You can read the full article at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1981489

The hearing, chaired by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., comes just a day after he introduced legislation that would make it more difficult for copyright holders to obtain the names of suspected pirates and prevent the FCC from mandating a digital TV copy protection regime known as the "broadcast flag."

Brownback contends that his legislation isn't anti-Hollywood but an attempt to bring balance back to the copy protection battles that have seen the RIAA launch 261 lawsuits in an attempt to curb piracy on peer-to-peer networks.

"I support strong protections of intellectual property, and I will stand on my record in support of property rights against any challenge," Brownback said. "But I cannot in good conscience support any tool such as the DMCA information subpoena that can be used by pornographers and potentially even more distasteful actors to collect the identifying information of Americans, especially our children."

But EMI executive vp John Rose told Brownback that the move was necessary given the devastating impact P2P piracy has had on the recording industry.

"Last year, digital piracy contributed to our decision to cut our work force by about 20%," he said. "Every record company is facing the same situation."

While the lawsuits were entered into as a last resort, they have been a wake-up call for people across the nation.

"We managed to inform more people in a few weeks than anything we've done before, including a national campaign," RIAA president Cary Sherman said. "The national debate that has been ignited is a good thing for the country."

But executives at major Internet companies contend that the subpoenas the RIAA uses to gain the identity of suspected infringers are too broad

"Congress hasn't given this broad a power to the government to investigate terrorism," said Bob Barr, Verizon general council and former attorney general. "Why does the recording industry get this power?"

Cary-Sue has a lot of nerve thinking it's a "good thing for the country". Putting people in debt/bankrupcty is never good during a recession.. as fas as I know. ~gecko7

Cary Sherman said '"We managed to inform more people in a few weeks than anything we've done before, including a national campaign..."

Seems they don't know how to reach their customers, so perhaps a Marketing 101 course is in order..
1) The customer is always right
2) When customer is wrong, refer to #1

Managed to inform more people as a result of lawsuits?

Sure, I suppose anyone will have to listen if you slap 'em in handcuffs and sit them down for indoctrination.

As much as I hate to give credence to ANYTHING the RIAA says, there is a (very small) kernel of truth to that. If people weren't paying attention before, they sure are now.

But, I'm still not ready to say it's a good thing.

the senators at capital hill are starting to see things on the side of protecting our rights as consumers. after all, we are paying the isp's for a service and it's no diferent than taping a football game or taping your favorite m.t.v. show on tivo. the riaa have to get with the present times of things. atfer all this is the year 2003 and when the new 2003 DMCA protocol hopefully comes into place, they will see what time it is. the gestapo tactics of the riaa is on of greed and avarice and the lawmakers of capital hill are starting to see this.

not all of them see it that way!

Senetor Barbara Boxer’s comment to yesterdays file sharing spar in the senate!

"It seems to me that you're trying to protect the privacy of theft. That's what you're about," Boxer told Verizon's Barr.
As a California senator, some of Boxer's wealthiest constituents come from the music and film industries in Los Angeles.

Congress hasn't given this broad a power to the government to investigate terrorism,"

This is my question also, why di they get more power than the government???? this non sense needs to stop, and os for 20% in layoffs welcome to the recession RIAA, so stop crying about it

But the means they are using to "inform" the public is a form of terrorism (like that word or not). They are bullying people into noticing.

Also, John Rose states they had to cut their work force by 20%. A lot of other (non-music industry) companies reduced their workforce by 20% (and in some cases closed their doors forever). We are in a recession Mr. Rose and sometimes even those who feel they are invincible to all find they have an achilles heel in bad economic times.
Feed the kids or buy the kids the new Britney CD? I think we all no the answer!!!!

3 cheerz for Bob Barr from Verizon; three cheers for Sam Brownback (tell me, is this person a man or a woman? for "Sam" may stand for "Samuel" or "Samantha" as well).

And, here, the best part:
'But EMI executive vp John Rose told Brownback that the move was necessary given the devastating impact P2P piracy has had on the recording industry.

