SOPA author introduces bill to pressure other countries into adopting stricter anti-piracy laws
46 replies, posted
[url]http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/10/sopa-intellectual-property-attache-act/[/url]
[quote=TechCrunch]It’s alive! Hollywood darling U.S. Representative Lamar Smith is attempting to reanimate portions of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bit by bit. The Intellectual Property Attaché Act, slipped in for consideration over the weekend, revives one of the sneakier portions of SOPA to create a global intellectual property task force, charged with aggressively promoting anti-piracy law around the world.
But the problem, as TechDirt’s Mike Masnick points out, is that the proposed task force seems biased towards the very overreaching anti-piracy principals that were the basis of SOPA. In other words, Congress and local governments have a habit of sidestepping important policy debates with backdoor laws that force through a particular point of view before there’s general public consensus on the issue. (U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, an early opponent of SOPA, is supporting an amended version of the bill, and we’ve included his full, exclusive statement at the end of this post)
Open internet advocates were alarmed when Politico’s morning tech roundup today noted that SOPA creator Rep. Smith was introducing a new intellectual property law for review (“markup”).
The IP Attaché Act would deliberately expand the Commerce Department with a new position, originally proposed under SOPA, to police and promote anti-piracy laws around the world. Of course, blatant intellectual property violators, such as China, that permit street vendors to openly sell pirated goods are a serious threat to content providers. But, there are already global organizations, such as the World Trade Organization, to enforce and settle such grievances.
More importantly, the developed world’s copyright regime is still evolving to accommodate 21st Century issues. Canada, for instance, has a new copyright law to protect user-generated content (i.e. Justin Bieber) as well as a $5,000 cap on non-commercial infringement (so no more multi-million dollar lawsuits against teenagers). Denmark has switched from warning letters to pirates to an information campaign, aimed at promoting legal music streaming services known to be associated reduced infringement.
Rep. Smith’s sneaky law is just another example, like Washington DC’s recent attempt at forcing Uber to charge outrageous prices, of lawmakers using backdoor laws to skirt an open public debate about important technology issues.
A spokesman for Representative Darrell Issa, an earlier opponent of SOPA, has sent TechCrunch an exclusive statement explaining why he will support the Attaché law, but expects to amend the legislation to exempt “fair use”. Statement below:
“Rep. Issa is set to support the legislation, with small modifications. The Intellectual Property Attaché Act is written to help American individuals and companies that are experiencing intellectual property infringement in certain foreign countries. The legislation will place USPTO trained IP attaches in countries around the world, focusing on areas where American job creators and innovators are experiencing especially high levels of IP-theft. These attaches will work with the foreign governments to help eliminate in-country IP theft that is occurring. This is a net benefit to all Americans both IP holders and consumers. Also, the training and other programs that the attaches may provide can also help local law enforcement to deal with IP-infringement that is occurring. The cost for these attaches will come from collected PTO fees, meaning that the bill is revenue neutral. Additionally, we expect that an amendment will be made to the legislation before it is marked up that will instruct the attaches to promote clear IP exceptions * like fair use – already codified in U.S. Law.”[/quote]
[url=https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/SMITTX_084_xml_0.pdf]The bill itself[/url]
What it would do is send special diplomats called "IP attachés" to US embassies around the world, with the responsibility for pressuring that country into changing its anti-piracy laws
can someone please shoot lamar smith
[QUOTE=lotusking;36774176]can someone please shoot lamar smith[/QUOTE]
The FBI will be at your door shortly
[editline]13:37[/editline]
[url]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1198046[/url]
[quote]focusing on areas where American job creators and innovators[/quote]
[quote]where American job creators and innovators[/quote]
[quote][b]job creators[/b][/quote]
[quote][b]innovators[/b][/quote]
Heigh ho swallow a pool of Sodium you triple cunt crippledestroyer
[QUOTE=DeathDoom;36774195]The FBI will be at your door shortly
[editline]13:37[/editline]
[url]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1198046[/url][/QUOTE]
by shoot i mean give him a big hug.
The fact that they're trying to get more control by throwing all these bills at the government just sickens me.
[QUOTE=DeathDoom;36774195]The FBI will be at your door shortly[/QUOTE]
Then there's no time to waste, is there? :v:
He's one of the few people that I would be legitimately happy if he were to keel over dead.
you'd think having your bills repeatedly shot down would be a sign to stop, not try even more underhanded tactics
"Hey I'm gonna try to introduce a draconian fucking law to exert control over something I barely understand to cozy up to the corporations"
the first time i heard about SOPA i thought it might have a chance of going through
at this point, however, i think this idiot is just beating a dead horse
[QUOTE=TheLolrus;36774298]you'd think having your bills repeatedly shot down would be a sign to stop, not try even more underhanded tactics[/QUOTE]
Like a spoilt child having a tantrum, I don't think they will give up any time soon, once they finally realize they can't get what they want they'll probably cry out to the public for help via propaganda.
"When you illegally download music, you're downloading communism!"
I hope he realises that if he manages to pass a bill regarding this, someone will find him doing some sort of piracy and outright fuck him over for it BIG time.
Sometimes I wish for this guy to fall over dead. He's done nothing good for America.
Is he up for election this year? That fucker needs to lose his job.
He's still lamarsmithing it? God.
I wish lamarsmithing were a word. Like santorum.
Lamar, fuck you and fuck the people in Hollywood who are paying you.
Seriously, we need to vote him out of office. I'm sure I'm with alot of people when I say that I'm sick of this son of a bitch.
Just so you guys know he is up for re-election this year, but he has been running unopposed for the last 16 years.
lol this guy is clueless
[QUOTE=Zanfall;36776266]Just so you guys know he is up for re-election this year, but he has been running unopposed for the last 16 years.[/QUOTE]
Guy runs unopposed for that long, it looks suspicious.
Keep this up Lamar. You'll eventually have a cartoon villain named after you. Namely a villain that seeks the destruction of all virtual reality and video games.
[QUOTE=Aphtonites;36774389]Like a spoilt child having a tantrum, I don't think they will give up any time soon, once they finally realize they can't get what they want they'll probably cry out to the public for help via propaganda.
"When you illegally download music, you're downloading communism!"[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.southdacola.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/communism.jpg[/img]
Better [i]dead[/i] than [highlight]red.[/highlight]
[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;36777540][img]http://www.southdacola.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/communism.jpg[/img]
Better [i]dead[/i] than [highlight]red.[/highlight][/QUOTE]
I wonder who designed that, because they made it look totally badass. Makes me want to steal MP3's.
[QUOTE=Niteshifter;36774946]I hope he realises that if he manages to pass a bill regarding this, someone will find him doing some sort of piracy and outright fuck him over for it BIG time.[/QUOTE]
Someone check if he paid for winrar.
Or if he pays for porn too.
Oh for gods sake, just let it die.
Why doesn't he just stop?
Who the fuck even gives this much power to some money hungry jackass?
I wish he would die. No "take it backsies"
[QUOTE=dass;36779826]Why doesn't he just stop?
Who the fuck even gives this much power to some money hungry jackass?
I wish he would die. No "take it backsies"[/QUOTE]
He's probably having money pumped up his ass cause of the anti-piracy companies like the RIAA and shit.
And remember if he does stop supporting these higly successful bills he loses all support he has left, that being large hollywood corporations.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.