Shoe on the other foot: RIAA wants to scrap anti-piracy OPEN Act

[nsane.forums]

The Recording Industry Association of America found itself in an unusual position this week: opposing an anti-piracy bill that's gaining momentum in Congress.

"The OPEN Act does nothing" to stop online infringement and "may even make the problem worse," the industry group says in a statement it is circulating on Capitol Hill this week. "It does not establish a workable framework, standards, or remedies. It is not supported by those it purports to protect."

The basic approach of OPEN, which is sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), is to shift enforcement against rogue sites to the International Trade Commission, which has become a popular venue for international patent disputes. The ITC would investigate claims that a foreign site is dedicated to infringement. If the ITC found a site was dedicated to infringement, the site would be cut off from American advertising and payment networks.

But the RIAA argues the bill won't be effective at shutting down rogue sites. The trade group warns of "indefinite delays" as claims of infringement are investigated. And it complains that the process envisioned by OPEN would allow for "endless submissions by parties such as Google," further gumming up the process. All the while, the alleged rogue site would be able to continue operating.

The RIAA also warns that the need to hire an attorney to navigate the ITC's arcane legal process will "put justice out of reach for small business American victims of IP theft."

The trade group complains that sites aren't held responsible for the infringing activities of their users, a rule the trade group says "excuses willful blindness and outright complicity in illegal activity." RIAA also says it's "virtually impossible" to prove that a site infringed willfully, as OPEN requires.

OPEN "needs to be scrapped," the statement says. "Stakeholders and Congress need to start over with a fresh look at solving this problem."

Of course, Congress just did "start over" after the RIAA and its allies tried to ram the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act through Congress. That effort sparked an unprecedented Internet backlash. While some of the RIAA's objections may have merit, we suspect the group's real problem with OPEN is precisely that the drafting situation was reversed this time: technology companies and the Internet community actually had a seat at the table when the bill was formulated. As a consequence, its provisions reflect a very different approach to the issue.

In addition, SOPA and PIPA were not mentioned at all in the RIAA's statement. Apparently, those bills have become so politically toxic that even their leading supporters prefer "starting over" to reviving them... at least under their existing names.

View: Original Article

[Ambrocious]

Im so sick of this crap. The RIAA is simply looking for BETTER ways to censor people. The only way they can do it effectively is to completely shut down the internet that is standing, offer a new and seemingly "faster internet" that the government will have full control over, make it look much better, lure people in to start using it by the mass, then begin to blacklist any and all websites, content, information that they don't want based off of a central hub.

They try and stop piracy (file sharing) but they don't even seem to realize the real meaning of piracy.

If I shot you in the face and stole your car, THAT is murder and theft. If I handed you a copy of a DVD, that is care and kindness. If I slit your throat and stole your boat, THAT is murder and theft and piracy. If I shared with you a copy of a program that normally costs WAY too much, THAT is sharing and GOOD. If I met you at sea and forcefully boarded your boat and held everyone captive and locked them away and took what didn't belong to me, THAT is piracy.

If I stormed into your personal home or office and stole all your servers and locked you up, THAT is ICE/US Government. Conclusion: ICE is piracy in legalities. No matter what, it is a crime against nature to make lawful that which is a crime against liberty and freedom. How many servers have been stolen by ICE? Did they buy them? ICE is guilty of mass theft and piracy in the highest degree, guilty of high treason and liable to be executed by firing squad. Everyday common file sharers are guilty of downloading music, movies, games, software...non tangible items which cannot feed us, cloth us, bathe us, or give us shelter. What file sharers are doing is not piracy OR theft, it is social evolution and it is the clear and evident way forward.

Who is committing the true crime? The answer is clear. It is NOT us.