PROTECT IP Renamed To the E-PARASITE Act 373
bs0d3 writes "The U.S. House has drafted their version of Protect IP today. They have renamed the bill to 'the Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act' or the E-PARASITE Act. The new house version of Protect IP is far worse than the Senate bill s.968 and it massively expands the sites that will be covered by the law. While the Senate bill limited its focus to sites that were 'dedicated to infringing activities,' the house bill targets 'foreign infringing sites' and 'has only limited purpose or use other than infringement.' They're also including an 'inducement' claim, any foreign site declared by the Attorney General to be 'inducing' infringement, can now be censored by the US. With no adversarial hearing. The bill can be read here."
Land of the free? (Score:5, Insightful)
Enjoy your police state.
House v Senate (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:American rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
The only people, from the sound of it. Copyright harms far more real people than it helps.
You know you've given up on the government when... (Score:5, Insightful)
When you're response to garbage like this changes from outrage, and a motivation to act, to a sigh and a slump of the shoulders.
You know what? Fuck it. The majority in this country doesn't understand or care whats going on in Washington, and the corporations now run both political parties, but at least I get to keep my guns. Well, I cant use them in self defense anymore, but they sure do look neat.
regulation regardless of neutrality (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:You know you've given up on the government when (Score:4, Insightful)
We sure manage to make western Europe look good, don't we?
We Salute Our New Media Overlords (Score:3, Insightful)
Infringing on (RIAA's) Copyright & Profitability - Pirate Bay
Infringing on (RIAA's) Copyright & Profitability - Weird Al, cover tunes on YouTube, fair use, time shifting (all unlicensed DVRs)
Infringing on (Microsoft's) Patents & Profitability - Ubuntu & Android (and All Linux)
Infringing on (Apple's) Patents & Profitability - RIM (darned Canadians Eh?)
Infringing on (Fox New's) 'Truth' & Profitability - BBC, CBC, Al Jezeera
Infringing on (Catholic Church's) 'Truth' & Profitability - Scientific Publications, Tax-Free Status (and, well, reality)
Infringing on (Corporate 1%) 'Truth' & Profitability - Government Regulation, Democrats, 'Occupy Everywhere'
Infringing on (Government & Corporate) 'Truth' & Profitability - Anonymous, Occupy Everywhere, 'Free Thinkers'
Infringing on (Corporate) 'Truth' & Profitability - Google (by providing access to views that challenge 'Everything is fine')
Expect some harsh censorship in this 'Land of Free' (copyright used without permission)
Re:American rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:American rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
No. They have not. The Supreme Court decision happened in 1892, IIANM, when a former railroad lobbyist turned clerk of a Supreme Court Justice inserted it into an unrelated decision. The corporate lawyers ran with it, and it became impossible to call back. The trusts and tycoons had been try, without success, for decades to have the SCOTUS declare corporations people. One pro-corp lobbyist in a powerful position did the trick when law and reason wouldn't.
In 1992, the SCOTUS declared money to be speech.
In 2010, the SCOTUS removed all limits to corporate spending on lobbying, citing 1992.
Result: corps, government licensed creatures, now have become the government, cuckoo-like, replacing the substance while the shell remains.
Re:American rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
Fine, if the copyright expires. That was the deal, back in the 1780's. But the deal was unilaterally reneged on when copyrights became eternal. You want copyrights? Put a limit on them. Right now, the art and stories of the world are set to be owned by corporations until the end of time. And we are building a world-wide surveillance state to enforce that "property". There will be nowhere you can go, electronically, without the government, thru corporate proxies, looking over your shoulder and logging what you are looking at, what you are reading, what you are copying. Forever.
Re:I fucking hate... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:American rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
Welcome to the corporatocracy. It looks a lot like the oligarchies that were thrown out in revolutions in the 1700s and 1800s in the Americas and in Europe (like the French Revolution). The only difference is that the "official government" is a sham, while the "real government" - the corporate plutocrats - are holding on to power by telling a bunch of deluded fucking rednecks called "tea partiers" that anyone wise to the corporatocracy is a "socialist" or a "communist."
Re:china copys us stuff and pass it off as there o (Score:5, Insightful)
Welcome to world where you do what's good for you at the moment. It's not like this is a new concept for US either. China practically owns US now, and in 10-20 years it will start to really show. In the end, they will probably fall again, but it will be China who controls the world soon (again). It's the cycle of life.
