H.R. 4279 Would Establish Federal IP Cops

MrSnivvel writes "H.R. 4279, Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008, is gaining momentum in Congress. It passed the House a few days back. It would allow the Feds to seize hardware that has even one file coming from 'dubious origins,' e.g. downloaded from P2P. If passed into law, the bill would establish an Intellectual Property Enforcement Division within the office of the Deputy Attorney General. Rep. John Conyers says the goal is to 'prioritize intellectual property protection to the highest level of our government.'"

hehehehehe

hehehehehe,

I'm so glad I live in the UK! Oh wait....

"I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion! I want every man, woman and child to understand how close we are to chaos! I want everyone to remember why they need us!"

Watch out WoWers!

It would allow the Feds to seize hardware that has even one file coming from 'dubious origins,' e.g. downloaded from P2P

So if a computer has anything they got from p2p, then the cops can confiscate their computers? So if, say, a cop doesn't like someone's politics, ethnicity, race, sexuality or gender and that cop knows the person plays WoW, they can confiscate the person's computer with no possible recourse for the victim? Sure a charge won't come from it, but they get to make life annoying for that person.

Re:Watch out WoWers!

.. they can confiscate the person's computer with no possible recourse for the victim?

Oh there's recourse. But have you ever made an administrative appeal to your state's supreme court? Let me tell you, it's a bitch. A bitch that takes lots of time and lots of money (even if you're representing yourself). And likely if you're right they'll still have legislative immunity from having to pay costs....

At that point it's faster, cheaper and easier to buy a new PC and rewrite your PhD thesis rather than appeal against the decision.

IP is the most important issue facing us in the US

It is true. IP is the most important issue facing us in America. We have solved all of our problems. The oil crisis is solved, healthcare rates are affordable and healthcare service is impeccable. Its so nice to see that we really do not need alternative energy and that our economy is providing everyone a comfortable life style where only a single parent can work while the other parent raises the children. Education is more solid than ever. We are raising a nation of math wizards capable of programming in asm on the spot. Our government is finally loyal to the American citizen and corruption has been eradicated.

NOW.. we can finally tackle the issue of downloading music and movies illegally, and impose death on those that do.

I'm proud to be an American today. So proud.

Re:IP is the most important issue facing us in the

I'm proud to be an American today. So proud.

I admit, us non-US slashdotters do tend to take the piss out of you Americans a fair bit (partly because it's quite fun and very easy), but deep down I care and I'm very sad to see America go so wrong these last couple of decades.

The knock-on effect on the rest of the first world cannot be denied. When the U.S. comes up with a ding-bat solution to IP like this, then we are all doomed together because it will filter down through international treaties and trade agreements.

Freeing up IP is essential for making health, education and the energy market cheaper and more universal. In the last 5 to 10 years, first world governments have been 'pulling up the ladder' in this regard rather than opening up to the people. It's almost as though they are anticipating something.

Re:IP is the most important issue facing us in the

Move to Norway :-)

1) Oil-crisis ? What crisis ? We export shitload of oil and are steeenking rich as a result.

2) Healthcare costs money ? Guess so, never saw a bill (see 1) (universal healthcare)

3) Energy ? We get 95% of our electric power from hydroelectric already, planning to be completely carbon-neutral as a country in a decade or two.

4) Comfortable lifestyle ? Flipping burgers earns you $12/hour or thereabouts here, and unemployment is like 2% perhaps, so got that pretty much covered. (the main unemployed are -unemployabe- more than unemployed; if you are incapable of showing up at work, the problem ain't with the economy: it's with you!)

Did I mention we've got hot girls yet ?

They can start with confiscating Orrin Hatch's PCs

from http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2003/06/59305 [wired.com]

  Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) suggested Tuesday that people who download copyright materials from the Internet should have their computers automatically destroyed.

But Hatch himself is using unlicensed software on his official website, which presumably would qualify his computer to be smoked by the system he proposes.

The senator's site makes extensive use of a JavaScript menu system developed by Milonic Solutions, a software company based in the United Kingdom. The copyright-protected code has not been licensed for use on Hatch's website.

Re:They can start with confiscating Orrin Hatch's

Don't get me started on Hatch. I am so tired of him as our elected official. The guy's been there for over 30 year, and that instantly puts him on my hate list because of how much I am against the principle of "Career-politicians." But he's never going to leave, because we just love our incumbents here. The guy doesn't even live in our state! He has a house in Virginia, and only comes to Utah to raise funds for re-election. What an asshole. /rant

So...

How do you verify that a file is or is not pirated, exactly? And whatever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?

For that matter, do those reps think that this will make law enforcement give one whit about people stealing albums? They already have enough to deal with in terms of real crime, and they're going to utterly ignore this anyway.

Seizing hardware

It would allow the Feds to seize hardware that has even one file coming from 'dubious origins,'

Every time there is a police investigation here in the UK you see them taking computer equipment as part of the investigation. Even if no charges are brought it can be weeks before people get their kit back. Seeing how reliant everyone is on their computers now, it almost looks like it is a punitive measure in itself.

I hope it gets through

I want people to know how bad copyright really is and the only way to get it through their thick heads is for the law to be enforced to the letter.

Sooner or later the US will wake the fuck up.

