‘Jail File Sharers’ bill passed
p2pnet.net News:- The PDEA (Piracy Deterrence and Education Act) has been passed by the US House of Representatives.
Fronted by Hollywood henchmen Lamar Smith and Howard Berman, it will have the FBI working for the entertainment industry, allowing it to bring criminal charges against file sharers. And anyone caught camcording movies in theatres could land sentences of up to three years in jail.
Behind Smith and Berman are the major record labels and movies studios, with software and hardware manufacturers on the side.
At the moment, the Big Four record label cartel (only one of which is actually American, the rest being based in the UK, Germany, France and Japan) use their RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) to bring civil suits against men, women and even children on the grounds that anyone sharing digital music files online is a hard-core criminal, stealing the bread from the mouths of starving artists.
So far, 4,995 people have been sued and every one of the victims has ’settled’ out of court.
Is that because they know they’re guilty and accept Big Music’s settlement offer so they won’t be fined so much?
No. Where Big music and the major movie studios are concerned, the notion ‘innocent until proven guilty’ is archaic and doesn’t apply to them.
The RIAA makes an offer defendents literally can’t afford to refuse: ‘Settle out of court, or go before a judge and face us, with our bottomless pockets and endless legions of highly expensive lawyers, and suffer the consequences”.
In addition to whatever legal costs they might incur, victims could be fined between $750 and $150,000 for each track they’d downloaded.
It’s no surprise that no one has risked a court appearance.
Even judges are noticing the smell.
“I’ve never had a situation like this before, where there are powerful plaintiffs and powerful lawyers on one side and then a whole slew of ordinary folks on the other side,” said US district judge Nancy Gertner recently.
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See:-
Hollywood henchmen – Berman/Smith FBI bill approved, p2pnet, April 1, 2004
September 30th, 2004 at 2:53 am
Typical american system. I don’t know why nobody from the EFF or any other eager young lawyer hasn’t taken up the cause to defend these people.
I admire the USA in many respects, but on this one, they are fucked.
Really fucked.
September 30th, 2004 at 4:20 am
Would you be ready to take the risk to lose everything you own?
You have to be prepared for that to go to court.
The music industry brainwashes the media to believe that
one download = one album stolen.
Meanwhile, in reality, we can easily see that downloading
anything does not in fact remove any kind of property from anyone.
If anything it CREATES material.
September 30th, 2004 at 3:56 pm
QUOTE:”I’ve never had a situation like this before, where there are powerful plaintiffs and powerful lawyers on one side and then a whole slew of ordinary folks on the other side,” said US district judge Nancy Gertner recently.
She obviously hasn’t been paying attention. DirectTV pulled exactly this same stunt against hundreds of people who bought legal smartcard programmers, claiming the mere PURCHASE of the equipment was evidence of “theft of services” from DirectTV.
Sure, some were guilty. But the “we’re bigger than you are, so you have to pay us money” mentality is extortion, pure and simple.
September 30th, 2004 at 5:34 pm
Will Bush ever instruct the DoJ to investigate Berman, and Lamar, and all the other politicians like Terminator Hatch who are being paid by the movie studios and record labels?
October 1st, 2004 at 5:14 am
Yeah it’s time to let out Drug dealers, Rapist’s, Murders, Bank robbers and all the rest and put these Filesharers where they belong!!!!!! Lock them up and throw away the key!!!!! This will help make the world a safer place to live in!!!! RIGHT!!!!!!!!