Obama Administration Announces Massive Piracy Crackdown

[Tom]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=18815

"It's smash and grab, no different than a guy walking down Fifth Avenue and smashing the window at Tiffany's and reaching in and grabbing what's in the window." -- U.S. VP Joe Biden

While they may never be able to truly defeat piracy and drive it from the lurking depths of the internet, copyright protection attack-dog organizations like the RIAA and MPAA have long dreamed of the day when they would no longer have to pay for their own copyright enforcement. Now that dream is on the verge of coming true, thanks to the Obama administration.

After countless lobbyist dollars from the music and film industry and a brief "public review", the administration rolled out its vision to fight piracy yesterday afternoon. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden -- whose blunt speech has sometime left him in trouble -- did not mince words.

He states, "This is theft, clear and simple. It's smash and grab, no different than a guy walking down Fifth Avenue and smashing the window at Tiffany's and reaching in and grabbing what's in the window."

The sound-byte comparing downloads to stealing jewels from New York City's finest jeweler quickly lit up the web. Bob Pisano, interim chief executive officer at the Motion Picture Association of America praised the VP, "It is especially critical that the United States has an effective framework for protecting creative content online and enforcing intellectual property rights in the digital environment."

According to the Obama administration, the RIAA, and MPAA, the world economy is pretty much doomed if we don't start prosecuting pirates at home and abroad. Without such a crackdown, businesses will go bankrupt the coalition argues. Biden states, "Piracy hurts, it hurts our economy."

Interestingly, the statements seem to fly in the face of a recent Government Accountability Office study released to U.S. Congress earlier this year, which concluded that there is virtually no evidence for the claimed million dollar losses by the entertainment industry. That study suggested that piracy could even benefit the economy.

Another noteworthy study from three years back notes that virtually every citizen violates intellectual property laws in some way on a daily basis.

The White House press release was full of buzz phrases, but short on details. It did however indicate that the U.S. government may increasingly monitor filesharing networks and BitTorrent sites and assist media groups in their prosecution/threat letter efforts. It speaks of improved "law enforcement efforts at the Federal, state and local level."

The biggest effort, though, will be devoted to cracking down on piracy websites in the U.S. and overseas. The administration was short on details of how exactly it would convince piracy-loving nations like China to change their ways, but it did say it would try to do so by "being as public as we possibly can" about infringement.

The press release states, "As we shine the spotlight on foreign governments that have rogue actors doing illicit business within their borders, it's the government's responsibility to respond."

Such efforts have shown mild success. After lots of threats against the Swedish government by the U.S., the European Union nation finally tried admins with the nation's largest torrent site The Pirate Bay last year and found them guilty. The trial was later exposed to be a perversion of the justice system, with the judge who gave the verdict have multiple ties to copyright protection organizations. The verdict -- $3M USD in damages and a year of hard prison time for the admins -- is currently being appealed.

The White House's vision is perhaps a prelude to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which will go before Congress later this year. The bill would make P2P or BitTorrent client development a criminal offense if the distributed software was used for infringement. It also implements an interesting provision called "imminent infringement", which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched "torrent daft punk"). This is among the first official "thought crime" provisions to be proposed by the U.S. government. The bill also makes it a criminal offense to bypass DRM.

Ultimately, it should be interesting to see how American taxpayers react to President Obama's decision to spend their money on efforts to prosecute them and try to choke out piracy at home and abroad, particularly when the current evidence is inconclusive of its effects. One thing's for sure, though. Top politicians on both sides of the aisle are firmly behind the music and movie industry anti-piracy and money-collection efforts.

hello, worst thing ever.



In related news, you cannot pirate a cat.

 

[Mota]

Preventing internet piracy, good luck.

What a waste of time, politicians doing their stuff I suppose.

 

[UberMario]

Honestly I think this is one of the better ideas they've made, torrents are getting out of hand.

 

[Grandeza]

Alert AltF4 immediately!

 

[Tom]

Honestly I think this is one of the better ideas they've made, torrents are getting out of hand.

Did you read this part?

It also implements an interesting provision called "imminent infringement", which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched "torrent daft punk"). This is among the first official "thought crime" provisions to be proposed by the U.S. government.

 

[GoldShadow]

I hate Obama. And his administration.

If Alt sees this I'm afraid he'll have a stroke

 

[Dodongo]

The government has no right to try and regulate the internet

 

[Lore]

This seems like a thinly veiled excuse to begin interrnet censorship. China did the same thing, but they used child pornography as their excuse.

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the administration starts to say that this will help stop terrorism.

 

[Geist]

Because this'll totally stop piracy somehow

 

[SuperBowser]

This is pretty dumb.

 

[Luigitoilet]

Did you read this part?

It also implements an interesting provision called "imminent infringement", which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched "torrent daft punk"). This is among the first official "thought crime" provisions to be proposed by the U.S. government.

That's terrifying.