Police State!

It's interesting that all the moonbats screaming POLICE STATE!!! over in the Kucinich thread are all missing from this one. Consider that the bill is sponsored by a Democrat, and has passed a Democrat majority House.

If there's any law I've seen recently that qualifies as police state, this is one.

As they say on 4chan,

Everybody get in here! [senate.gov] Your senators know that every person who actually writes represents thousands of voters.

Civil asset forfeiture laws are why I hate lawyers

Only a lawyer could follow the logic that was used to uphold them. The judges, aka lawyers with power to determine the law's enforcement, ruled that since YOU aren't the one being accused (your property is) YOU have no due process right except to claim your property IFF you can prove that the property really wasn't used in the crime that the government is alleging. Doesn't matter if someone else hijacked your property to do it!

Any normal human being can look at the logic of civil asset forfeiture laws and realize that it is literally a legitimization of armed robbery by the government.

Priorities?

"prioritize intellectual property protection to the highest level of our government"

Yep, we have our priorities right. With all the famine, high energy prices, wars, natural disasters, etc, we know that IP rights must be the highest priority, to keep that money flowing into congress. Getting that pocket lined is more important then feeding people.

Kick them all out, they are no longer serving the citizens as they are mandated to do by the constitution. Its a breech of contract of their oath of office.

Ok.

From now on, I'm leasing my hardware.

Direct violation??

Is this not a blatant transgression of the 4th Amendment?? Back to the dark days of the writs of assistance..

Copyright infringement as a criminal act - that's just wrong. And scary. Too long has this corporate fellatio been going on..

And as an additional WTF:

"This is a strong, common sense measure that provides new tools and resources to help protect one of this nation's most important economic engines," says Mitch Bainwol, chairman/CEO of the RIAA.

Britney Spears/Justin Timberlake/Beyonce/Dude, Where's My Car?/Gigli are the USA's most important economic engines? Or at least, the engine's constituents??

Goddamn. Just, goddamn.

p.s: TFA's dated May 6th. Isn't this coming a tad late on /.?

Frank Zappa said it best

"The USA is a nation of laws, poorly written and randomly enforced" - Frank Zappa

So, basically, we're ALL criminals.....

The question is: who doesn't have something on their computer that infringes copyright in some manner? It's not just the P2P crowd -- they might well share some of their booty with others, maybe even providing tracks on a CD-R to friends who have slow connections, or not enough savvy to use or desire to risk torrents. If you've ripped tracks from someone else's CD, technically you're violating a copyright. (Hell, the RIAA thinks that ripping your own CDs is infringement). How many people have software of dubious origin on their machines, either by design or ignorance? (All those grey market Windows and Photoshop CDs that are ubiquitous on eBay, for example.) For that matter, what about the mass of infringing material on YouTube? Download a clip from last night's American Idol before Fox has it pulled, and now your computer is ours....mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha. Even more damning is that there is hardly a website in existence that doesn't have SOMETHING on it -- a graphic, photo, quote, musical background -- that is, by the strictest standard of the law, an infringement of someone's copyright. Just viewing the website puts those items in your cache -- voila, you are now guilty...please hand over the computer quietly and there won't be any trouble.

Maybe this is a plot to help balance the budget. Instead of spending money on computers for all the federal agencies, they just seize as many as they need from all us hardened criminals.

Re:Well

"You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God... and where can you go from there?"

-- Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate

This is not capitalism

Civil asset forfeiture laws are the antithesis of capitalism. They are a means by which the state can seize any property it wants simply by finding some nebulous connection to a crime. Did you know that YOU don't even have to be the one accused of the crime? They can do all sorts of fun things like seize your car if your friend borrowed it, while you thought he was going to the store to buy a case of beer, and he really used to it to drive to a drug user's house to sell drugs. This sort of thing is entirely Fascist in its economics (you did know that Fascism is a collectivist economic system as well as a political one, right?)

Re:Well

Ignoring your spelling, that has to be one of the stupidest comments I've ever read. Capitalism? That's your explanation of why our elected officials are so damned stupid?! Nothing to do with with a politician's greed, lust for power, or simple pandering to the people who pay the bills? No, no, of course not. It's a market philosophy of supply and demand with competition - yes, that very clearly explains why a law with draconian limits, pushed by representatives with pockets lined from Big Media, is going to be forced on our country. Yes, it's definitely our market system. How insightful! /sarcasm

Re:Well

Seeing as we're forcing through silly laws, I think we should have one that states no representative or senator can vote on any law dealing with computers unless they take a course on - and receive their - A+. No, it's not the biggest indicator of computer smarts, but it sure is an indicator that they know more than they obviously currently do.

Re:Well

The problem is that any sufficiently capitalist system short of anarcho-capitalism turns into what you call mercantilism. What happens is that a corporation, through legitimate means or less so, becomes large enough to influence politics. At that point it rigs the game in its favor, or tries to do so, and from there on you have rent-seeking galore.

Anarcho-capitalism just postpones this: a corporation or group thereof becomes large enough to collude (if it's a group) or to become a de facto state (in either case). If the new state is capitalist, see the first point above. Otherwise, it'll probably still be oligarchical.

Re:New government type required

Sure, but it'll cost you. No representation without compensation.