It's hard to 'own' a country by holding its currency, when you don't also control its printing presses. In the past decade, the US has doubled its money supply (M2), which via inflation has pulled about 40% of the rug out from under the US currency holdings in China's central bank. And there is no let-up in sight. In terms of money, China has been royally screwed.
Of course they weren't after money; what they wanted was to industrialize and modernize, getting their hands on our IP. They did, but you are mistaken if you think that such a thing is a net loss for the US. When the world contains many new manufacturers of the goods we desire, the real cost of those goods goes down. Have you noticed that even though your money has been inflating like crazy over the past decade, manufactured goods have nevertheless cost fewer dollars? A microwave oven these days costs $35!
Not to mention new R&D. China is beginning to invent new things, and make new discoveries. While these things have temporary effects on the movements of money, in the long run we benefit from having other people making discoveries alongside us, rather than continuing to scrabble in rice paddies.
Re:House v Senate (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:American rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
There are very though and well supported analysises that contradict your assertion if you care to look for them (Against Intellectual Monopoly) http://www.dklevine.com/general/intellectual/against.htm [dklevine.com] is one
95% of rents for 95% of the works are extracted within the first 5 years. Also the vast majority of authors don't see a penny for their work unless sponsored by the publisher (and only the mega-authors are). Royalties are first applied to cover production setup costs. Most publishers require authors to transfer copyright to them, which prevents the authors from making derivatives of their own works without permission. In addition there are alternative models for such authors. If anyone can copy the work the value of the first goes up considerably and the main competition comes from being able to publish first. In addition there are alternative publishing and revenue models that have been successfully used. One such alternative is the maker endorsed mark
Lastly the historical examples do not show that literature languished without copyrights. At the very least copyright should be reduced to a term less than ten years.
Presumption of guilt (Score:5, Insightful)
In the United States, people accused of a crime are guaranteed a trial and presumed innocent until proved guilty. Under the E-PARASITE Act, a website is presumed to be infringing unless and until the affected party can, if allowed to do so by the government, prove to the government that the website is perfectly legal. What a shameful perversion of a justice system that prides itself in being a model of justice.
Re:House v Senate (Score:4, Insightful)
This has nothing to do with left and right. It has to do with the inevitable road to subservience that government control of social policy always leads to.
Sure looks like another case of government selling out to corporate interests to me. The government has shown for some time that they care very little what the people have to say, as long as their sponsors are happy. This bill is yet another act aimed at pleasing the sponsors.
If we elected politicians from more than one party in this country we might have less of this and more governance of substance.
Re:American rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a little more to it than that. The corporate plutocrats have effectively used the old maxim "divide and conquer", by having a system where there's only two parties, and there's really no difference between them (when you look at their actions, not their words). They get popular support by pandering to different groups; one panders to religious extremists and "deluded fucking rednecks" as you call them, the other panders to "liberals", "progressives", etc. They tell their target groups what they want to hear, whether it's "hope and change!", or "we need to ban contraception", or "we need to eliminate income taxes" or whatever. Then when they get elected, they simply continue the same policies with little or no change, while distracting the voters with "terrorists", or "the other party is being obstructionist", or "we can't allow this big corporations to fail or else the economy will be destroyed, so we're going to give them a no-strings bailout package", or any other excuse they can come up with.
Re:American rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
I have been pondering how to remove the SCOTUS without just putting a noose around their necks and giving them a good stretch. I think a Constitutional Amendment would do the trick just fine. Is there any other way to eject these seriously deluded people out of these positions of demigods of our State? There has to be a way to remove one if they go bad. If not then our founding fathers seriously dropped the ball on this one.
Those two acts, one of of declaring money speech and removing all limits to corporate spending to lobbying, are blatant acts of treason against the State. Our founding fathers are spinning in their graves like gyroscopes on that. Hasn't it been said, that once the law becomes unlawful, the people themselves will become a law of their own? Or something like that?
Effectively with the SCOTUS declaring this, has effectively removed all voice from the people in their government. Only the corporations will be served, and our country as we known it has been rendered extinct. You no longer have representation, because those elected will serve those who can dump mountains of cash in their pockets. Because it's free speech and corporations are free to speak because they are people.
