Please take the time to see the video of the Hatch Induce Hearings.

Download: Primary (Bit Torrent) - Secondary

My lawyer friend Josh comments on MaryBeth Peters statements yesterday:

"The Register’s proper role, other than running the day to day work of the Copyright Office, is not to act as an advocate of particular policies but,if anything, to act as an advisor to the Congress. It is one thing to report on the status of the law and to suggest a change in law in order to clarify the law or in order to promulgate a new policy."

"It is quite another matter for the Register to suggest the proper outcome of a pending case particularly since she is in the employ of the Congress - - not part of the executive branch - - and by definition cannot speak for all its members some of whom might well disagree with her opinion."

Additional reading:

Please read Ernest Miller's comments here:

http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/005218.php


Rep. Rick Boucher explains all here.(see link below) If the INDUCE ACT makes it to the House, Boucher vows it will be DOA. (And what actions you can take to communicate with your Congressional Representatives)

http://files.dmusic.com/video/boucher2.mov

Boston Globe Critic Hiawatha Brey makes a full retraction:
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Uh-oh
"Remember my support of the Induce Act?"

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2004/06/28/for_geeks_its_a_big_misunderstanding/

"I just changed my mind. The US Register of Copyrights has come out in favor of it. That's not the problem. The real issue is that she wants the law as part of an effort to modify or even overturn the 1984 US Supreme Court ruling in the Betamax case, which legalized video cassette recorders."

"I was assured by bill supporters that there was no intention of messing with the Betamax ruling, which really was the Magna Carta of digital tech innovation. Any possibility that this bill could amount to a set-aside of Betamax must turn me utterly against it."

Tom replies:
There you have it in a nutshell. OVERBROAD legislation. The government asks us to TRUST THEM not to abuse new powers! Has the world turned topsy-turvey? Why do conservatives not protest this expansion of government authority and the creation of entire new categories of felonies? What is an INDUCE crime anyway? Something to fill up prisons? As we are starting to find out, as M. Moore's film suggests,that Congresscritters don't even READ the bills they put into play?

Hatch admitted that this bill was written by the BSA; now that the BSA is reacting to a public uproar, and is backing down---what excuse do we have to keep this bill alive?


see this link: BSA backs down

http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/005232.php

Because it is in the interests of those being paid by the RIAA and MPAA goon squad.

"Rep. Rick Boucher explains all here.(see link below) If the INDUCE ACT makes it to the House, Boucher vows it will be DOA. (And what actions you can take to communicate with your Congressional Representatives)"

I feel better about this statement...as it seems there is absolutely no way the senate members of the judiciary have or want any input from a growing segment of society who are against this move to turn back time.
I hope I'm looking at Mitch Bainwol's ugly mug when INDUCE does (I hope) get killed in the House. The greedy smirk being wiped off his face would the top video download on p2p.

It's a shame MaryBeth Peters was easily paid for. I feel she no longer serves the interest of America and should step down.

We're depending on the 9th circuit court?

tom, you were in the room -- did jaws drop when Marybeth gave her testimony?

Wow, Gary Shapiro is wonderful.

I didn't drive up there to DC for the Hearing. I would have been disappointed with the witnesses anyway. As it is, I think getting the event captured in all its repellant glory was worth staying home and capturing the video!

As for my jaw dropping, yes, Mary Beth is clearly sitting in the lap of Cary Sherman; and Mitch Bainwol's first public speaking engagement was in half-profile, as he looked back to Peters for guidance.

Otherwise, as they say in boxing and horse handicapping, "a second look at the tape tells the tale." I don't think politicians are accustomed to instant replay cameras capturing their lies for posterity. Mary Beth Peters is the classic definition of "regulatory capture" and her girlish fits of giggles, blushing and flirtation with Hatch are an embarrassment.

The tape tells the tale: this is nothing less than an end-run around the Betamax decision. And Ms. Peters comes out in all her glory and does the bidding of the entertainemnt industry and asks Congress to overturn the court's wisdom in Betamax. How do we find the words to describe the suicidal impulses of the RIAA and MPAA tilting headlong over the cliff. The bedrock principles of Betamax are the foundation of the profits that entertainment corps enjoy in modern times!

Are they really tilting headlong off a cliff though ?
With a majority of the population completely kept in the dark about this piece of crap, and the majority of "power" firmly in the pocket of the media industry, how can they fail, really ?

Even if this media clip circulates like a california forest fire around the "net" ( I hope it does ), the voting majority, who base their decisions largely on industry controlled Television and radio will simply never know about any of this.

Once it passes,
the possibility of media like this getting out ever again, will quickly vanish.

