PIRATE Act Passes Senate

Phaedrus · Jun 26, 2004

Associated Press/Charlotte Gazette story is here.

What is most significant here is that PIRATE actually enables the Justice Department to bring civil suit against alleged people who are alleged to have downloaded or shared copyrighted material, even if no criminal charges are filed. This is an enormous expansion of the DoJ's power in this area.

Also of note are the facts that this bill was put forward without discussion and that it was done on a voice vote -- so there is no record of who voted for or against it (btw, voice votes suck ass and should be abolished for this very reason.)

Phaedrus

wilheim · Jun 26, 2004

So if a baseball capper downloads say pitching stats from USA Today everyday he could be sued by the DOJ even though USA Today could care less.

wil.

ChuckSims · Jun 26, 2004

Until people wake up and take their head out of the sand and vote we will have corporations running the country. Kerry is a phony and a flip flopper but Bush is worse.

Phaedrus · Jun 27, 2004

I can't wait for this law to run up against "fair use" policies, which can vary from site to site and from country to country. Technically speaking the DoJ could sue the living shit out of me, The General, wilheim, and pretty much everyone who posts here in the Politics, Government and World Events forum for reproducing copyrighted information without the owner's permission.

Phaedrus

xpanda · Jun 27, 2004

Just email me the link and I'll post it for you. I don't think the DoJ has jurisdiction in Canada.

Marco · Jun 27, 2004

Chuck....when you say that until people wake up and take their head out of the sand and vote we will have corporations running the country....

Corporations do pretty much run the country now.....and will continue to do so whether or not we vote or not.....

the issues the American public actually have a chance to vote on and actively decide thier own future are few and far between.....more often than not we get to elect the leaders who in turn vote on these issues....and as often seen the effects of campaign contributions by corporate donors and special interest groups, bribery and corruption leech thier way into the decisions our elected leaders make......

When you have issues like the Patriot Act thrown together and voted on with a chicken with it's head cut off mentality, such as the state of mind after 9/11.....also an issue like this that was not discussed and passed on a voice vote.....you end up with laws on the books that lead to dubious use by authorities...

Do you think the American public would have voted for congressional leaders to receive that lucrative pension plan where they receive 100% pay upon retirement?

Bottom line.....until the American public has a chance to be more involved in the direct vote as to whether or not some of these issues are passed or not.....the public will be at the mercy of the vote of thier elected leaders, a vote which has been proven over time to be influenced by the money that big business and corporations provide whether legally or illegally to our elected leaders.....

How about Haliburton and Cheney and the no-bid contract for starters????

Phaedrus · Jun 28, 2004

Chuck

Participation in the political process as a means to the end of effecting change is just naïve. It won't make it any better no matter how many ballots you cast.

Phaedrus

Woody0 · Jun 28, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Phaedrus:
..PIRATE actually enables the Justice Department to bring civil suit against alleged people who are alleged to have downloaded or shared copyrighted material,
Phaedrus<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Do you have the text of the bill with the definition of "downloaded"?

The reason I ask is that it seems to me that if you "view" any material on the net you have of necessity "downloaded" it to your computer where it resides in memory. Also, unless you are particularly careful this material will be stored on your hard drive as a temporary file when you log off the site.

So is this an attempt to prevent use of the Internet by US citizens?

I don't understand.

Edit: I can't find this bill on the Senate website, do you have the number?

[This message was edited by Woody0 on June 28, 2004 at 08:06 PM.]

Phaedrus · Jun 28, 2004

Woody0

I'm sure it will get kicked around in court some. Technically speaking when you open a webpage you have downloaded it, although only in a temporary fashion -- in order to fully store it on your system you'd have to take a couple of more steps. This would be easily differentiated in files.

PIRATE's official number is S.2237 and you can find it as passed here.

Phaedrus