Wow, that is so fucked in the head it's surreal. If you look at the history of corporations, you will see how they were only allowed with control, but they have been struggling to gain more and more power until at last they have it all. Sweet Jesus, we are seriously fucked. Someone tell the OWS people to pack it in and go home, the SCOTUS has sold us out, we can't change the laws now even if we wanted to.
Lets consider this big shit sandwich for a second before we all have to take a bite. Corporations are multinational entities. This means that we now have unknown foreign entities with unlimited influence upon our State. Do you think we will now have a prayer of stopping our labor/industry from being exported to whatever third world country that works for next to nothing? Nope, so give a big kiss and a wave goodbye to American jobs. Without American jobs, the 99% become quickly vagrants, no home, no vote.
This is now the land of the corporations. They will thin the herd. They don't need us any more. They are setting on their money, just waiting for us to starve out, die off, while their political lackeys will cut off any help to the bottom end. They will then proceed to shove everyone not in their service down through the meat grinder, no safety nets, just whirling blades of homelessness, no medical, no food, no voice. Say hello to the American Gulags, the concentration camps, and if you are lucky prison. If you are extra special, you can have the treat to serve in their jackbooted enforcement corps or as a thug putting their thumbscrews on the last of the free world.
The sad thing is, we deserve it. We have been stupid enough to just let them get by with creeping up on us. We watch "sports" when we should be watching these criminals against humanity and beating their asses down when they stick they heads out of whatever hole from Hell they crawl out of. We have fucked around with our own indulgences, while our slavery chains have been forged loudly right on our hands and feet. Forget "Bread and Circuses", we are mesmerized by Hollywood, fast food, cable TV, all the indulgences of the Internet. We have been reduced to gutless, spineless cowards who will just bow down and take whatever our Overlords decide for us.
Watch now as these foolish protestors who are a decade too late, are made examples of. They will be crushed, and you will set on your fat asses and make excuses for those who destroy them or why "you can't get involved". That sickly feeling you will experience in your gut, that is the soul of your once great nation dying, and the shame will be overbearing. How ironic! The great American, taken down, not with an epic fight or struggle, but handed over by a bunch of simpering, ignorant pussies, not worthy of being the descendents of the forefathers who bled and sacrificed, only so that their heirs could just piss their freedoms away.
R.I.P America
You deserved going out a more glorious and dignified way.
Re:China copies U.S. Intellectual Property... (Score:2, Insightful)
I think you could make a strong argument that we paid Europe back with our involvement in the world wars and the Marshall Plan.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:American rights? (Score:4, Insightful)
Copyright is a right of a citizen, not a corporation. The legal definition of "legal entity", not withstanding, corporations should NEVER have rights of a citizen, because that diminishes the natural rights of people.
The problem is, that a Corporation has usurped rights of the people, and applied them to themselves, and are sponsoring laws to revoke those rights completely from the people.
The ONLY recourse we have is to revoke Copyright charter completely, as it no longer serves the will of the people.
Re:Presumption of guilt (Score:4, Insightful)
In the United States, people accused of a crime are guaranteed a trial and presumed innocent until proved guilty.
Tell that to the people in Guantanamo Bay...
Re:House v Senate (Score:4, Insightful)
This is why the american constitution was written explicitly to make sure that the government is granted limited powers by the people; not that the people are granted rights by the government.
Re:China copies U.S. Intellectual Property... (Score:3, Insightful)
WW2 was on the western front in the long term an industrial war between Britain and America, and America won.
The US remained neutral with tacit support toward the Nazis (in the usual US way - ever onward, IBM!), entered the war once Europe was sufficiently weakened, and used loan conditions and the Marshall plan to cripple Britain's already damaged industry. When the last repayment had been made by Thatcher (when was a bank last a charity?), she followed Reagan's bidding, inevitably finishing the job of destroying what was left of it.
Similarly, the Eurozone is Germany's fourth economic Reich. Following US practice, by encouaraging one sort of behaviour while acting far more sensibly herself, she has crippled the majority of the continent and made it dependent on her. Greece should do as Iceland: default and recover as an independent, responsible unit rather than enduring prolonged debt slavery. Remind the continent that things were moving along fine before the Euro experiment, when everyone didn't put all their eggs in the basket of a few well-to-do guys up north. But it won't because it's scared - like much of Europe has been scared for the past 70 years.