Hatch's threat that ya'll better get on board, cause he's going to do SOMETHING, is scary.

Shapiro and McGuiness made some excellent points about whether there really is a harm, that the legislation will never cure the harm it intends to remedy, and why don't these industries just face reality, this technology is here to stay.

It seems to me that Leahy almost realizes his position doesn't make sense, but keeps babbling to try to figure out a way he can still retain the monetary support of the entertainment lobby.

sigh

Read the statements:

THE HONORABLE MARYBETH PETERS

"It seems to me that Leahy almost realizes his position doesn't make sense, but keeps babbling to try to figure out a way he can still retain the monetary support of the entertainment lobby."

US Senate = Tower of Babble

Is anyone in the Senate making sense? I sent a letter to Sen. Grassley, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, but was probably MIA yesterday -- did anyone see him there? I followed up with a phone call the day before the hearing. The person who answered my call/took my message appeared to have no clue about any of this, and appeared to care less about anything I said. Normally they will read back what they've taken down and say they will pass it on to the Senator. This time it was, OK bye. Subtext: 'Get off the line in case a corporate contributer is trying to call in.'

But frankly I'm not sure I've heard anyone in the Senate make any sense on copyright issues.

This from the Washington Post at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6843-2004Jul22.html

"The architects of file-sharing piracy make millions of dollars while attempting to avoid any personal risk of the severe and criminal penalties for copyright infringement," said Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I believe we can and must find a solution in this session of Congress."

and further on...

" Hatch urged supporters and opponents of the bill to help him develop a compromise that protects legitimate manufacturers while allowing copyright owners to protect their rights.

"If you help us, we just might get it right, but if you don't we're going to do it [anyway]," Hatch said."
`
Meanwhile...here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9018-2004Jul23.html

"The leaders of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks warned today that the United States is at greater risk of a calamitous terrorist attack unless lawmakers and President Bush act on the panel's recommendations for reform."

Someone needs to ask the Judiciary Committee and in particular the ardent supporters of the frivilous INDUCE ACT......

WTF are their priorities?

Well, according to Mitch, Hatch and Leahy......this "Piracy" is terrorism. It is Inducing our children.........yeah right. The priorities here seem to be their bottom lines and to hell with the rest of America. These guys are all in it for themselves.

Haha, I got the feeling Marybeth Peters was Hatch's Monica.

I posted this to the action ideas forum but I'm reposting it here to generate awareness. Sorry if I'm spamming but I know not everyone reads every forum here.

Drokaten

Subject: Lets enlist Michael Moore
Date: July 23, 2004 @ 3:36 AM
I'm sending a couple letters to Michael Moore to see if we can enlist him in the cause.

Whether you agree with his politics or not is irrelevant. He's the only director in the industry who's on our side of fair use publicly. Frankly, lets face it - no one can cause a storm in the media better than he can either - we NEED awareness, we need MILLIONS of people to be generating dissent on this topic or they WILL pass it.

I urge each of you - even those who do NOT agree with his politics to send him an e-mail asking for him to speak out against induce.

He's MORE likely to do it if even people that aren't in alignment with his political leanings agree with his stance (our stance) on fair use.

Desperate times require desperate measures and mailing our representatives isn't proving terribly effective with as easily as this bill is progressing.

He could get the word out - and keep the war rolling because this is WHAT he does - takes on big companies and takes the fight to THEM. If you havn't seen his TV series, I recommend viewing the first episode of 'The Aweful Truth' - after how he took Humana HMO's policy apart and got their kidney transplant policy changed while saving a mans life all in one fell swoop - you'll see that disecting the RIAA's very very flimsy policies is exactly what he does best.

As soon as the RIAA jumps on him - LOOK OUT - he'll make a movie and then, WE WIN. 70% of the country easily takes advantage of fair use - they would not be able to withstand the scrutiny of a major motion picture detailing all of their unfair practices in 2 hours Moore style.

here are all his contacts. - sending news about INDCUE to his news address will also help get us in front of the 30,000,000 hits a day his site recieves.

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I saw Moore speak last fall on campus. I got in line to ask him his thoughts on file sharing and copyright reform, but a few full-of-themselves students were ahead of me asking lengthy pompous questions (do I sound bitter?) and time ran out before they got to me.

I subsequently e-mailed him about the issue, never heard back. I'm not even sure if it went through because his e-mail is so jammed.

Maybe if he gets enough e-mails he'll notice. I bet a snail mail would get more attention.

Any time you see a name for a bill that misterms what it is after, you know you got a snake, looking for grass to hide in.

