Saturday, September 27, 2008

Write to your Congressperson urging rejection of the "Pro-IP" Act

I urge every informed reader who lives in the United States to write to his or her Congressman to urge rejection of the RIAA-backed Pro-IP Act, which does the exact opposite of what Judge Davis has urged Congress to do.

The matter is of extreme urgency because the Senate has passed the bill unanimously.

Thanks to Slashot for the information.


Keywords: lawyer digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have seen compaigns to urge our Congressperson or Senator to vote one way use a form letter that has the key talking points outlined. It would be great if you could do this as well. I have a rough idea what the issue is, but would like to send a meaningful, intelligent letter.

Great work, by the way, in this blog!
-Brian

Anonymous said...

Ray -- I recognize that this is how laws are written and passed, but in this form they're largely unintelligible unless you're already an expert.

Do you think instead of posting the 'diff' you could post the complete patch as applied to existing legislation?

Peter Schultz said...

I second the request for a form letter. I would like to sound a little bit intelligent - I have my opinions on the issues, but I always come off as ranting.

Matt Fitzpatrick said...

Wow. I can literally see which pieces of this law got written by which lobbyists.

Got caught bringing a faulty copyright registration to a file sharing case (MPAA v. Hogan)? Lobby Congress! Change the law in your favor! Now faulty registrations will be fully valid proof of copyright, unless 1) the defendant proves an impossible-to-prove fact AND 2) the Register of Copyrights gives the copyright defendant its OK.

Fat chance on both counts.

Textbook special interest politics. And who's going to say no to special interest money in an election year?

Us, that's who.

=====

Possible silver lining: this doesn't seem to weaken constitutional challenges to excessive statutory damages. And a faulty copyright registration should still leave the door open for a defendant to challenge a plaintiff's standing.

Anonymous said...

It looks like this law would make downloading a single song a felony, and allow for civil forfeiture of any equipment used in commission of the crime. This is plain NUTZS. If you buy a CD, load a song from it on your computer, and then move the song to a jump drive to use in a portable music player, you could be subjected to a felony? Am I reading this right??

eZee.se said...

Hi Ray,
I think it would be great if you would take Brian's Idea and write a couple of points where the end person can read it, copy a few parts and add a little bit before mailing it to the respective person involved... this way it comes across as an intelligent request and argument rather than a demand from someone who does not know jack of what they are talking about.

As usual will be linking from eZee.se to this site for what it's worth and to spread the word.

The link from our site:

http://ezee.se/articles-blog/2008/09/29/calling-all-americans/

please use the same URL if you are linking back.

Regards,
Ryan
www.eZee.se

Thomas B said...

I have attempted to write a letter to my Congressman here, and I would appreciate any feedback the readers of your blog could provide.

Maybe it could be repurposed into a more general letter.

raybeckerman said...

You're a bit late.


Vultures work quickly.

Anonymous said...

"Vultures work quickly."

I guess the more it(The Pro-IP Act) stinks, the faster they flock to it!

Anonymous said...

It looks like the Senate's version of PRO-IP (S 3325) went to the White House for signature yesterday (10/2).

Beth