And I can't get over how insufferably ******** that Biden quote is.

 

[Jim Morrison]

...Man, the thought crime thing really made me how can you be that dumb. Then I remember I lived in The Netherlands !

 

[Crimson King]

To all who say "good luck," you are missing the thing called the War on Drugs. While the US government is in no way winning, they do pull a lot of money and can continue it, so it'll never end and makes it awful for people who just want to smoke pot in their homes. Piracy will ALWAYS happen, like drugs, but with the government watchdogs on it, it'll be harder to get away with.

Also, the Kill Switch for Obama (and all presidents after) is step one. They can cut the internet at their whim. Step two will be passing Net Neutrality legislation because it allows the government to police on the internet. Bad progression.

 

[Jim Morrison]

Also, the Kill Switch for Obama (and all presidents after) is step one. They can cut the internet at their whim. Step two will be passing Net Neutrality legislation because it allows the government to police on the internet. Bad progression.

Sadly you can't pull that **** without starting nationwide riots.

 

[freeman123]

I'm not a big Obama supporter at all. There a very few things that I actually agree with him on. I do, however, think that piracy is no different than stealing. I don't think that this is similar to the war on drugs as far as morality goes. If someone chooses to use drugs, they aren't violating anyone else's rights. That's why I think that the war on drugs is stupid and I think that everyone who is locked up for drug related crimes should be released.

Piracy is different, because when you pirate music/movies/games/whatever, you're stealing from someone. Someone else invested their time and effort to create X, and you're saying "I deserve to have X for free." If you think you're entitled to the product of someone else's labor, then you're practicing a form of slavery. Stealing is a form of slavery because you're taking the benefits of someone else's labor without compensating them for it. So I completely support treating pirates like thieves, because they are thieves.

With that being said, I do think that this may be kind of like the war on drugs in another sense, and that is that a war on piracy may be an unwinnable battle. I think what's more likely to happen is that, in the future, musicians and other artists will have to find new ways to profit from their creations. I think it's likely that in the future all music, movies, TV shows, and video games will be free, and the people who make them will make their money through advertisement. So, for example, you'll be able to go to Eminem's website and download his new album for free, and his website will have advertisements on it. So the more hits he gets from people going to his site to download his album, the more money he makes from companies who want to advertise on his site.

 

[UltiMario]

It's that the people can impeach the president or overthrow the entire government at any given time, so they CAN'T pull stunts like that or else they'll lose power and probably end up dead.

Also, I'd like to say this:

It's different than smashing a window and then taking something, it's smashing a window, using a cloning ray to copy it, and taking the clone. :/

I also wonder why it's illegal for someone to share something they bought with their own money, they bought it, so if they want it to give it to other people to use, then it's no different than giving a game you don't play anymore to a friend IRL or something. But alas, it's a crime. I can understand making cracks and keygens for games, and I understand what kinds of money industries lose to this, but a decent part of "piracy" is no more than file sharing.

 

[Karcist]

Why does Biden even talk? Has he said anything meaningful at all since the 08' elections first began? Like everyone else said though, this is just another one of Obama's little tricks to get the government's foot in the door of yet another area they have no place in. You would think they would at least come up with a better excuse though...

 

[Luigitoilet]

With that being said, I do think that this may be kind of like the war on drugs in another sense, and that is that a war on piracy may be an unwinnable battle. I think what's more likely to happen is that, in the future, musicians and other artists will have to find new ways to profit from their creations. I think it's likely that in the future all music, movies, TV shows, and video games will be free, and the people who make them will make their money through advertisement. So, for example, you'll be able to go to Eminem's website and download his new album for free, and his website will have advertisements on it. So the more hits he gets from people going to his site to download his album, the more money he makes from companies who want to advertise on his site.

This is already happening. Musicians make the vast majority of their money through touring and merchandising and almost none on record sales. The record store is dead, and musicians who are intelligent at all realize this and capitalize on it. Radiohead and NIN are the big examples I can think of, but plenty of musicians tour their butts off to make that hustle. That's how it should be. Musicians should be playing their music as much as possible. Nowadays, the album is put out to advertise the tour. It used to be the other way around. Honestly, I see very little wrong with it.

 

[pickle962]

It's that the people can impeach the president or overthrow the entire government at any given time, so they CAN'T pull stunts like that or else they'll lose power and probably end up dead.

Also, I'd like to say this:

It's different than smashing a window and then taking something, it's smashing a window, using a cloning ray to copy it, and taking the clone. :/

I also wonder why it's illegal for someone to share something they bought with their own money, they bought it, so if they want it to give it to other people to use, then it's no different than giving a game you don't play anymore to a friend IRL or something. But alas, it's a crime. I can understand making cracks and keygens for games, and I understand what kinds of money industries lose to this, but a decent part of "piracy" is no more than file sharing.

The government is going downhill fast

 

[CRASHiC]

Also, the Kill Switch for Obama (and all presidents after) is step one.