When it comes to bills with names like "save the children", "for mom and apple pie", "patriot act" you know right off the bat they are hiding something. It is attempted to wrap it in a wrapper that has anyone that questions whatever it is they are putting forward as being against humanity.

In reality, it is far from that wholesome. It is the disguise to try and slip it through will looking like something else. This one looks like a stinker and as more find out about it the more clothes pins are needed to discuss it and remain in the vincity of it.

The RIAA has already shown it can't be trusted to do the right thing. Never seen sueing a 12 year old as being a right thing. It will take all the rope it can for a new round of terrorism on the public till it is reigned in.

Only good thing about it is they are so greedy and at such tear to jump in and implement some new anti-technology measure that assures their survival (even if you don't buy their products) that it leads to such excess that even the every day citizen looks at them with disgust. Then someone in the house or senate has to say, "Wait a minute, this isn't what we agreed to or thought you would do." They have to go back to the drawing board to figure out some way to lessen the damage they have created in giving the monster more power.

So how many victums do we see go down this disposal drain before they wise up that there is no satisfing them and there is no dealing with them on a honorable basis?

Best thing that has happened with this bill is that it didn't quite get railroaded through as it was thought it might be.

You certainly can not trust the RIAA to do the right thing. They will do everything that they can get the power to do. So far they have shown just what that is and it isn't pretty.

Thats kinda what i'm thinking - he needs to see a lot of e-mails over it at once before the topic sorts good in his 3000 message inbox heh.

He has spoken out that he doesn't agree with the copyright laws and that its ok to download his movie - he's obviously got the ear of the media (or the media by the ear

I think we need to make concerted effort to get noticed - but believe me as someone who's seen most everything he's made (and yes with a very very critical eye - i've also researched nearly all of it) this is right up his street.

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64315,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

Hatch: "We have to give a damn about copyright"

Apparently he doesn't give a damn about the fair use doctrine or the desires of 60 million Americans. Maybe he will come 2006.

Here is a Windoze Media player file. Have fun!

http://files.dmusic.com/video/hatcher800.wmv

Orson Wells must be psychic or something.

oh, NOW you have windows version--after I wrestled with it for an hour---thanks, tomsong.

" we want you to help us get this Right" in other words we'll make sure that your tech ind. is protected if you get on board and help us destroy P2P!!!!! or else you stand a chance of us wording this law to destroy you too tech ind. The American People Have just been SOLD down the River!!!!!! After watching the stream of the so called hearings I'm beginning to see how the NAZI 's operate!!!!! sic hatch If hatch is so worried about the creative people (artists) are then why not expose ALL the rotten crap the major label's pull on the artists!!!! What a bunch of hypocrite's!!!!! Watching this hearing is seeing PAYOLA in action!!!!!! MY final question Does Senator Leahy even have a Brain????? This clown is a waste of good air!!!!!! How do they keep getting re elected??????? ALL Leahy does is Ramble and Babble!!! What a Maroon!!!!! Never in the history of mankind have I seen so much Ass Kissing going on in all my life!!!! Would somebody Please tell these assclowns how to dress!!!!! Mich the bitch brainwol looks like BOZO the Clown yellow white blue is this guy colorblind????? 97% my ass!!!! How does he get that figure!!!!!!! Don't flatter yourself so much Fat Boy your slaves(artists) aren't that Great!!!!!! If this is what my Tax Dollars support these kind of Hearings I need to quit paying Taxes!!!!! Free the Music!!!!!!!!

"But what are the substantial legitimate uses for Grokster or Morpheus or Kazaa? Virtually none. The file-swapping programs are used almost exclusively by thieves, who rob recording artists of billions every year. Shed no tears for them. Weep instead for poor Orrin -- not a bad fellow, but misunderstood."


that was from the boston globe article.

What narrowminded pinhead would write such overtly slanderous filth.

some legitimately shared files i got this month:

ayumi hamasaki - 3 albums
negima limited edition character maxi singles - 3 albums
3 different anime series (no american releases/licenses)
400 wallpapers
several artist permitted music videos
several home made music videos
several underground news reports
2 audio collages
7 open source packages.

this news site is RICH if they think its all about downloading useless crap like britney spears.

By all means PLEASE find a way to rid p2p of her disgusting work.

Why isn't the EFF suing Bainwol for lying to Congress. He is so full of shit it's unbelievable.

I have a question.

were the eff and p2p united representatives there to testify?

There are no accounts of it.

I want to know where these people are going.

Would someone be nice and post a .mpg version? I can't get .wav or .mov to work on my computer and I don't want to upgrade any of my media players for fear of drm and spyware.

sorry .wav should read .wmv (of course I can do .wav files, lol)