CNET's Molly Wood, one of my favorite sensible digital freedom commentators, has written a long but deeply meaningful commentary on recent submissions by the entertainment industry to the Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC). I would like to just copy and paste the entire article but I want to hit some of the highlights.
In essence the entertainment industry is asking the federal government to do the following:
- install spyware on your computer that detects and deletes infringing materials
- install mandatory censorware on all Internet connections to interdict transfers of infringing material
- conduct border searches of personal media players, laptops and thumb-drives
- engage in international bullying to force other countries to implement the same policies
- provide free copyright enforcement provided by Fed cops and agencies (including the Department of Homeland Security!).
Molly Wood commented that she initially thought Gizmodo's summary was so over the top she thought it was just internet-based fearmongering. However, after she read the original comments, she determined that Gizmodo's commentary was pretty spot on.
I cannot put into any words suitable for this blog how angry this makes me.
For more than a decade we have been seeing the openness and functionality of the internet get more and more shackled by the entertainment industry's paranoia over media piracy. To enumerate all the cases of loss of functionality, frivolous lawsuits, anti-competitive practices, and crushing of viable businesses would require so much data, it would make Wikipedia look like a Twitter post.
Not content on suing their customers and preventing innovative methods of media sharing and playback, the entertainment industry now wants the government to act as a copyright police officer. They want FBI and DHS resources, which are supposed to be devoted to investigation of capital crimes and protection of our borders, to be diverted to ensure that no illegal copies of "Twilight: New Moon" show up on the internet.
Quite simply these are people who have no understanding of modern technology, and who are trying to get the government to protect their outmoded crap-generating machine they call an industry. They are horse-buggy manufacturers staring at the automobile. They are passenger train manufacturers staring at the passenger airplane. They are pager manufacturers staring at the cellular phone.
To quote Molly Wood:
We are being bullied into a technological police state because these industries failed to see the technological writing on the wall, to innovate appropriately, or to follow the most fundamental rule of business: give the consumers what they want. And they have used bogus numbers, scare tactics, and the worst kind of legal intimidation to get it done.
So geeks out there must put down their controllers, stop arguing on the internet about something completely stupid, or breeding cows in Farmville, and take some action to prevent this entertainment-industry sponsored policy from becoming law. Here are my recommendations:
- Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation. There is no other organization that is devoted to ensuring the freedom of digital technologies and the people who want to use them to their fullest.
- Contact the IPEC ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) and tell them you don't want your personal safety sacrificed to protect the entertainment industry.
- Contact the Office of the President or your local Representative or Senator to tell them the same.
- Stop or reduce your patronage of RIAA and MPAA industries and instead support independent musicians and film-makers so that your money doesn't support this type of behavior. If you like to go out to movies, get some friends together to play some tabletop games or go out to a live local show.
- Tell everyone you know who is a geek (and some who aren't) to do the same.
It's time we stopped letting these industry leeches who have made tons of money off the hard work of artists stop us from enjoying the work of those artists out of their paranoia about how they will evolve to meet the challenges of new technology.
To quote Jean-Luc Picard, the line must be drawn here.
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Really? I thought it was just Canada who had that tax. That makes sense about the lowered quality of TV and radio.
I'm pretty sure copying TV and Radio fell under the fair use laws of copyright because of the degradation in quality by the nature of the act. <br /><br />What's also interesting is that every burner and pack of CD-R's has a built in tax that gets paid back to the RIAA to compensate for potential piracy concerns from the media.
Sorry, what I meant was, why is it legal to record from the TV or the radio, but illegal to copy videos or CDs that you DON'T own? I know it is also illegal to bypass the DRM (even just for your own personal use), which IS totally dumb.
Basically it comes down to dumb laws. I believe it's completely legal to make a copy of a CD or DVD for personal use, what makes it illegal is when you have to circumvent DRM to do so. <br /><br />DVDs and Blu-rays have a standard encryption scheme (CSS and AACS respectively). For CDs, the record labels have had to figure out something after the fact. Bypassing DRM is a violation of the DMCA.
