Fast Forward to jail
p2pnet.net News:- “Do you like fast-forwarding through commercials on a television program you’ve recorded? How much do you like it? Enough to go to jail if you’re caught doing it? If a new copyright and intellectual property omnibus bill sitting on Congress’s desk passes, that may be the choice you’ll face.”
The above is the intro to Eric Hellweg’s article in the MIT Technology Review, and it goes on:
“How can this be possible? Because language that makes fast-forwarding through commercials illegal – no doubt inserted at the behest of lobbyists for the advertising industry – was inserted into a bill that would allow people to fast forward past objectionable sections of a recorded movie (and I bet you already thought that was OK). And that’s but one, albeit scary, scenario that may come to pass if the Intellectual Property Protection Act is enacted into law. Deliberations on this legislation will be one of the tasks for the lame-duck Congress that commenced this week.”
But it’s not just advertisers. It’s Hollywood. And it’ll try to ram this One-Stop ‘anti-pirate’ act through congress.
What’s it all about? Public Knowledge has eight components, and among them are:
H.R. 4077 Piracy Deterrence in Education
Establishes “offering for distribution” as basis for criminal copyright violation and “making available” for civil violation, regardless of whether there is any distribution or copying, let alone infringement. While traditional infringement employs a higher, “willful” infringement standard, this new cause of action lowers the standard of infringement to “knowing with reckless disregard.” Passed the House Sept. 28, 2004 on voice vote.
S. 2237 The Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation (PIRATE) Act
… would authorize the Justice Dept. to file civil actions against copyright infringers. We believe that is an inappropriate use of federal funds to enforce private rights of action. Passed Senate June 25, 2004 under unanimous consent. Passed the Senate June 25, 2004.
S. 1932 The Artists’ Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2004 (ART Act)
… would make the unauthorized use of a video camera in a movie theater to transmit or make a copy of a copyrighted work into an imprisonable offense. Fair use protections guaranteed under copyright law would not apply. Text was folded into H.R. 4077. Passed the Senate June 25, 2004.
H.R. 4586 The Family Movie Act
The provisions were included in H.R. 4077 as passed by the House. The original House version of this bill provided an affirmative right for those who used technology to skip objectionable material, such as profanity, violence, or other adult material, in the audio / video works that they legally purchased. This is a right that most believe manufacturers of technology and consumers already have – regardless of H.R. 4077. The entertainment community has hijacked this provision and turned it against consumers and the tech community. Now, the affirmative right to watch and skip parts of the content that a consumer has legally obtained only exists if certain conditions are met: no commercial or promotional ads may be skipped. Additionally, technology manufacturers must provide a notice at the beginning each showing stating that ‘the motion picture is altered from the performance intended by the director or copyright holder of the motion picture.’ This sets the functionality of the everyday VCR and TiVo on its head.
If you’d like to do something about stopping this travesty, PK has a Fax Campaign on the go.
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See:-
Fax Campaign - Lame Duck Alert: Tell Your Senators to Oppose “The Intellectual Property Protection Act.”