"Last year, digital piracy contributed to our decision to cut our work force by about 20%," he said. "Every record company is facing the same situation." '

Yee-hah!! Those bastards lost 20% of incomes it seems (if they need to fire people, they must have been drained out of money first). If John Rose reads it: it's not the 'piracy', stupid, that causes you to lose your revenues. It's RIAA's awful, abhorrent policy of suing customers , and a BOYCOTT, as a backlash to it; and EMI is a member of RIAA; maybe the time for policy change has come? It'd be better for you to withdraw from RIAA before it sinks forever.

In Liberty,
Critto

"know" the answer, jeez Code, get your elves out of my keyboard. Nice post, woodhead wish I'd have thought of it

"We managed to inform more people in a few weeks than anything we've done before, including a national campaign," RIAA president Cary Sherman said. "The national debate that has been ignited is a good thing for the country."

Oh-yeah, Cary Sue, right ... Ya're right, that's really good that a national debate has been sparked (by your society's stupidity), for it will drown RIAA forever, and you will be destroyed, and nobody will purchase products of your companies. Keep it up, Cary Sue. You are helping us to defy you.

"Keep it up, Cary Sue,
Sue whomever you want
Ya're helpin' us to defy you,
Till RIAA is gone"

Cheerz!
Critto

' "Last year, digital piracy contributed to our decision to cut our work force by about 20%," he said. "Every record company is facing the same situation." '

Actually, they were probably doing the same thing most other industries have been doing: cutting the workforce to maximize profit, in addition to repsonding to a recession. So the CEO can have a bigger bonus.

The RIAA is going to spin however they have to, to get what they want. We need to watch every member of congress and listen to what they say. The battle lines become clearer each time one of them opens his/her mouth.

Should make for some good decision making information come election day, I would think.

geez...where to start on this laundry list of disinformation by the RIAA...
"The national debate that has been ignited is a good thing for the country."
Only a copyright lawyer like Cary-Sue would think hundreds or thousands of lawsuits against hardworking Americans in financial distress already, would be a "good thing" !

And now, as I climb slowly on my personal soapbox...
Many if not most congress people are lawyers. The RIAA is headed by a lawyer, and they hired swarms of lawyers...they are alleging wrongdoing by citizens by appealing to laws...
so, why the HECK can't these three piece suiters get the LAW right?
"...261 lawsuits in an attempt to curb piracy on peer-to-peer networks. "
This bullcrap about "piracy" , or now..."digital piracy" shows they are stupid and intentionally fraudulently misrepresenting the laws. Number one, I've read the DMCA, and the words "pirate" and "piracy" are not mentioned even once ~ You can't make a copyright infringer into a pirate by just calling him one, any more than you can make a car into a tennis racket by calling it one. Things and laws have official definitions. The word "pirate" referrng to citizens, is defined here in the US thusly....
"CITE
18 USC Sec. 1652 01/26/98
TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I - CRIMES
CHAPTER 81 - PIRACY AND PRIVATEERING
Sec. 1652. Citizens as pirates
Whoever, being a citizen of the United States, commits any murder or robbery, or any act of hostility against the United States, or
against any citizen thereof, on the high seas, under color of any
commission from any foreign prince, or state, or on pretense of
authority from any person, is a pirate, and shall be imprisoned for life. "

I know some of you don't understand why I keep harping on this, but please believe me, there is a good reason for me to, and for us ALL to demand that when these sharks in suits say something about people breaking the law, they are held accountable to what laws are alleged to being broken.

I would urge anyone and everyone to bring any reporter, RIAA rep, or anyone else to task any time they accuse an alleged copyright infringer of being a pirate. The only time they are a pirate is if they qualify under
18 USC , Chapter 81,Sec. 1652

I will NOT stop correcting this lie,
and I let Leo LaPorte, Michaela Pereira , Dan Huard, Patrick Norton, and everyone at TechTV know about this distinction in honor of their PIRACY edition of Screensavers, aired on 17 September 2003.

Peace
~code

Quote:"It seems to me that you're trying to protect the privacy of theft. That's what you're about," Boxer told Verizon's Barr.

