Bush admin: RIAA win shows copyright law is 'effective'

[Hairbautt]

This case maybe the most pivotal step towards combating piracy in the United States. You may want to reconsider the consequences the next time you download 'questionable' material.

"The Bush administration said on Friday that the recording industry's $222,000 courtroom victory shows that the legal system is working against peer-to-peer pirates.

"Cases such as this remind us strong enforcement is a significant part of the effort to eliminate piracy, and that we have an effective legal system in the U.S. that enables rights holders to protect their intellectual property," said Chris Israel, the U.S. Coordinator for International Intellectual Property Enforcement, to CNET News.com.

President Bush named Israel, formerly a senior Commerce Department official, to the key copyright post in July 2005. He has an MBA from George Washington University and, before joining the Bush administration, worked for Time Warner's public policy arm.

Israel's comments come a day after the Recording Industry Association of America won a landmark jury verdict in a Minnesota federal court against a woman accused of sharing copyrighted songs on the Kazaa file-trading network.

The Bush administration has adopted a generally expansive view of copyright law, including writing trade deals that include anti-circumvention restrictions. In 2005, the president signed into law the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, which slaps some file-sharers with additional penalties.

Israel also said: "Piracy impacts many of our most innovative industries, costs American jobs and is a huge threat to our economic competitiveness.""

Source: C|Net News.com
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[Brenya]

Israel also said: "Piracy impacts many of our most innovative industries, costs American jobs and is a huge threat to our economic competitiveness."

Overstatement

[abu_has_the_power]

lol

how bout you find bin laden

hard to believe people still listen to what bush has to say

[Hairbautt]

Israel also said: "Piracy impacts many of our most innovative industries, costs American jobs and is a huge threat to our economic competitiveness."

Overstatement

Nah, they might very well see it as that.

[digmen1]

I don't agree with all the figures the RIAA say they are losing each year due to piracy because people would not have bought most of those CD's anyway !

But if people carry on file sharing as they are, then the record companies and the movie studios will make less CD's and DVD's so there will not be much to download ! Eg if all musicians go to live shows !

I also find that if people can get someone thing free or not much they will eg it only costs a few bucks to hire a non-new release movie from a video shop yet they will spend hours downloading it ! Using up their valuable bandwidth and time.

Regards

Digby

[TheFoX]

Israel also said: "Piracy impacts many of our most innovative industries, costs American jobs and is a huge threat to our economic competitiveness."

Considering that the music industry is global, and that piracy is also global, I find it hard to see how they (the US) could justify that piracy was a huge threat to their competitiveness. Piracy affects all nations, and not just the US, or are we lead to believe that pirates only target US sourced material.

I hate it when these people create SPIN to justify their aims. Why don't they just say that piracy is illegal, and leave it at that.

Recently, pirates were considered akin to terrorists, and it was even stated that the profits from piracy helps to finance terrorism. This is SPIN so unbelievable that it actually becomes believable.

Ironically, the real financing of terrorism actually comes from oil profits (ask Bin Laden), yet we don't see sanctions against nations supplying oil who have some remote connection with terrorism (Saudi for example).

The little man (or woman) in the street is being blamed for a decline in the economy of the world, while the big fish (Bin Laden) seem to be able to go on forever. Truth to tell is that if the US and other leading countries did not have to spend so much of the taxpayers money on defence (or attack), then we would probably have more expendable income to buy DVDs and CDs.

One thing that does upset me about the whole fiasco regarding pirates and lost revenue, is the simple fact that much of today's entertainment actually fails to entertain. If an appliance did not do what the wrapping states, then you are entitled to your money back, yet with media there is no quality standard. We are expected to pay for the material whether it is excellent or complete garbage.

I watched Papillon the other day, staring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, and was engrossed in the story line, yet I can watch many contemporary movies without emotion. The quality of the story line takes second place to special effects designed to dazzle us. Give us value for money and we might start spending our money again.

One final thought... Piracy is not a modern issue associated with the internet. Piracy was around in the sixties and seventies long before the internet, or Personal Computer, were ever conceived. I knew many places where you could get hold of material, as long as you knew the right people. Market traders have been selling pirated cassettes for ages, and I even knew of several people who were selling pirated vinyl.

[killuminati96]

I remember a video of Bush going thru his iPod listing songs he has on it. As greedy as most rich people are...I wouldn't doubt he got them illegally off Limewire or something. hahahaha You know a ton of people in Washington download music for their digital players. I don't see an end to internet piracy ever coming. Millions of people use these programs every single day. They can't sue and/or jail them all.

[Hairbautt]

I remember a video of Bush going thru his iPod listing songs he has on it. As greedy as most rich people are...I wouldn't doubt he got them illegally off Limewire or something. hahahaha You know a ton of people in Washington download music for their digital players. I don't see an end to internet piracy ever coming. Millions of people use these programs every single day. They can't sue and/or jail them all.

He listed the Beatles on his ipod before they ever signed onto iTunes. I think that was posted here.

[macking]

Israel must walk around behind Bush with their heads stuck up his ass

[colburn]

I don't agree with all the figures the RIAA say they are losing each year due to piracy because people would not have bought most of those CD's anyway !

But if people carry on file sharing as they are, then the record companies and the movie studios will make less CD's and DVD's so there will not be much to download ! Eg if all musicians go to live shows !

I also find that if people can get someone thing free or not much they will eg it only costs a few bucks to hire a non-new release movie from a video shop yet they will spend hours downloading it ! Using up their valuable bandwidth and time.

Regards

Digby

i agree 100%