HR.4077, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act, has been approved by the United States' House Judiciary Committee.

The bill specifies up to five years' jail for anyone making over a thousand copyrighted works available for download. That's if the infringer is profiting from the action: ordinary P2P users would face up to three years simply for making their collections available.
Thwarted by the courts, copyright holders and their lobby groups, notably the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA), have been forced to file "John Doe" suits against infringers. But HR.4077 brings the full power of the state to their aid:

The FBI will be required to serve as propaganda ministry, or in the words of the bill, "develop a program based on providing of information and notice to deter members of the public from committing acts of copyright infringement through the Internet," and enforcer.

The Feds must "facilitate the sharing among law enforcement agencies, Internet service providers, and copyright owners of information concerning acts of copyright infringement described in paragraph".

The committee asks Congress to discourage the P2P networks from deploying the "guns don't kill people" defence.

"Publicly available peer-to-peer file-sharing services can and should adopt reasonable business practices and use technology in the marketplace to address the existing risks posed to consumers by their services and facilitate the legitimate use of peer-to-peer file sharing technology and software."

The bill also makes it illegal to use a video recorder in a cinema to capture a movie.

The chairman of the House Committee which nodded through the measure, Rep James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis), was paid $18,000 by the Recording Industry Ass. of America to make a trip to Taiwan and Thailand in January 2003, a breach of the House ethics rules, say critics. [WaPo | Reg] Sensenbrenner said it was a "fact-finding mission", even though his schedule was arranged by the State Department.

But the distinction between State and corporate interests are now so close as to be indistinguishable.

From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/09/p2p_jail_bill_approved/

Ahh so much corruption, im scared........someone hold me

YIKES!

Was ~Fluffy~ here?

You decide...

Here we go now it's 1984 fastforward 2004 we have censorship, corruption, a payed off congress, offshore corporations buying laws we have corporations and identity theives spying on us as well as our own government big brother, what else am I missing too much to list all of this crap is really unnessesary.

Remember this come november this is all done with the bush administrations blessing using fear and terrorist as the sole means to make us unfree so we have no voice and no freedoms.

I'm afraid the enemy has won now that this country has turned pretty close into a police state.

Well it does come down to this:

It's the $$$Money$$$ which makes them Powerful....

That's why people must be aware and revolt right now!!! If such a FASCIST thing passes, the whole public must revolt tremendously before it's too late!!

There sure as hell needs to be a law passed that prevents corporations from giving congressmen money!!!!!

Wanna really make them go crazy with this bill how about we organize a day when we can get maybe a million or more people to download a thousand or more indie files and put them in their share folder and watch them go crazy thinking they have the real thing. I really would like to see them fold from that.

Sounds like a good Idea nitedreamerxp.

Rename all the indie Tunes to RIAA Crap Noise, yeah you're on to something here!

1 Cool Good Way to Frustrate them

We need to be proactive thats what I'm thinking.

would make them go nuts wouldn't it grinning with horns.

the plus side would be that more people would get good music.

I say, there's another Cool Way!

This is possible with WinMX.
Load all the Real RIAA Noise Crap Files into the Shared Folder, make sure you refresh your Shared Files List.

Step 2:
When that's done, all you need to do is to merely change , or add any Letter to your Shared Files Folder.

So, for e.g. The Shared Folder now becomes _Shared Folder.

Important once you done that, DO NOT REFRESH THE LIST!

To outsiders, it will be Frustrating, they will see the all the Items in your Shared List, however since you've altered the Shared Folder name Somehow, without refreshing the List, they will now be blocked from Downloading it!
There's no Way, anyone can even get your IP that Way, because they cannot connect that Way, they can only see the File Listing!

Good Idea frustrating the RIAA!

Don't forget Peer Quardian!

So is this bill and law in effect as we speak? Or is it still going through the regular approval process after this route?

I was never much of a government guy...

Not in effect yet Jinsoku, but getting more and more close to being so every day. We MUST fight harder than ever before to preserve freedom!

This reminds me less of prohibition and more of antisemitism.

I am reminded of a hebrew song which speaks of the 6 million lambs brought to slaughter.

The Hebrew people have been blamed for languishing economies, at one time there were widely circulated myths of jewish families grinding children for use in passover meals. Now, it is no longer the jewish people, but those who adopt new technologies and reshape society who are the evil corruptive dregs of humanity.

