White house trying to make unauthorized streaming a felony

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ian1

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http://www.zeropaid.com/news/92831/obama-admin-wants-to-make-illegal-streaming-a-felony/

Intellectual Property Czar Victoria Espinel recommends that “Congress clarify that infringement by streaming, or by means of other similar new technology, is a felony in appropriate circumstances,” and that law enforcement be given wiretap powers for intellectual property crimes.
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Wow... I'm speechless. I mean, this is terrible.

I really hope this doesn't get through congress.

Thoughts?
 
This is only for people that are providing the content illegally, not for the people watching it. Still a bit overboard but it's understandable. I read some people being worried about torrents falling under this category, but I doubt it. If that was the case then yeah, this would be pretty bad.
 
I think in another article it said that they could go after those downloading as well. Don't quote me on it though. I'll try to find the article and post a link.
 
we really must be broke if they're targeting streamers now
 
If that's true they could never get away with this. Most people that stream illegal content have no idea that they are doing so. Imagine the feds raiding your home because you watched a song on YouTube that someone uploaded illegally. Makes no sense.

And I don't know if I buy the inquirer article, this is what it says:

According to Espinel, the current law makes it unclear whether streaming copyrighted works is subject to felony penalties, meaning prison time, because the penalty is "predicated on the defendant either illegally reproducing or distributing the copyrighted work". The question lies in the legal definition of "distribution", as streaming isn't the transfer of complete files.
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It clearly talks about distributing and not downloading content.

For the downloading part the inquirer links to a article from some site I never heard of which has mispellings in the article itself, so that's hardly reliable. I could be wrong, but I really doubt any lawmaker in their right mind would suggest that streaming something from youtube that is copyrighted be a felony. DWIs in most states aren't even felonies.
 
For those not familiar with US legal terms, how serious is a "felony"?
 
So, did the US government just buy a bunch of wiretaps at a fire sale or something? They seem really eager to use them.
 
This seems like the kind of thing that's really likely to have unintended and ludicrous consequences.

Sort of like talking loudly on the phone within earshot of your impressionable young daughter about how "she probably won't survive...yes, she's got only days left...I'll have to get rid of her soon..." without ever mentioning that you're actually talking about your 1976 belgrano coupe (I made that up).

Except worse.

Much worse.
 
I will not vote for an administration that continues or supports this bullshit.

That means I won't be voting for you a second time if you cinch the democratic nomination Obama if you keep pushing through with this ****ing crusade on the side of copyright groups.
 
Raziaar said:
I will not vote for an administration that continues or supports this bullshit.

That means I won't be voting for you a second time if you cinch the democratic nomination Obama if you keep pushing through with this ****ing crusade on the side of copyright groups.
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Yes because the alternative is so much better. That's the sad reality, that voting means a choice between bad and worse.
 
This doesn't affect me but seriously, wiretaps? What is this, George Orwell's 1984?
 
Thankfully it was just a recommendation. I doubt it'll go through congress.
 
Acepilotf14 said:
Thankfully it was just a recommendation. I doubt it'll go through congress.
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I wouldn't be so sure. A lot of them are in the entertainment industry's pockets, who would be absolutely thrilled to see this pass.

I really hope you're right, though.
 
Stylo said:
This doesn't affect me but seriously, wiretaps? What is this, George Orwell's 1984?
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Yes. George Orwell's 1984 was a grim parable about a model of extreme capitalism in which everything, even seeming intangibles like 'air', 'observation' or 'intellectual property' can be comprehensively quantified in terms of ownership and property and therefore must be jealously guarded through the manipulation of state power even while the money-owners and their allies decry that power. At a crucial point in the book, Winston Smith, the protagonist, realises the absurdity of a metaphysical perspective whereby potential and imaginary profits are defended as lost revenue and where competitive entities are entitled to total control of their market - where that control is valued over consumer loyalty, free advertising, or human decency. Then he gets rats all up in his grill.
 
Man, I never recognized 1984 as depicting an extreme form of capitalism. I do recall it depicting an extremely oligarchic society(Which isn't completely unfamiliar in the real world, just look at North Korea.) but I never made a strong connection to it depicting extreme capitalism.

Then again, I was 14 the last time I read it. Maybe it's time for a re-read.
 
Come on, man, don't you remember the bit where O'Brien tempts Smith with a huge annual bonus? And when Winston and Julia fall madly in love they sprint around the gigantic pyramidal mall of MiniShop together, buying all the African Victory commemorative Victory Gin gift sets and new Yves Saint-Laurent dress uniforms that they can. Not to mention the bit where Winston's neighbour gets denounced by his kid for torrenting state-approved porn movies. Hell, if I recall correctly, Winston's job at MiniTruth is to doctor old EULAS to retroactively tighten their conditions, since some of the more venerable actually allow you to watch the movie or use the product without there being a policeman in the room.
 
Remus said:
Yes because the alternative is so much better. That's the sad reality, that voting means a choice between bad and worse.
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Sadly it is this thinking that allows these assholes to get away with what they do. Obama is assuming we will support him because we have no where else to go. Therefore he has absolutely no motivation to change. I think it's time to change that.
 
Wow, so they're bumping it up two notches? From civil, bypassing criminal, right up to felony? Nice. What a wonderful government.
 
Sulkdodds said:
Yes. George Orwell's 1984 was a grim parable about a model of extreme capitalism in which everything, even seeming intangibles like 'air', 'observation' or 'intellectual property' can be comprehensively quantified in terms of ownership and property and therefore must be jealously guarded through the manipulation of state power even while the money-owners and their allies decry that power. At a crucial point in the book, Winston Smith, the protagonist, realises the absurdity of a metaphysical perspective whereby potential and imaginary profits are defended as lost revenue and where competitive entities are entitled to total control of their market - where that control is valued over consumer loyalty, free advertising, or human decency. Then he gets rats all up in his grill.
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Stop being gone so much.
 
Depends on how you define capitalism, a truly free market would not have copyright laws or speculative future property, those are state backed inventions as are the limited liability corporations that benefit from it.

The intertwining of corporations and government is Corporatocracy, which is what we have now.
 
ITT: Trolldodds fielding incredible retcon tekkers!
 
So where's the best place we can bitch about this sort of thing?

Connect me with the white house pronto.
 
I think it's a book, but I can't find it on Amazon anywhere.
 
Yeah I asked my mom if she knew what it was and she gave me some huge book. I don't know how to use it though, anybody know the url for the specific page its on?
 
I can't even figure out how to hook a damn keyboard up to it. The best I can do is just kinda ram the usb connector into the middle but it doesnt work. In fact, I think I may have damaged it by doing so. The casing on this thing doesn't seem very sturdy, I dont even think its aluminum. Its like some kind of stiff toilet paper or something.
 
For god's sake, what's with you people? Haven't you seen a book before? They don't run on USB; you have to use a serial connection. Make sure you 'open' and 'close' the book to reset it before you expect the device to be recognised.
 
Is that some new version of the Kindle I haven't heard of? Sounds pretty reading 2.0.
 
Sulkdodds said:
For god's sake, what's with you people? Haven't you seen a book before? They don't run on USB; you have to use a serial connection. Make sure you 'open' and 'close' the book to reset it before you expect the device to be recognised.
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You Sir just gave me a good chuckle!:LOL:
 
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