“The PRO-IP Act would drastically alter US copyright law by increasing the amount of statutory damages that could be awarded to rightsholders. For instance, someone copying a 50 songs from a boxed set could be liable for $7.5 million in damages instead of the current $150,000. There’s more: there would be a new office created within the executive branch that would be responsible for IP enforcement, while the Department of Justice would get a new IP enforcement division.”
And as if that wasnt scary enough:
“Preliminary punishments involve seizing of pirated copies and the device on which the copies are stored. Hefty fines may also follow.”
What’s next? Allowing the government to torture people to get the whereabouts of other music pirates?
If you followed the old laws I don’t think it’ll affect you much here in this country. Besides, 150,000 dollars is still more then what most Americans can afford to pay in the first place.
You could say the same for anything, except blender-related threads. Hence the title “Off-Topic” on the forum.
Good point, but the price isn’t the only difference. Now they can seize your property and there’s a branch of government that is dedicated to this. That means more bureaucracy and more tax money getting taken out of your paycheck to support this, on top of the bailout tax and the chunk the illegal IRS takes out.
This is ridiculous. If most people make $30,000/yr, over their entire lives they would make 1.2 million before taxes. So they’re going to take 6X a person’s life’s wages for copying 50 songs? This is the kind of thing tarring and feathering was invented for.
The people who make the songs (or most of them) don’t get 75 millions a month, or even a year. It’s ridiculous. It may not be okay to take songs without permission and smuggling them or just give them, but 75 million dollars, completely ruin a life for 50 SONGS!!!
If it wouldn’t be because of the constitution, they’d cut the heads of whoever would do that. They’re trying to get as close as possible.
A lot of this legislation will be moot for a lot of people soon. These types of laws are tailor made by and for the big media companies and conglomerates. They’re building wall after wall of defense around their media. However, there are PLENTY of bands, film makers, artists, etc who are turning around and releasing their work outside of those channels now. It used to be just a handful of artists using the net, but now you’ve got Radiohead and NIN releasing whole albums for free, and there are dozens of websites specifically designed for bands to make their music available to everyone for free. I see no reason why sites like Vimeo and Youtube couldn’t be a platform for legitimate release of feature length indie films.
The best way to combat bills like this is to cirvumvent them entirely. I, for one, have all but stopped buying and listening to music produced by major record labels. There are a few bands I still follow, but the majority of music I listen to is available legally for free on the net. I’ve tried to cut back on the amount of Hollywood I intake as well, but the difficulties of funding and producing a feature length film put the indie film maker at a huge disadvantage. The growth of opensource tools and skilled users of those tools - like Blender, for instance - is starting to allow the indie filmmaker an avenue for the same sort of effects and production tools that the bigger studios use. We will probably see films that are just as slick as the current hollywood films coming from indie filmmakers in a decade or two, and from budgets that are miniscule compared to current budgets.
I dunno about everyone else, but I am going to make an attempt to completely stop indulging in this sort of commercial media. From now on it’s open-source, freeware, creative commons or any indie artist who is producing and selling a product on their own. This way I can ensure that 100% of the money goes to the artists who deserve it and not to some board of executives.
Stop pirating games, movies and music. Just stop indulging in all of that crap entirely. 90% of it is all garbage anyway. Almost all the music on the radio is garbage. Almost all the modern games are shovelware. Almost all movies are shallow, soulless dreck that caters to the lowest common denominator. We’re better than this.
i got one thing to say to this issue
I personaly got grabbed by the balls roughly 3 years ago for piracy of movies, i got a phonebook sized letter from Loeb and Loeb (a lawfirm) saying that i was getting sued by 24 Major Motion Picture companies… that was FFFUUUUNNN
anywho, thankfully after going to court and nagotiating with them we came to a settlement of $3k American for every company that desides to take this mater even further… thankfully only one company, DISNEY decided to actually cary through and actually send me streight to court… so i ended up paying 3k settlement and 2k court fee’s
sorry to say but JUST DONT DO IT, i havent downloaded any pirated films for over 3 years and am not planing to again… nor music…havent had a problem since…
If you would just buy the work you have nothing to wory about
I am not suggesting that I am/am not a pirate, but from a neutral perspective, if you get caught, you’re doing it wrong. A proxy could have easily prevented that. Also, if I was/am/am not a pirate, I would/am avoid(ing) recent releases at all costs.
God, that was annoying to type.
Normally, such harsh treatment is reserved for large seeders and people selling these movies illegally for their own profit. Did you fall into either category? Or were you just one of the unl
The best way to combat bills like this is to cirvumvent them entirely. I, for one, have all but stopped buying and listening to music produced by major record labels. There are a few bands I still follow, but the majority of music I listen to is available legally for free on the net.
Exactly. I’ve been buying indie for quite some time now. The rest of my music is given to me by friends, found in a magazine cd, or listened to over a legal source, like the band’s website or youtube. A very small amount has come from “other” sources. Note that that does not necessarily imply stealing or pirating. As just about every song ever made has been uploaded to youtube by someone, it’s great for finding songs. You can’t be held responsible for listening, either, as it’s youtube’s responsibility to censor the content. The only downside is the low sound quality.
I’ve had trouble convincing friends that there are good, free music/game/etc sources online. Perhaps we should compile a list of free/indie media sources so people won’t feel there’s no alternative to mass-media?
I hope I’m not hijacking the thread, but here’s a start. I’ve have many more links, but I’m limiting this to the best quality sources so people being introduced to free media won’t say “oh, it’s free because it’s bad quality”.
All the links here are free to watch/play/listen to, but not all are open-source. Non open-source/free to distribute media is italicized. Remember to check the license for any media you download/distribute!
sorry i havent kept up with this post but you sugest using a proxy… it wasnt the companies that have caught me… it was my ISP that reported me downloading those items to the companies
i was using Verizon at the time and they were the ones that actually sold me out, they even sent me a letter wsaying that they were doing it
Normally, such harsh treatment is reserved for large seeders and people selling these movies illegally for their own profit. Did you fall into either category? Or were you just one of the unl
Uh… Not sure why I drifted off right there, but I meant to say “Or were you just one of the unlucky scapegoats?”
Interesting. I’m using Verizon. I’ve been using encrypted (not necessarily illegal) torrenting for quite some time now, though, to prevent torrent throttling.
I like the way you stated that something “(not necessarily illegal)”. Either it is legit or not. So by way of not getting a flame response from you, I respect you and your statements . . . and yes I do have in my collection things not paid for, that I can both afford and not afford.
Yes, it’s legit or it’s not, but whether or not it is illegal is a decision left to the reader. Legally, there’s nothing you can do about a statement like this. Coming straight out and saying o hay imma pirate rawr >:3 usually results in a report to the ISP by some random snitch (some ISPs are offering small bonuses to those who report as incentives). And so, for those who want to talk about actual pirating without getting sued by some money-hungry corporation, will continue to do so by talking about it indirectly. Not that I would do something like that, of course.
But that’s another argument for another thread. Sorry for taking this off-topic.
A friend I was talking to today only received a warning from his ISP, rather than the penalties described in the opening post. I guess what happens to a pirate is ultimately left to the ISP.