RIAA, MPAA and the Orphan Works legislation
Monday, December 22, 2008
I am going to refrain from ranting about the RIAA, MPAA and Orphan Works legislation at the moment, but I would like to share a collection of recent articles about digital media sharing, piracy, copyrights, etc. A bunch of the articles are from Wired.
RIAA and Internet Service Provider (ISP) filtering
- No ISP Filtering Under New RIAA Copyright Strategy (December 19, 2008): “. . . we want to make clear that any arrangements between RIAA and the ISPs should not involve the invasion of customer privacy through the filtering of internet content . . .”
- RIAA to drop piracy lawsuits in favor of working with ISPs (December 20, 2008): “. . . to notify alleged illegal file-sharers and cut off service if they failed to stop.”
MPAA, lawsuits and internet filtering
- MPAA Targets Video Search Sites In New Lawsuits (December 19, 2008)
- MPAA Reining In Illicit Movie Sites, Downloading Unabated (December 17, 2008)
- MPAA Urges Obama to Embrace Internet Filtering (December 10, 2008)
Copyright laws, intellectual property and file-sharing legal battles
- Secret International Copyright Treaty Delayed Until After Obama Inauguration (December 21, 2008): “. . . consumers may be screwed by [Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement] and/or the United States may be dictating its particularly harsh copyright views . . .”
- Bush Signs Law Creating Copyright Czar (October 13, 2008): “. . . creating a cabinet-level copyright czar charged with implementing a nationwide plan to combat piracy . . .”
- DoJ Agrees: IP Enforcement Bill is a Bad Idea (September 24, 2008): “. . . taxpayer-supported Department lawyers would pursue lawsuits for copyright holders, with monetary recovery going to industry . . .”
- Isohunt Founder at Center of U.S. Torrent-Tracking Legal Battle (May 6, 2008): “. . . there is no other ruling I’m aware of in the history of jurisprudence that having a search engine for dot-torrent files is legal or not.”
The Orphan Works legislation
- The Orphan Works Bill: “Wait Til Next Year!” (October 6, 2008)
- Current Status of Orphan Works (November 17, 2008)
- Myths & Facts: “The misinformation deliberately distributed regarding the Orphan Works legislation has divided the graphic arts community at the very time it should unite to achieve the best possible outcome.”
So, everything on the internet is free, until the first time you get sued? Do I smell a loophole providing unlimited power for corporations? All your art belongs to Disney now? Wait, what just happened? Are things getting better or worse?
If you care about copyright protection, online file-sharing (especially in the form of torrents), digital thievery and internet filtering as a consumer and/or as a producer, I suggest looking into some of the above articles and catching up on the latest.
Has your ISP signed an agreement with the RIAA to monitor your downloading activities? Will the MPAA convince the U.S. government to filter internet content? Are you ready for this new Chinese democracy?