Monday, April 4, 2011

Pols, Big Media push for new online piracy laws

The push seems to be on.  Once again, instead of addressing the real factors underlying market transitions, media seek a quick fix through enhanced intellectual property rights and enhanced enforcement.  Earlier this year, the White House's Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (now when did IP enforcement become a Presidential concern?) started releasing plans to make it easier for big IP rights holders to locate and penalize "online piracy" - but strangely enough, not the big pirates, but the small guys.  Various agencies have claimed, and exercised, the right to remove entire websites from the web, without notice and without appeal - through the simple act of deleting their IP address from the master servers.  (Something that previous administrations had promised would never be US policy, when other countries worried about the US financing, and possibly having control over, the master domain name system).
Today, a "bipartisan" presser in Congress is expected to announce a fast-tracked legislative process on a bill expected to be similar to one submitted to the Senate last year, which was passed through committee before being sidetracked when virtually every IP public interest group raised concerns about some of its provisions (like basically allowing groups like the RIAA to violate Federal law in snooping out who has an "illegal" file on their computer.).
If there is one thing that can close down the Internet, it's strict copyright enforcement.  And it looks like the powerful like that idea.

Source: "Momentum building for online piracy legislation,"  The Hill

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