It seems to me she is quite familiar with misinformation and untruths

I would like to point out that Senator Brownback wants to make the subpeona process more direct in obtaining file-sharers private information and, at the same time, wants to immunize internet service providers. In other words, he wants to cut out the middle step in the lawsuit process for the RIAA.

On codewarrior's post of the law, he is absoulutely right in bringing up the legal definition of a pirate. I am afraid though, it will not matter. My example would be the medical definition of narcotics, in respect to, marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines, none of which, are narcotics.

That reminds me of an important point made once before (in church actually, but it applies here). It's a story involving Abraham Lincoln and his generals. Lincoln asked his generals a simple-sounding question - if you have a donkey with four legs and a tail and you call the tail a leg, how many legs does the donkey have?

All his generals said five.

Lincoln responded, "No, four. Because even though you call the tail a leg, it's still a tail."

The RIAA can say tails are legs all they want, that doesn't make it so. And that's the basis of their platform. And when a platform is built of rotten wood, chances are it will collapse the instant it is expected to hold weight.

Catch my drift?

Go Sentator Brownback!!! He's got his own website for anyone interested. You can find it easily by googling it.


~goingnova

"Last year, digital piracy contributed to our decision to cut our work force by about 20%," he said. "Every record company is facing the same situation."

And who is the record labels' "work force"?

The artists they claim to be protecting, which they must be cutting from the roster at twice the pace than they are hiring lawyers for the statement to be true.

wow zeon, great anology! i agree, just cause you say something is something, even though it's something else, doesn't make it what you call it
Code, 100% with ya, keep up the post, i think you have that perma open in notepad for a quick copy and paste
these people need to open their eyes, people aren't making the extra money they were back in '99, their best year ever, and so people aren't spending as much as they were, simple fact of life, by suing 100's of 1000's of people they aren't helping matters any, they are hurting more then anything, cause they are pushing these people into poverity and they just don't care about that. they see their $$ getting smaller, and don't care about the rest of the country, i think a class action law suit against the RIAA is about in order for inciting terror in the U.S.A., and we can use the patroit act in our favor for this one, cause thats what they are doing is scaring the american people as a whole, these people need to be locked up behind bars, along with most of their supporters!

United WE Stand

Barbara Boxer is a douchebag. Anyone who lives in California should NOT vote for her.

The RIAA wants to issue the subpoenas for personal information so they can selectively pick out their minority victims.

Gee, what would happen if they sued first then issued a subpoena only to find out their victim had powerful political influences or the money to fight back.

Zeon...love that story about Lincoln...
that's great and thanks for sharing it.
Great points all. I say, Box Up Boxer and Send Her Back Home...Elect someone with sense...
Remember...
"Ignorance is Treatable,
Stupid is Terminal"
~CodeWarrior/2003

~code

Also remember Einstein:

"There are two things that are infinite - the Universe and human stupidity. Although I'm not quite sure about the Universe."

Looks like some of our senators are prime examples, eh?

Feel free to spread my little story Code, that's what I'm here for.

..20% cutback? we're gettin' there!! Keep up the boycott! Let's get the other 80%!!

VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. It is ALL politics.

isp-privacy, in regards to Boxer's comments, here are some interesting numbers I found from opensecrets.org.

For the upcoming 2004 campaign, Boxer's top two contributors are:

Lawyers/Law Firms $478,288
TV/Movies/Music $354,320

Is it any wonder she takes the side she does?

I'm sad to say that Senator Barbara Boxer represents my district. I'm definitely voting her out on my ballot if we ever get the right to vote reinstated.

We are the Consumers, We are the Voters, We are the People!

These are some grat articles.

Thanks, gecko7.

Hail Mp3!!!

The riaa says they've reached more people than ever before with their lawsuits. If you log into Kazaa Lite right now, there's still 3.5 million people on the network sharing 700 million files. Even if the riaa has reached alot of people, these numbers tell me that their "sue em all" campaign isn't anywhere close to working.

Just a side note: I don't capitalize "riaa" because to me capitalization is a sign of respect and they don't deserve an inkling of respect.