the neighborhood...
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 10:14 pm
Link
I know this will be met by thunderous applause by people who think it's good for business, people who pretend to think it's good for business, the generally uninformed, and those who like to believe that they are above reproach... but pay attention: a bill like this passing will be the beginning of the end of the internet as we know it today. Youtube and services like it, as much as we like to believe otherwise, generate a vast majority of their traffic through the rebroadcast of copyrighted material, ostensibly under a "fair use" exemption which is far from well-defined. We here are as guilty as the rest on this count.
A bill like this would force service providers to shift their stance on content and traffic from assumption of legitimacy to assumption of illegitimacy. In a world where content producers can point a finger and bring felony charges against a user with no more evidence than is presented for current civil remedies, content providers cannot afford to do business. Regulation and commercialization of content delivery and, precipitously, internet traffic in general, would quickly follow, and the internet, as the world's first truly global, free society, would die.
I know this will be met by thunderous applause by people who think it's good for business, people who pretend to think it's good for business, the generally uninformed, and those who like to believe that they are above reproach... but pay attention: a bill like this passing will be the beginning of the end of the internet as we know it today. Youtube and services like it, as much as we like to believe otherwise, generate a vast majority of their traffic through the rebroadcast of copyrighted material, ostensibly under a "fair use" exemption which is far from well-defined. We here are as guilty as the rest on this count.
A bill like this would force service providers to shift their stance on content and traffic from assumption of legitimacy to assumption of illegitimacy. In a world where content producers can point a finger and bring felony charges against a user with no more evidence than is presented for current civil remedies, content providers cannot afford to do business. Regulation and commercialization of content delivery and, precipitously, internet traffic in general, would quickly follow, and the internet, as the world's first truly global, free society, would die.
Ars Technica wrote:New bill upgrades unauthorized Internet streaming to a felony
By Nate Anderson | Published May 16, 2011 2:33 PM
Two months ago, US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel produced her wishlist of changes to US law. One item in particular caught our interest—the suggestion that the online streaming of copyrighted content be bumped up to a full-scale felony. Late last week, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced just such a bill.
The text of S. 978 isn't yet available from the official THOMAS system, but Klobuchar's office sent us a copy of the brief bill. Under current law, "reproducing" and "distributing" copyrighted works are felony charges and cover P2P transfers and Web downloads. But streaming is a "public performance" rather than a "distribution"—and holding a public performance without a proper license is not a felony. S. 978 adds "public performance" to the felony list.
Online streamers can now face up to five years in prison and a fine in cases where:
* They show 10 or more "public performances" by electronic means in any 180-day period and
* The total retail value of those performances tops $2,500 or the cost of licensing such performances is greater than $5,000
Movie makers and theater owners support the bill.
Michael O'Leary, who heads up the MPAA's government affairs (read: lobbying) work, said in a statement that "criminals are stealing, trafficking, and profiting off the investment that our workers devote to creating the quality films and TV shows that entertain a worldwide audience and bolster the American economy... We thank Senators Klobuchar and Cornyn for introducing this important legislation to standardize the legal treatment of online content theft and helping ensure that federal law keeps pace with the changing face of criminal activity."
