10/13/2008, 4:50pm, EDT
Monday, October 13thBush signs tougher anti-piracy law
US President George Bush on Monday signed the PRO-IP Act into law, increasing the federal government's attempts to crack down on copyright violations and other intellectual property infringement in the country. The Act will bring in a cabinet member dedicated to improving copyright protection and also increases punishments for both basic copyright violations as well as physical counterfeits.
The bill was primarily supported by the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, both of whom have pressed for direct government action on their behalf in the past and who support measures such as Internet provider-level content filtering.
However, the measure has seen opposition from both the Justice Department and initially the Bush cabinet itself. The Department is concerned that PRO-IP effectively sidesteps its decisions on the US government's approach to copyright, while the executive branch has resisted calls to allow the Justice Department to sue violators by itself.
This last move is widely believed to have been prompted by the RIAA, which itself has sued individuals for alleged infringement, but has been rejected under claims that it would put a burden on the federal government to police copyright when the regular, local court system already fulfills that role.
Private critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have resisted the measure outright and have often argued that PRO-IP is an attempt to legislate major labels' and studios' views on copyright.
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Shouldn't this read...
Shouldn't this article read: House and Senate pass tougher anti-piracy law which president Bush signs? I only ask, because I'm sure that some idiot will complain about Bush-this Bush-that and forget that bills originate in congress which, at last count was controlled by the democrats (at least in the house, with the senate being pretty evenly split).
I agree...
Senate and House are as much to blame!
Alright!
A cabinet-level post added to handle copyright concerns! Now we know this problem is going to get solved!
And it is amazing the legislators were able to gain enough campaign "contributions" in order to give the justice department even more power and work to do.
whew...
I'm glad to see they could take time out of the steroid baseball scandal to deal with this...
But i'm glad to see the artists are getting short changed to pay for the RIAA lobbyists.
Well
We already have enough laws in the IP / Copyright area, more is just stupid. If anything we should be looking for more IP resolutions to restore copyright to the people who create things: all of us.
You would sign it too....
You would sign it too, or vote for it as a senator or congressman, if you had been paid as much by the riaa and mpaa as those guys have. Government for sale to the highest bidder... the new American way.