Luddism is most devastating to those who, like myself, believe we as a species are capable of so much more.
I am watching the most hateful, vicious, and greedily orchestrated attack on the evolution of human society since the catholic church took actions against the early astronomical entrepreneurs.

One major advantage i see in a dictatorship is the libertarian idea that so long as you dont question the government they usually leave you the hell alone.

My brother lived more freely in the peoples' republic of china for a year than he has ever been in the US. Makes me jealous that he knows mandarin, for he can flee there to freedom if he chooses.

And is this exerpt assinine or what:
"The committee asks Congress to discourage the P2P networks from deploying the "guns don't kill people" defense."

That's about the only recourse left to the P2P networks, and this committee has the ludicrous gall to ask them to voluntarily refrain from using it!

These people are pathetic. And dangerous.

Also:
". . . has been approved by the United States' House Judiciary Committee."

And you know who's in charge of that jewel...

definition of a 'committee':
a coalition of the unqualified
prevailing upon the unwilling
to do the unnecessary

definition of a CONGRESSIONAL committee:
a coalition of the unqualified
resorting to the unethical
to do the unreasonable

This whole business about legal action against consumers is crazy. Let's think back about how this whole thing started:

1. Music Industry sells Vinyl records.
2. Music Industry sells 8-Track tapes.
3. Music Industry pulls 8-Track format, forcing consumers to buy other formats to replace worn out 8-tracks.
4. Music Industry sells Cassette Tapes.
5. Music Indutry pulls Vinyl records and forces consumers to purchase CDs as their vinyl wears out, or for new purchases.
6. Technology firms provides method to encode CD tracks to mp3 for easy storage on a computer.
7. Mp3 players are sold by technology firms to capitalize on consumers' desire for new found compression scheme.
8. Music Industry sues consumers for sharing mp3s from CDs, Vinyl, or Tapes purchased legally, as they don't have complete control.

Note to Music Industry and Congress. You can sue all you want, or create as many laws as you like, but you can't force people to buy crappy music!!

In the end, the RIAA will still be whining!! In the end, they'll be in for a rude awakening when sales slump even harder, and the industry will suffer for the treatment of their consumers!!

I wonder how long it will be before we are legally required to buy a set amount of cd's each year or face jail time??? That is how funking rediculous this all is. Who the hell keeps feeding this evil monster anyway? I educate people every chance I get. When I see people buying cd's, I tell them doing so supports American terrorism. That's it, I am getting me a shirt that says just that!

I am so sick of this shit, I could just puke! I have always thought of myself as the most non-violent person on the planet, but I AM READY TO FIGHT TO THE DEATH!!!!

funking... oops, you know what I meant

nitedreamerxp...did you mean rename the Indie file with a main stream top forty name? Now that would confuse them all to heck... interesting plan of action..

HEY RIAA . . . LISTEN UP AND THIS TIME YOU HAD BETTER FUCKING LISTEN UP GOOD!!!!!!!!

THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE LAST TIME THAT I AM GOING TO SAY THIS!!!!!!!!

YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO TELL US WHAT WE CAN DO WITH THE MUSIC THAT WE OWN!!!!!!!!

YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO TELL US WHAT WE CAN DO ON OUR OWN PRIVATE HOME COMPUTERS!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO SICK THE POLICE ON US FOR WHAT WE FEEL IS A LEGAL ACTIVITY!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS OUR PROPERTY AND YOUR MOTHERFUCKING LAWS ARE NOT GOING TO STOP US FROM DOING WHAT WE WANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS THE LAST TIME THAT I AM GOING TO SAY THIS. THE NEXT TIME I HAVE TO SAY THIS, I WILL BE DOING IT WITH A 12-GAUGE SHOTGUN POINTED IN YOUR GODDAMN FACE!!!!!!

I agree, they DO NOT have the right!!!!

BUT...

They are "buying congress" to make laws in their favor! So, before long it WILL BE THEIR RIGHT!!!!

You go axxis, can I go with you???

I know this sounds very cynical, but I would bet that this HR.4077 act would disappear from the agenda of Congress if the US experiences another major terrorist attack.

More to the point, we cannot afford to turn the FBI and other Federal agencies into copyright police when we are trying to defend ourselves against terrorism.

nitedreamer,
this mess would be going on no matter who was in the White House. Recall that it was Clinton who signed the DCMA from which all other evilness sprung.

money, bribes, & corruption don't care WHO is President.

im scared now i thought the threat of jailtime was no real but now it is
i was threatened with possible kail time and a 100000 dollar fine i hope they didn't catch me again or else im screwed

Capt-n-Jack: Very nice synopsis.