1. That bill has nothing to do with this or Obama, attaching it with this is uncalled for.
2. read this
http://www.informationweek.com/blog...l;jsessionid=5S4AK33Y3ZDDXQE1GHPCKH4ATMY32JVN

 

[Strong Badam]

It's different than smashing a window and then taking something, it's smashing a window, using a cloning ray to copy it, and taking the clone. :/

I liked your analogy until the bolded part. It should read:
It's using a cloning ray to copy it, taking the clone, and leaving the window there. Pretty sure Emarosa's "Relativity" album isn't smashed; it's still very well in existence, as well as many other items.
by the way, UltiMario, where are them Marth animation fixes >:O

 

[freeman123]

It's that the people can impeach the president or overthrow the entire government at any given time, so they CAN'T pull stunts like that or else they'll lose power and probably end up dead.

Also, I'd like to say this:

It's different than smashing a window and then taking something, it's smashing a window, using a cloning ray to copy it, and taking the clone. :/

I also wonder why it's illegal for someone to share something they bought with their own money, they bought it, so if they want it to give it to other people to use, then it's no different than giving a game you don't play anymore to a friend IRL or something. But alas, it's a crime. I can understand making cracks and keygens for games, and I understand what kinds of money industries lose to this, but a decent part of "piracy" is no more than file sharing.

If I kept a journal, and you read my journal without my permission, you've violated my property. It doesn't matter that I haven't physically lost anything, since I still have my journal. If it's my journal, I get to choose who can read it and under what circumstances. Maybe I want to charge people $5 to read it. Or maybe I don't want anyone to read it at all. It's mine, so I get to decide who can or can't read it. If you read it without my permission, then you have violated my rights.

It's no different with music. If someone creates a song, they, or whoever they sell the rights to the song to, get to decide the circumstances for listening to their song. If they decide you have to pay $1.99 on iTunes to hear the song, then that's what you have to do.

Your argument about being able to share what you own fails, because most songs, movies, and games are pirated before they're even available for anyone to own.

 

[Strong Badam]

my argument is i don't give a **** and I pirate, never fails.

your music analogy fails, too, because you can listen to music without owning it. i.e. radio, youtube, TV, etc. not sure if anyone puts their journal on TV... except maybe Doug.

 

[UberMario]

Did you read this part?

It also implements an interesting provision called "imminent infringement", which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched "torrent daft punk"). This is among the first official "thought crime" provisions to be proposed by the U.S. government.

I guess I didn't really look that deeply into that portion, but now that I see that I see this is just stupid and abusive beyond what should be acceptable.

Talk about overkill, it's more logical and easier for them to kill the source, not the lookers, and there would be too many potential ways to bend what that would actually mean, which would mean whoever has the more $$$ would win any lawsuit/fines (the government).

Besides, that's invasion of privacy, instead they should just make it so that search engines (i.e. Google) block specific words (i.e. torrent and pretty much any of it's derivatives) from being searched.

Torrenting (which in general is for illegal purposes) should be killed, but that doesn't mean it's ok to view everyone's actions no less fine them for it.

 

[Strong Badam]

orrrrrr they could just not waste my tax money on bull****

 

[UberMario]

It's that the people can impeach the president or overthrow the entire government at any given time, so they CAN'T pull stunts like that or else they'll lose power and probably end up dead.

Also, I'd like to say this:

It's different than smashing a window and then taking something, it's smashing a window, using a cloning ray to copy it, and taking the clone. :/

Which still costs the creator money that they will not get, thus the crime is still stealing, just now it is implied money that SHOULD have been used to purchase said product.

 

[Teran]

Yeah we've had these crackdowns coming in in the UK so I've been using more nefarious methods to legally download things.

 

[Steven9wii]

piracy is worse when you hear songs that are american in italy, unless your the tourist

 

[Luigitoilet]

piracy is worse when you hear songs that are american in italy, unless your the tourist

wh

at?

 

[CRASHiC]

Steven9wii is my favorite poster.

 

[Luigitoilet]

Steven9wii is my favorite poster.

do you guys ever play super mario 64 DS just to kill yoshi?

Also do you make yoshi ****?

Me too

XD

 

[Fly_Amanita]

I feel like the USA has declared war on my native land.

 

[choknater]

tell me why i think of one piece

 

[Mr.Freeman]

piracy is worse when you hear songs that are american in italy, unless your the tourist

Yeah! I know right?

 

[Эикельманн [РУС]]

Time to move to the Netherlands.

 

[Fuelbi]

This is why I supported McCain

 

[GoldShadow]

McCain was even worse, in many other aspects. The man had the foresight of a deaf bat.

There's just no winning.

 

[BBQTV]

this bill better not pass

 

[CRASHiC]

http://www.leg.wa.gov/History/Legislative/Documents/BillsPassed08.pdf

 

[Luigitoilet]

This is why I supported McCain

No it isn't.