Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick


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More Bad Legislation - Fair Use Be Damned

from the just-get-rid-of-it-all dept

The latest idiotic bill from Congress would specifically eliminate our fair use rights. It would make it illegal, among other things, to videotape a movie and hand it to a friend to watch. What's weird about this bill is that even those who wrote it don't necessarily agree with all of the provisions. Though, Rep. Berman (the man who's salary appears to be paid by Hollywood more than the people) says he disagrees with the one section that most people think is the only good section in the bill - the one that protects webcasters. This bill seems to be so ridiculously over-the-top anti-consumer rights, it really makes you wonder. I guess it's become so obvious that many people in Congress work only for their corporate benefactors that they don't feel the need to even pretend to hide it any more.

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  1. Fair Use Be Damned! by LittleW0lf on Jul 11th, 2002 @ 12:43pm

    "The biggest impediment to more licensed, lawful services online is piracy, and that's why he is pushing his peer-to-peer bill," Smith said.

    Wrong....this should read "The biggest impediment to more licensed, lawful services online is the RIAA's greed and a legal uncertainty surrounding the transient rights of those online services...after all, the RIAA changes its mind on an hourly basis as to what it wants, and most legislators blindly follow what the RIAA requests, whether it makes sense legally, technically, or socially. And the reason he is pushing his peer-to-peer bill is solely due to the fact that the RIAA and MPAA are financing his next election."

    What will be funny is when this bill passes, and the US Government finds it impossible to enforce, as millions of American citizens flip the government the bird and continue violating the law for what they see as "peaceful demonstration against an evil law."

    Oh, by the way, the US Government has officially changed its name. This country is now to be known as the United States of Ted Turner, and from now on, the government is no longer to be "for the people, by the people," but "for the entertainment industry, by the entertainment industry."

    Can someone please pass the Soma...I need to be entertained for a while....

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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