Pepe,
thats exactly what I was thinking need to make them go into a panic thinking they have the real thing need to show how absurd this law really is as well as the other non essential laws they are trying to pass. with so many people sharing indie files renamed mainstream crap I really don't think they would have the resources to keep up I think this would be civil obedience in the electronic age. it would also pull the rug out from those riaa goony stoopers.

Call it day of a thousand shares.

Capt-n-Jack: You forgot Edison Cans. In all seriousness though, this bill is typical of the US government. War on Communism: Throw people in jail. War on drugs: throw people in jail. War on terror: throw people in jail. War on P2P: throw people in jail.

Terabyte,

Well, I'm not against throwing terrorists in jail, provide, of course, that they really are terrorists.

But for a large democratic country, the US does seem to throw a lot of folks in jail for 'victimless' crimes - particularly for drug use.

Terrorism of the 9/11 kind is by far the greatest threat to this country now, and that is what the FBI, etc. should be focusing their efforts on now (without taking away all our freedoms, of course).
Sicking the FBI against file-sharers just seems like a waste of taxpayer resources.

Bufo, I agree -- throwing terrorists in jail is nothing to be against. However, the vast majority of the people held for questioning...held in jail...are not only innocent, but in many cases there is no evidence, no reason to believe that they are terrorists at all (except that they are muslim -- yea ok). And we will probably see something similar if this bill passes; people going to jail that didn't share anything, or whose kids were sharing, or someone came to there house and downloaded songs. It's already been the case that people have been sued even though they themselves weren't sharing files. And, as new P2P programs come out, offering more anonymous access, the mistakes are likely to increase in frequency.

bushes and the republican job plan, more jails, more jobs !!!10/4 flbgbt

I'm so glad I live in Canada!

Im moving to Canada seriously. There's nothing left to love in this country.

Lock and Load. Time to start picking off these piggies in D.C.

this is so depressing

Mr. Bush and cronies if the number three priority is copyright infringement. Then where do you rank bank robbery, fraud, kidnapping, drugs, etc. I could go on with the list. But what would be the point in that. Since you do not even consider it remotely important. Can we go lower now. The lies The Content Cartels tell you that they are the only legal music on the net. Well I just have to inform you that they only have one percent of the legal music that on the net. When you come to your senses which may be never. All you have to do is go to google type in music and see what you come up with. Results 1 - 10 of about 258,000,000 for music [definition]. (0.35 seconds)

And it is important to note that this bill is cosponsered by John Conyers, supposedly one of the most "liberal" Democrats in Congress.

And the committee vote was a "voice vote," meaning that it was unanimously supported, even by Democrats.

It is time to end the two-party charade. It is time to end the capitalists' control of this country and its peoples. It is time to truly bring LIBERTY, JUSTICE, PEACE, and DEMOCRACY to ALL peoples of America and the world.

Support the Socialist Equality Party. Check out the SEP platform today.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/apr2004/stat-a28.shtml

Do not fall for the illusion that a Kerry presidency will be any better than Bush's. Sure, Bush and his minions, especially Asscroft, have been disastrous, but the Bush White House is owned by the very same people that will own a Kerry administration.

Bush = Kerry

Support the SEP.

like i said
they dont care about what wehave to say
they want to make america a communist country
we anre a anti priovacy and anti freespeech country

"I would bet that this HR.4077 act would disappear from the agenda of Congress if the US experiences another major terrorist attack."

No, they'd just pass it without even reading it. See: Patriot Act. Also, I understand that the DMCA was passed in the aftermath of 9/11, correct? It's sad that you're wrong, but I think you are.

