Effects of New Federal Anti-Piracy Law Worry ECA's Hal Halpin
Effects of New Federal Anti-Piracy Law Worry ECA's Hal Halpin
November 14, 2008
In an interview with The Escapist, Entertainment Consumers Association president Hal Halpin discusses his worries over the PRO-IP Act, a new piece of anti-piracy legislation signed into law in October:
The PRO IP Act was concerning for us primarily because the wording of the law was so broad and open to interpretation. It also provides intellectual property holders with unusually over-reaching rights and at a time when the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) too empowers that same community.
I fear that PRO IP and DMCA will drive a wedge between the producer/consumer relationship, one that has served the games business well. I would also hate to see us collectively follow the path [of aggressively suing consumers] that the music industry has followed. In addition to it being a patently bad model, proven unsuccessful by every measure, it's also clearly ineffective. Worrying still is how handily [PRO IP] passed - with broad support from both parties. The fact that the Vice-President Elect continues to be a proud sponsor makes me think that it'll be a bumpy ride... one played out in America's courts, for a long time to come.
As GamePolitics has previously reported, among the provisions of the PRO-IP Act are these consumer-unfriendly gems:
- increases the penalties for infringement by expanding what is considered a 'work'
- broadens the ability of the government to permanently seize goods
- creates an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, a new cabinet position whose sole job is to increase intellectual property enforcement.
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Posted 11/08/09 at 09:02am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Copyright © 2007 ECA. All rights reserved.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
Yeah, take away the rights of the people so the companies can screw them over more. Then wonder why our economy crashes.
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It's that second one that worries me the most. The Govt. has always had a strange track record when it comes to the seizure of goods for specious reasons, particularly around issues of hacking and piracy. Witness the Steve Jackson Games GURPS Cyberpunk debacle, back in the late 80s, early 90s (I misremember exactly).
Actually, several aspects of this annoy me. How the terms" works" has been expanded is especially worrying in my eyes. In particular, I thought you could NOT be found guilty of commiting the same crime twice. I am correct in this, yes? Well, the wording indicates that, should I get in trouble for downloading a copy of Shoot Em Up, I'm not only getting in trouble in an increased capacity for the movie itself, but also each song individually that appears in the movie. This is especially troubling for me since I've recently been an addict of Amazon's MP3 service. How do I retain a paper trail for such purchases in a legal battleground that has been proven in court that they don't care whether you have legal entitlement to the work or not to the point of claiming ripping a CD for use oon your iPod is copyright infringement?
Also, being able to seize any property that has touched the work is provable how? I mean, PS3 and 360 both can hook up with media servers so can they claim ownership of your game consoles just because they can tie into your MP3 collection?
And a dedicated job within the government sounds like a bad idea as well. After all, RIAA court cases have proven they don't care about the legality of the acquired information or the accuracy therein. Putting another person to the task of discovering this info also becomes a dangerous road.
And based on what, good faith stats that somehow the industries are suffering? They haven't used a real state in their petitioning in any way, shape, or form.
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You can't be tried twice for the same crime. The Double Jeopardy Clause protects against three distinct abuses: [1] a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; [2] a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and [3] multiple punishments for the same offense.
great... another nail in the coffin for consumers. i think im going to move to canada.
off-topic: T2 + microtrans & subscriptions? http://kotaku.com/5085880/is-take+two-thinking-of-subscription+based-gta...
It's not any better here.
This is absolutely great news. We will see a rise in the use of Creative Commons, and a renaissance awaits
So politicians are going to say video gamers are violent, dangerous people that go on shooting rampages, and shoot accurately.
Then they're going to allow DRM that drives them to piracy, which apparently acts as a 'gateway crime' to worse deeds
Then they're going to try to invade the house and take away these violent, dangerous criminal's stuff.
Wow, that's really smart. I'm certain the police will want to march into these houses without flashbangs and smokebombs. Especially with complete nutcases basically accusing gamers of terrorism. Yeah, if I thought I had a remote chance of having a SWAT team randomly invade my house because I watched a youtube video, I'd be highly motivated to abuse some second amendment rights myself.
Also:WHAT THE HELL DO THEY THINK IS CAUSING OUR DECLINE IN SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE INNOVATION!?
I'll say this, it sure isn't piracy. The difference between the 80s to late 1998 when the DMCA was signed and we were on top of the technology market are the lawsuits allowed by washington.
Congrats, washington, you just made it highly likely that places like wikipedia that rely on help from users and companies to keep IP off of their pages will move out of the U.S. and block U.S. users.
I think we should Try a grassroots movement that can put an end to the PRO-IP act and firmly Repeal the DMCA act that Bill "I never had sex with that Woman" Clinton signed
Note: If you want to know why I took that quote, I took it off the Monica Lewinsky scandal that almost Cause Bill Clinton's job as President at that time
for link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewinsky_scandal
Yes, I know about the scandal, it's one of the reasons I thought hilary was unfit to be president. Monica was 19 at the time. Clinton essentially is a legal child molester. "She's 19, she can make her own choices."
Yeah, she was old enough to go to war-but not to drink or smoke. Ha.
We have to remember that less than a century ago corporate greed resulted in protesting workers being shot : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coal_mining#Labor_troubles
While far from the technology industry, corporate greed in the end resulted in U.S. federal troops shooting citizens.
It's the same brand of greed today. However, instead of being able to fire us, or fire AT us, they're trying to sue us and use legislation and threats to extort us. If the laws were enforced to an extent that they wanted, they would charge a premium for a "DRM free" version of the software. As it stands now, they'd get torn up by pirates, much as EA did with spore.
Unfortunately the people responsible use the developers and workers (the 500 people laid off from EA for example) as meatshields.
Is 19 considered a minor under DC law? Somehow I doubt it. If it was, Bill Clinton could have been prosecuted for statutory rape and I very much doubt that he would have avoided impeachment.
Legally no. You have to ask yourself, though, what makes a person different the second they turn 18?
ANY boss in any workplace that made a secretary give him a blowjob would be JAILED, ESPECIALLY if it was a 40+ year old man and a 19 year old girl.
If these laws were ever seriously enforced, game pirates would just up their tactics by becoming game "vikings"... then theyd sail around sacking game corporation headquarters....
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" - Benjamin Franklin
The fact his law allows the siezure of property is by far the largest cause for concern. On its own, it really isn't a huge reason to worry. Afterall, just because the government has the power to do something doesn't mean that they are. However, the fact that we now have both a person in charge of an over-all anti-piracy intitaive AND a have given law enforcement the ability to sieze property is starting to make this look like the War On Drugs, an initative that has both been a massive waste of tax payer money and stomped all over civil liberities.
It will be up to the government to decide how to use the power. Its one thing to take property and the promptly return it after a timely investigate. Its another thing to simply take it and keep it no matter if you are cleared of the charges or not - something that has occured many times before.
And of course, I know we all keep private things on our computers, from porn collections to personal journals to complete records of our financial history. Its disturbing to think someone from the government could legally nose around that information just because a person has been accused of piracy.
The Honest Game - http://www.thehonestgame.org
Well, ante up. www.truecrypt.com complete OS drive encryption, including plausible deniability.
Used by freedom fighters in hostile countries, smaller governments that don't develope similar things themselves, and unfortunately some criminals.
Now that the technology's developement will be hugely accelerated, it'll become impossible for them to crack the encryption for REAL criminals.