I have no problem with anyone protecting their work. My problem is the way these laws are put into effect then picked up and ran with by lawyers writing a new dictionary on words and how they are interperted. Which will happen here just like anything else. The American solution to everything is tag someone with a felony and throw them in jail. Our prison system is over crowded as it is. There is a place for murders, rapists, child abusers, etc. but every time you turn around now the cops or some hot shot lawyer is pulling people into court over nonsense, charging children with felonies, creating a new war... war on drugs, war on terror, war on who knows what else is comming. These are mere schemes with media rhetoric to control the population to go along with their hypicritical BS.
As you see here even this particular bill can be interpereted in more then one way leaving the door wide up for future BS and BS will come with it.
You sound like someone who is very frustrated.
The USA is primarily a country that makes money from intellectual property rights. You speak of real problems, but its far more problematic that 9% of this country is unemployed. So much of the USA relies on intellectual property rights being monetized. If you look at every major industry that relies on copyright you will see industries being ravaged by the current state of affairs in the wild west that is the internet. I do realize that things are complicated and its not so simple to say that copyright infringement is the reason why so many industries are seeing numbers trending downwards. But you cannot escape the fact that their products are available for free online, and free is something you cannot compete against.
You probably are not aware of this, but Filesonic.com pays $15 for every 1000 downloads of any file that is hosted on their system. Same with Megaupload, Oron and tons of other places. Hordes of pirates flood the internet daily with all types of content in an effort to generate $. $15 doesnt sound like alot but for people working in India or the philippines it is. There are literally tens of thousands of small footsoldiers out there uploading files every day, every hour.
I know this bill is attacking streaming but its the same case here. Duckload.com is one of many "streaming" companies that allow "user generated" content to shield themselves from liability under the DMCA act. They take stuff down on notice but really its all a wink wink with the pirates who immediately reupload.
You and others like Superstar speak of things getting out of control. No, we are already there online. The pirates are winning and american industry is seeing the money is use to make being shipped instead to these hong kong based filesharing companies and the hordes of pirates they control under their affiliate programs. This is the reality of the current situation, not a hypothetical could be bad for karaoke and pool streaming that has music in the background situation.
Think about it in these terms. Every prosecution of ANY crime is discretionary by law enforcement. Take jaywalking. In many jurisdictions its a crime. Is it enforced? no. Instead its a law on the books that is meant to help enforce the simple fact that people cannot be running across the street dodging traffic because it suits their needs. Its not enforced because people know its wrong and they change their behavior. Now, if suddenly people started walking across these streets whenever and wherever they choose, and accidents and all kinds of mayhem ensues, then yes you will see enforcement.
This law is intended to go after the real bad guys. The guys who are doing this and making big money. The Feds have their pick of literally thousands of offenders that are true piracy for profit guys. The Feds could care less about music playing in the background and they would never bring a cause of action for this.