son of a bitch took a bribe of 18000 dollars
and theya re aproving this
thast fucking bribery and hella illegal
this bill is in the inteest of another fucking country??
how the fuck can this asswipe allow himself to be a judicial member with such corruption
thats fucked upa nd to make it worse our government has shut downt the notify page tio tell other judicial members whos pulling a scam
theve silenced us
like i said
induce will pass this willo opass pdea will pass patriot act 2 will pass
we are all dead
we have to fight back in the harshest manner
we have to make citizen arrests of these assholes before they sell our constitution to terrorists
thats whats happening
we are becoming the new taliban
soon womens rights and gay rights wont matter
over time is now a felony in most states if you dont qualify
hell cuba is more free than we are
a 2nd civil war is brewing and we will win
we true americans out number our government
10000 to 1
we have to make a stand as the blacks did for their civil rights we have to do what george washington did 200 30 years ago
WE NEED A NEW DECLARATION OF TRUE INDEPENDENCE FROM THE FACSIST COMMIE TERRORIST DICTATORS
what these ploiticians have allowed have shamed america
and the relatives i lost in 2 foreign wars
my relitives who dies in those wars and my 2 brothers in the trade centwer died for absolutely nothing adn as a member of the 911 victims families
i am ashamed that these shady get rich for a few and make the world poorer scemes.
mr bush or mr kerry
wanna be a real american
VETO ALL THESE BILLS THAT RIAA AND MPAA ARE PAYING OFF ILLEGALY TO GET PASSED
THESE BILLS ARE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
you can go to jail longer for filesharing and smoking weed than for molesting a 12 year old boy or murder

WAKE UP
IM A TRUE AMERICAN
IM PRO FREEDOM AND ANTI COMMIE AND ANTI TERRORIST
OUR CURRENT ADMINISTRATION IS AS BAD AS AL QUEDA IF THEY PASS ALL THESE HARSH COMMIE LAWS
not just against filesharing buttheres countless others
we cannot win a war on terrorisnm by using terrorism as a weapon of war
its onething to remove a sadistic dictator
but its another to turn in to one to favor your enemies
notice ho when ever the damn color goes up
a new facsist law is made
shit thast our country
id rather live in borneo
if i can afford it but america just wants to make us poorrer

Saying that "bush = kerry" is not exactly true. Niether is particularly great, but Kerry is certainly the lesser of two evils. Bush has been a crook since before he took office, and has continued to be a crook throughout this presidency. I would go as far to say that he is more crooked than Nixon, and probably the most crooked president this country has ever had. That, combined with Cheney's creepy, criminal aura, makes this the worst administration in American history. After confronting the criminal atmosphere of this presidency, we must consider the economy. Has it improved? No. Stock market is up, but that is good for only the upper 10% of society. The unemployment rate is down; but that's because people are being kicked off welfare (the unemployment rate is actually measured by the number of people recieving unemployment benefits), which doesn't indicate that they have jobs, and those that manage to get jobs are getting minimum wage jobs that they can barely support their families on. Bush's stance on science can be summed up in one word: Jesus. Education can be summed up in one colloquialism: ummm. Here's a good phrase I hear sometimes, when people try to justify Bush: "We have to give up our rights, in order to protect our freedom!" Now, I ask you, given the choice between all of that and John Kerry, who do you chose?

That's odd--the response I usually get to "Why shoud I vote for Bush?" is usually "Because Kerry is scary." If these people actually watched Bush lately, they might see that he's not the brightest star in the heavens.....

bush = kerry?

According to Kerry, he's "not bush!" lol... they're both idiots.

Sherminator,

Actually, I believe the DMCA was passed in 1998 - well before the 9/11 attack. The Patriot act was an act designed to thwart terrorism (how effecitive it is in this regard is debatable, of course).

But I suppose you could argue that if another attack occurred, it might be possible for the big content holders and their lobby groups (like the RIAA) to somehow combine P2P filesharing with terrorism in a bill similar to HR.4077 (or, alternatively, claim that terrorists were using P2P to communicate with each other). Congress might just be gullible to believe something like that.

I want to ask... When they start convicting people under this law, will they just cart off the high school kids, the elementary school kids, the college kids, or the entire family?

I'm interested in wheather this will lead to the incarceration of entire nuclear families if the computer is a family computer, or if the college student, dad, or others share their computers with their family.

Maybe theyll just force parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters to testify against a particular "example" whom theyve singled out under penalty of prosecution themselves.

I hope this is brought up in debate.. if there is debate.

Excellent points, awehr.

I have always felt that for whatever copyright infringement may be committed using P2P applications, it is best to use cease and desist orders, followed by a reasonable fine of some sort.

With this law, the penalty for copyright violation via file-sharing potentially becomes greater than the penalty for walking into a record store and shoplifting a bunch of CDs (does anybody get 3 years in prison for shoplifting?).

In the malevant mind of the RIAA, P2P infringers ARE worse. And the government is complicit in this mess because they, as well as the entertainment media, want to be strong in what CodeWarrior calls information micromanagement -- they crave power and control.
File sharing and free discourse are bad for their side; it's too much freedom that they can't control or manipulate, so they want to fight it any way they can (including the despicable "buying" of key legislators).

