Jailing people for file sharing is not the answer (Congress)

[Jo]

Members of the U.S. Congress yesterday introduced the Author, Consumer, and Computer Owner Protection and Security (ACCOPS) Act of 2003, targeting for criminal prosecution the 60 million Americans engaged in Internet file sharing of music and movies.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today criticized the measure as an overbroad and misguided attack on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing technology.

"More Americans are using file sharing software than voted for President Bush in 2000," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "Throwing the book at music swappers makes great political theater, but jailing 60 million music fans is not good business, nor does it put a single penny into the pockets of artists."

"Jailing people for file sharing is not the answer," noted EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "Proponents of this bill are casting aside privacy, innovation, and even our personal liberty as collateral damage in their war against file sharing."

The ACCOPS bill was introduced in the House of Representatives today by Representatives Conyers, Berman, Schiff, Meehan, Wexler, and Weiner, all member of the House Judiciary Committee

[tonyrome_1]

The Corporate digital USA just has to come up with a new business plan...selling CDs for $20 + dollars don't cut it with the public anymore and any 12 year old knows that all you have to do is move files out of ur shared folder and ur ok even with BIG Corp-loving Government spying on ur computer

[thxkid]

thats ok just keep thinking that when you go get a download that they are not keeping track of where thats going, ha ha ha, thay got spyware on those lines right now, will they use it, who knows, not gonna be making me an example though.

[vance43211]

even though i haven't did any file sharing in the past 7 or 8 months

downloading old songs that i thought i would never hear again was the Only reason i got into the computer game in the first place

a lot of other people say the same thing

congress should reimburse
everybody for their computers, time and related item

because every other day it seems that they are taking another right away from us

pretty soon

it will be a 1st degree felony just for booting up a computer

[Bob W]

What happens if the file sharing is moved out of the states? Can they then demand a list of people they think are downloading or sharing?

[dlbott]

Well it is time we take control, the lobbiest and corporations should stop taking our rights from us.. We all need to write and call our congressman and someone should post a link to faxing them i saw one one time. i know there is a site somewhere that helps u connect to ur representatives...

we need to take control it is getting pathetic..

[Vejita-sama]

Much like the DMCA or the 'internet/computer child porn law' (sorry forget exact title) these laws never standup in the higher courts. The question is who is going to take them to the higher courts

Really a waste of time and resources. And the odd thing is that even if they arrested everyone that has every pirated a song (CD to tape, P2P, CD to CDR, etc) it would improve sales at all.

Part of the problem is that people do not actually bother to vote. So many congressmen are more concerned about the few that do (eg. AARP or NRA, not to say anything good or bad about either group) or those that give large sums of money to them (often one and the same).

[Aside - I actually support the NRA, not a member. But one key thing about the NRA; something like 80%+ of their memebers actually vote. That's where their real power lies.]

[Bob W]

If they are going to put anyone who downloaded a song in jail then we can save money and close down all the high schools as every teenager who has access to a computer does it.

[Dragonsf]

Why even bother to put people actual into jail?Just convert every home into prison and you're done.The hit rate will be around 30%-50%, so only every other one innocent will be affected, but that can be viewed as colletaral (sp?) damage, a common practice by the current administration.

[mysticgohan17]

If they are going to put anyone who downloaded a song in jail then we can save money and close down all the high schools as every teenager who has access to a computer does it.

shhh, they dont know.

[MOVIEGEEK]

i know there is a site somewhere that helps u connect to ur representatives...

we need to take control it is getting pathetic..

If you're a US citizen,18 or older and a registered voter let them know:
www.house.gov
www.senate.gov

[spiderman2k1]

Kazaa is working on P2P software where they can not track you should be out soon othere P2P companies are working of software that can not be tracked. It's only a matter of tiem before it's no big deal

[mysticgohan17]

its been no big deal until the riaa started thinking their caked-out home lives were in jeoprady about 4-5 years ago. the mpaa and riaa didnt give a rats ass about piracy because no one knew or cared either. now that it's a part of pop culture they go mad over every dollar not spent on their shitty product.

[gmatov]

Spiderman,
Not too long ago you couldn't rip a DVD,and a "kid" in Europe wrote Decss.
Do you really think that KaZaa's programmers are better than the cybergeeks the Corporations will throw at finding you if they think you're taking money out of their pockets.
We have Carnivore, developed by the US Gov that can listen in to every e-mail that is sent looking for keywords. Do you think that the "keyword" could not be some music data? They want you, they will get you.

Moviegeek,
The problem is, only 25% or so of the voting age population, IS registered to vote, and of those, sometimes as low as 30% bother to vote at all, even in Presidential elections. How in the HELL can you let a miniscule 10% of the population dictate what will be the Nation's future?

