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Valenti backs away from P2P hack bill

  • From: Richard Forno
  • Date: Fri Jul 26 13:32:15 2002

What the Hollywood clowns meant to say was that only THEIR copyrighted
content matters in the grand scheme of things. If you're not part of THEIR
system -er, 'empire' (eg, small publisher, independent author, producer, or
musian) you shouldn't have the right to enforce your copyrights the same way
they want to. Talk about underhanded monopoly-mongering.

Congress still has no clue about technology policy or the information age.

rf

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http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/26402.html

Valenti backs away from P2P hack bill
By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 26/07/2002 at 16:14 GMT

House Hollywood sock puppet Howard Berman (Democrat, California) may have
gone too far in licking the boots of his benevolent patrons. Indeed, he's
gone and licked the shine clear off Motion Picture Ass. of America President
Jack Valenti's boots, as this article from Reuters indicates.

"We're pleased that a bipartisan group of lawmakers ... want to curb the
explosion of Internet piracy," the wire service quotes the
previously-supportive Valenti as saying. "However, there are aspects of the
bill we believe need changing as it moves through the legislative process.
We look forward to working with Congress in this regard."

The bee in Valenti's bonnet is most likely the loose language in Berman's
bill.

"A copyright owner shall not be liable in any criminal or civil action for
disabling, interfering with, blocking, diverting, or otherwise impairing the
unauthorized distribution, display, performance, or reproduction of his or
her copyrighted work on a publicly accessible peer-to-peer file trading
network, if such impairment does not, without authorization, alter, delete,
or otherwise impair the integrity of any computer file or data residing on
the computer of a file trader."

That can't be good. It means that anyone with a copyright will be allowed to
hack the daylights out of anyone, including MPAA Headquarters, so long as
they have a 'reasonable suspicion' of infringement and notify the DoJ of
their intent at least seven days before commencing the attack.

Somehow, Valenti failed to impress on the over-eager Berman's mind that this
legislation is for media giants only.

The second part of the problem is in Berman's extending protections to the
victims of such attacks for damages exceeding $50. Again, he's gone over the
top in his eagerness to delight his masters. Or, said another way, if anyone
attacked can claim $50 or more in harm, the attacker loses his legal
protection. Good grief; has Berman gone mad? Everyone and his brother will
be able to claim that.

So, while Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) President Hillary Rosen
still welcomes the Berman Gift; Hollywood Honcho Valenti is stepping back
until his team of Ass. lawyers and lobbyists can draft a proper bill for
Berman, and send him to the House floor armed with the right stuff. �