Juan - LOL!!<br /><br />Colin et al: Entertainment moguls perpetually live in the 1920s and wear blinders. Historically they've always fought against the consumer trends of the present-day (Xerox, VCRs), but they have always been forced to concede. So I believe that this too shall pass (and they won't get those crazy things on their 'wish list')... until they raise another outcry when the next wave of technological advances allows movies and music to be transported via air particles.<br /><br />As Molly so aptly said, "the industry took 10 years to even enter into the business of digital distribution, a move that frankly could have headed off all this agony from the outset." DUHHH! With their obtuse dinosaur mindset they not only shot themselves in the foot but their customers as well.<br /><br />At the same time, I DO want artists to get paid for their creations, and that's why I'm so glad Amazon finally created an MP3 downloading experience that didn't make me feel like I was getting fleeced. I refused to use iTunes, or the 'legal' Napster or any of those 'strings attached' MP3 sellers. But then I still felt fleeced because my only other legal option was to buy 15-song CDs that I only liked 3 tracks on. Amazon FTW!<br /><br />On a related note, I have a question for everyone reading this thread: why is it legal to record from the TV or the radio, but illegal to copy videos or CDs? I haven't been able to find the answer to that. (Maybe the answer is 'dumb laws.')
I would think the argument could be made that the mostly going after little old ladies and children part is much more about perception than reality, considering the publicity tied to those cases.<br /><br />That said, the points you raise, while mostly valid, aren't related to this article. This is the RIAA/MPAA responding to a request from the government on how to better combat piracy. They have a business that they are trying to protect. <br /><br />Also, artists have the option of going indie and not signing up with the big record labels and all they'll have to forgo is the marketing and distribution hammers that the RIAA swings and all the fame that comes from it.
I am all for an artist being paid for his work. However, the RIAA and the MPAA, while claiming to represent the artists, do not. Every time they sue a 15-year-old for $100,000 because she downloaded an mp3, the artist never sees a dime of that money. What's more is that the RIAA/MPAA lobby hard for laws like these and make a routine out of going after children and little old ladies who, in most cases do not realize they are downloading illegal content. <br /><br />I think, at the very least, 2 criteria should be met when filing lawsuits like this: 1. Successful litigation may not award the plaintiff any more than the cost of the stolen item(s) plus some reasonable fee. 2. The plaintiff should pay any legal fees incurred by the defense if the ruling is in favor of the defendant. This would deter anyone from filing frivolous suits. <br /><br />After all, the punishment should be commensurate with the crime. Stealing a $0.99 mp3 should not result in tens of thousands of dollars and possible jail time. If someone stole a pen from Staples, should they pay $30,000 for it and perhaps do some time? I think not. <br /><br />Intellectual Property laws are effed up and should be seriously revised! There is a difference between a band/producer/distributor plagiarizing music to sell it, making a fortune on an artist's work, and a kid downloading a frikken mp3.
The thing is, people are stealing from them, and they're trying to prevent that. You can't fault their motives. And keep this in context, this proposal is here because the government wanted suggestions on how to address piracy. I'm fairly certain they're not going to just copy and paste it in to law.
Ok, so after spending about 30 minutes skimming the PDF, here's what I think:<br /><br />Yes, they do suggest that the DOJ and DHS help protect big movie premiers, which is kind of crazy.<br /><br />I didn't find anywhere where they said that the government should install spyware on your PC, censorware on networks or bully other countries into adopting these policies. <br /><br />The "Spyware" and "Censorware " is presented as "Network operators and providers should be encouraged to implement these" not as something the government should mandate. <br /><br />Border searches also aren't mentioned in this proposal, and most references to the international aspect of this are presented as "Lets focus on what we can fix in the US" (Payment Processors, Hosting, etc)
Quote : I can see it now, "Why did you pull me over officer? License and Ipod please. <br />Here you go. <br />I'll be right back.... Sir, step out of the car.<br />Why?<br />You have downloaded 'Can a ni**a get a table dance!' illegally. Your under arrest.<br />lol
I would also like to piggy back off this and include the creation of the DCTIU (Dryer Criminal Theft Investigation Unit). My dryer has been robbing me blind of left socks for years and yesterday was the final straw. These laws will never pass. I can see it now, "Why did you pull me over officer? License and Ipod please. <br />Here you go. <br />I'll be right back.... Sir, step out of the car.<br />Why?<br />You have downloaded 'Can a ni**a get a table dance!' illegally. Your under arrest.