Vejita-sama,
Yes, the AARP votes. Yes, the NRA will get out the vote, also. I support both. ( I'm old enough, and then some, for AARP membership, and I am a shooter.)
They are one-issue organizations. Each have one VERY good issue on their agendas, AARP, Social Security, and age discrimination,, NRA, Second Amendment Rights.
Social Security is dominant, as it is the largest part of most retired people's income. Our lawmakers have taken the moneys to spend on other projects and given the SS "Trust Fund" IOUs which you young people will have to redeem through higher Income Taxes in future. Sorry, but you, or your parents, allowed them to build styadiums with General Fund revenues, which borrow from SS funds.
And the NRA is fighting to keep the US of A from becoming the Socialized State of California, where Senator Dianne Feinstein insists that the moms and dads of America should "turn them all in" firearms are wicked, wicked, wicked.
VOTE. You, all of you who are over 18 are entitled to vote, yet apathy sets in, every election. "Well, my vote doesn't mean anything." Horse puckey.
Al Gore lost by a miniscule number of votes.(Not that I wanted him for President, but still....)
And VOTE the bastards out, also. They ALL get back in. "Oh, yeah, Joe Shmoe, I recognize that name, I'll vote him back in." Jesus Christ, we've re-elected people who are in Federal Prison for screwing the taxpayer(read "US").
I THINK it was Sen Orrin Hatch of Utah who stood on the floor of the Senate and said it should be OK for the Media Cos to send code to file sharers computers that could destroy their machines. This is what you WANT representing you?
AND, vote with your pocketbooks. Do not buy their product. THEY need YOU. YOU don't need THEM. YOU don't need another CD or DVD, THEY do need another sale. THEY have to make "the numbers" or the stock goes down, and THEY don't get multi-million dollar bonuses.

[dlbott]

Vote: well the vote does count, at least for the congress and senate, independant vote unfortunately in my case is kinda meaningless in the presidential sense, that's wrong in our system as well but thats another story lol

everyone, whether ur a registered voter or not can call and or write and yes it does make a difference.

Fact also is sooner or later and I think the ones making the money now see the writing on the wall that cd's as we buy them now are gone for good. Look at the apple program for .99 a download.. something like 5 million dl's i think it was in a month or two... come on... smell the roses already..

Fact also.. if i try a mp3 or even software and i like it i will buy it... does that mean that i have some that i have not, sure..

i don't think its gonna mean people going to jail so much as it is people being bankrupted by stupid greedy ass lawsuits.. dtv against the hackers is prime example.. they did not have to prove anything cus most people just could not afford to defend themselves... record and movie industry banking on the same thing..

problem i think is there are just to many mainstream folks that do both of those so lawyers are gonna come out the woodwork to help people on this issue i think

anyway, call or write ur reps lol

[overloaded_ide]

Yes people need to start fighting for their rights and voting. And not just for the guy with the nice smile (lying through those white teeth) actually pay attention!

What constitutes stealing anyway?? It is theft on their part that they took my money and gave me defective merchandise I can not use! My 8 Track tapes tangled up and broke, Cassettes get garbage hiss and whine in the back ground! Also what about all those records, yea, those black disks with the grooves that stick, crackle, pop, and skip! Some were other colors, but most were black!
Who stole what? Is it theft that I want to listen to stuff I already paid top dollar for but can not use?? SO I got the right to listen to the song on an 8 track tape, but not the right to down load the same song and listen to it on the computer? That's theft?
Hey I bought it, I own it, and I have the right to listen to it!

Also what other than software, music, or movies do you buy sight unseen and have no right to a refund on if you don't like it? Sure you hear one song on the radio you like, you buy the cd, the rest is garbage on that disk. You can not have a refund because you opened it! How else are you to know if the cd is worth the $12 - $20 you paid for it?

NO other industry or product is like this! Just entertainment and software!

You can buy a tv, dvd player, vcr, try em for a week or two then take em back for refund if you don't like em! You drive a car before buying it, well if your smart you do, I have know some people dumb enough to just say that looks nice and buy one. They were not happy either and don't do that anymore!

Heck, even food you can often return! They throw it away, but they give a refund on it! I have in the past bought some nice looking steaks, so tuff they weren't worth eating! I got a refund on those even! Took em back to the store cooked but un-eaten and with the reciept! Was given back full price and an apology too!

[mmmbeer]

Maybe if the pay services got materials from all genres and lowered the price it would work. I heard from someone that in Japan they have these machines set up in cd shops that you drop your money in, pick the tracks and out pops your compilation that YOU made not that some suit decided you'd like. The artists still get paid. No retailer, recording company or anyone can justify the pricing scheme. Why is it that a copy of Rush 2112 brand new is still twice as much as the newest release from any top 40 act? The recording has been paid for, the tour is long over, so where is the justification? Price gouging is and has been running rampant for years and with a recession I am not surprised at having 4 million members on Kazaa at any given time. Every other industry has adjusted prices to the economy BUT the recording industry. A spindle of 50 blank cdrs at Best Buy $9.99 a copy of Somewhere In Time $18.99. There is something very wrong with that picture.

[MOVIEGEEK]

gmatov wrote:"Moviegeek,
The problem is, only 25% or so of the voting age population, IS registered to vote, and of those, sometimes as low as 30% bother to vote at all, even in Presidential elections. How in the HELL can you let a miniscule 10% of the population dictate what will be the Nation's future?"

Well that was my point...if more people would stop whining and write to their representatives in Congress and get off their butts on election day maybe we can make a differance.

mmmbeer wrote:"
Every other industry has adjusted prices to the economy BUT the recording industry"

That's because the music industry is guilty of price fixing or setting a minimum price.

[vance43211]

Well that was my point...if more people would stop whining and write to their representatives in Congress and get off their butts on election day maybe we can make a differance.

i can agree with that