How ironic that the more you try to covet power, the farther it escapes from your grasp...

Family members testifying against each other--what a movie that would make!!
"Junior did it! He downloaded all that music!"
"No, no, it wasn't me, it was little Sally--she just loves Disney songs!"
"I didn't do it, I was in nursery school all day! Daddy did it!"
"Don't look at me--I have a job--if I go to prison, nobody will support the rest of you!!"
Take them all, or sacrifice one for the greater good?

Good stuff, you guys!

BTW, in my previous post . . . I typed "malevant" when I meant "malevolent".

i wonder where the trillions of dollars are gonna come from to pay for all this when we dont even have the resources to secure our country
how can you protect freedom by taking it away

Hey, yeah, that's a real good point!
Applicable to America in general (regarding fighting terror or whatever), that would make a good protest sign as well as a good bumper sticker, wouldn't it?
"How can you protect our freedom by taking it away?"

"We're all living in Amerika"

This is scary messed up stuff. If this law passes we might as well just all start looting cd's after we wipe our hard drives. With all the fbi on their computers we'd probably be fine ::rolls eyes:: If you want to look into a truly nifty third party option, libertarian is an excellent choice. http://www.badnarik.org/
I had always hoped I wouldn't have to fight for my freedom, that our forefathers had done that so we could enjoy freedom without having to lose our lives. Looks like it's our turn to be forefathers. If that's how it's going to be I'm more than willing to take up the role and in our Constitution we end it with "don't be idiots and squander your freedoms!"

I'm with ya libertyordeath

Yes, if this becomes law, it will be bad. However, it won't stop file sharing. Many people in the U.S. will stop sharing but continue downloading. Many will continue to share because they know the odds of getting caught are low. Presumably, people outside of the U.S. would be unaffected by the law. The total numbers of P2P users has grown since the start of the RIAA lawsuits. The legal solution isn't working. Furthermore, when kids start getting thrown in jail for sharing music files, I have to believe that public opinion will increasingly turn against the music industry. A lot of people will be hurt but there is NOTHING the industry or government can do to stop file sharing, or even significantly curtail it, short of shutting down the internet (which isn't going to happen).

nitedreamerxp and Fluffyhere:

Please excuse me jumping into your conversation.

Since the lawsuits inflicted on 1,000's
of poor souls are for a crime called *Copyright Infringement*, I do believe that Indie artists copyright their songs.
They have to when they release their material to the public so their songs are protected from theft. So, this would mean that people who share/download Indie are Not Safe from Copyright Infringement lawsuits.

Are we absolutely sure the RIAA is going after only those sharing/downloading their own labels music?

Or, do *Copyright Infringement* lawsuit cases involve punishing everyone accused of sharing and dowloading ALL copyrighted music....even THOSE from Indie artists?

If I am wrong, someone please explain it to me.

The copyright owner (the RIAA is the representative of the Big 5) is suing for unauthorized distribution. They aren't suing for indie artists that they don't represent or indie artists who have authorized distribution through file sharing.

Really want to have fun? Just start putting shit in your shared files and name them names similar to top songs/artists. Make them download like a bastard and get nothing. There should be a "code" that lets real P2Pers know that a file is a fake, so they won't download it. You could make your own recordings. Although Sherm will have to promise to send me a copy of what his recording is. LOL!!

RIAA's License to record and produce music is suspended. If you rally want to stop whining, then join the North American Phonograph Companies, Anti Piracy Task force. (RIAA is the Pirate), remember, they have no license to record and reproduce "Articulate Speech and Other sounds." We are for advanced technology, and good music. I am probalby the RIAA's biggest fear. I have already sent them the same Cease and Desist notices that they send peer to peer. There is also a conspiricy, I sent press releases to The Washington times, AP, and UPI wire services and knobody ran them yet. RIAA has a hand in the news as well, We must do something drastic to them. I have not purchased an RIAA CD in 3 years. I teach the history of music recording, and wax cylinder demonstations, at colleges, and I always show the documents, that RIAA has breeched. I love music, I am not against musicians, I am not against sound engineers, or the recording studios themselves. ( I love playing with sound, it is my life.) I howver hate the deciet, and buracracy of RIAA, and the business of puppet musicians, fakery,ect. In fact there is so much music that the RIAA has hidden away, that it is shameful. The RIAA tries even to hide the fact there was recorded music before 1952! I always like the Un-released stuff better than the released.