H.R.4279
May 9, 2008 03:05 AM (3 months ago) | Overall Score: 5.0 | Replies: 0

One more move by people in power to persecute those without power. If there is any real crime being committed, it would be by those who explicitly profit off the use of copywritten materials. There probably should be a more rational set of rules to regulate the fair distriubtion of money generated by the use of said materials, but this is not what is being proposed in this legislation. It is more lawsuits aimed at the unwitting parents of teenaged and college downloaders. The strategy is to go after the little guy. Is it right to penalize someone with no money, who in downloading media for personal use profited in no direct financial way with fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars? How is downloading a file any different than making a copy of a tape for a friend, taping a movie or tv show off the television, photocopying a book or magazine in the library, or recording a song off the radio? With increased technology, there is increased quality in the copies, but fundamentally making a copy for personal use has always been a fundamental part of media exchange in our society. Downloading is already widespread and ubiquitous. It is too late to turn back the clock with draconian threats that can only be enforced like a lottery. To rachet enforcement directly implies the corrosion of privacy. Downloaded files will have to be traced to your computer by increasingly invasive tactics of hacking your files and tracking your every move in cyberspace. Is this the internet's promise of freedom? i hope not. 410 to 10? No dissent by our representatives? No mention of this critical vote in the mainstream media? What is going on here? What do you think a public opinion poll of this would be? Do we really want our children, friends and relatives to continue to be subjected to crippling fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars? We need more than 10 rational heads in congress. Is that too much to ask for?