RIAA and MPAA call for government mandated spyware on computers to fight piracy

[Space Edge]

RIAA and MPAA call for government mandated spyware on computers to fight piracy

If you didn’t already think the people behind the RIAA and MPAA were insane, we’re positive that your opinion on them will change as soon as your read what the two associations have proposed in a recent letter to the Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement. Here are but some of the changes the two have asked for:
The installation of spyware on computers which would seek out and automatically delete illegally obtained media
Censorship of the internet which would block the transfer of illegal files
Giving border guards the authority to search one’s tech gear for illegal files
The lobbying of foreign governments to follow suit
Having the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security actively and swiftly enforcing copyright laws
Scary as hell, right?
http://bit.ly/cXJZay

[Serpico1103]

If corporations want it, it must be good for us. Censor and search away!

[OGC]

I think a better idea would be to put the spyware on the computers, and instead of deleting the illegal files, it would report back to the government which files have been obtained illegally, and the government will then bail out the poor companies that have lost the sales.

[hanso]

These groups just got their asses handed to them only a few days before this lame brain idea.

"After spending a year studying how piracy and illegal counterfeiting affects the United States, the Government Accountability Office says it still doesn't know for sure.

Congress tasked the GAO in April 2009 with reviewing the efforts to quantify the size and scope of piracy, including the impacts of Web piracy to the film and music industries. In a 32-page report issued Monday, the GAO said most of the published information, anecdotal evidence, and records show that piracy is a drag on the U.S. economy, tax revenue, and in some cases potentially threatens national security and public health. But the problem is, according to the GAO, the data used to quantify piracy isn't reliable."

The data used comes from the RIAA and MPAA themselves

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20002304-261.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1

[Chigworthy]

RIAA and MPAA call for government mandated spyware on computers to fight piracy


http://bit.ly/cXJZay

I like all the references cited to back up the vague statements in that reputable news source from a self-proclaimed "anonymous blogger".

[Devo37]

this is why i only watch bootleg VHS tapes.

[hanso]

If you can get up high enough. You can watch the drive in movie.

[Bratushka]

when i upgrade my system i plan to keep and maintain the old PC and software suites i have on it. i never quite trusted Microsoft to not install some kind of copy protection software before and as we go forward i definitely don't trust them in the future. i know many of the telecoms have used the "we want to help protect copyrighted material from being illegally downloaded" argument to justify everything from spy-ware that probes every information packet going to the computers of their subscribers to why they should be given charge of the Internet.

the music industry especially is a joke when they whine about lost revenues blaming it on illegal downloading. i know it does happen, but for decades they fed us a non-stop diet of marginal music that was promoted for every reason other than the artistic merit of the music itself. they sold pure shit based on pretty boy bands, voice altered hot chick dancers, people's off stage posturing and attitude, slick videos that could make the lamest thing seem cool, and everything else but the music. even in the last stages of CD popularity it seemed to me that many bands would make a 10 track CD, half of which was possibly good, and the remainder was noise tracks or plain crap. even the promise the music industry made back at the advent of the CD that prices would come down never happened. (i know CDs can be had cheaply if you shop for them, but MSRP is still crazy high. the last CD i bought at out local music retailer, Warren Zevon's last CD, The Wind, cost me $22.00)

with a nod to Blowhard i recall a time when a band had a sound and a personality that was unique. when i was young (i know, here we go!) nobody sounded like Steppenwolf but them. Nobody sounded like Black Sabbath. like Deep Purple, like Led Zeppelin, like King Crimson, like Golden Earring, like the Allman Brothers, like Steely Dan, like the Stones, like Nazz, like Don McLean, like Dylan, etc. music remained that way through most of my life. as my horizons broadened every band, whether it was Weather Report, Bob Marley, Miles Davis, Buffalo Tom, the Cramps, Butthole Surfers, Pharcyde, Kronos Quartet, the Clash, Misfits, Bad Brains all were unique.

not so many years ago i bought an average of 20 CDs a month, most months more. it was almost always all new stuff. then the trend gradually changed to buying stuff released on CD for the first time like Bloodrock, Paul Butterfield, Budgie etc. (during the first wave of electronic music like the Thompson twins, Flock of Seagulls and that ilk i was heavily into replacing LP titles with the CD counterpart since i disliked almost all of that style of music)as soon as a new artist came out that became popular a host of clone bands would pop up overnight that was just a slightly altered version of the original band. even music reviews began to start describing bands in terms of who they sounded like. so much money was invested in promoting a band all the record companies cared about was making a maximum profit. so they played it safe and only invested in what had already proven successful. (i see the same thing in cinema: too many re-releases/remakes of nice, safe already proven successful films, too many sequels, and not enough original, challenging things.)

oh, but screwing up the music wasn't enough! then came the mp3 which was sold and hyped as a new nifty technology. never mind that the compression logarithms stripped off the harmonics and other "extraneous" material deemed unnecessary for the music to be adequately reproduced. it sounded worse, but since few people were buying good audio systems anymore and floor-standing speakers and quality components were replaced by pocket sized mp3 players and ear-buds, few really knew what their music sounded like. mp3 did to music reproduction what the microwave did to home cooking.

still not satisfied, then music devolved furtherand became just another fashion accessory. something to jump around to like on an iPod commercial and show your coolness and social status like footwear and the brand of jeans you wore. songs were here today and gone tomorrow like BKs and acid washed jeans. but the huge storage capacity meant quantity and everybody knows more is better! quantity was far more important than quality! ("Dude! I got 10,000 songs on my iPod!")

i look over my music collection and it's like a timeline. i always loved music and nothing gave me greater pleasure than buying an LP or CD by a band i had not heard before and scoring a real gem! i can find almost to the month when that started dropping off and mostly dying. i bought about 20 CDs and a few LPs over the past couple weeks. i bought all the remasters of Steely Dan's releases, two LPs by Hendrix released by the Hendrix family. i bought the re-release of Funkadelic / America Eats its Young. i bought a few releases of old Triumvarat- Spartacus and Illusions on a Double Dimple plus a couple Frank Zappa discs, one a 1976 concert from Philadelphia and the other an original release of a much earlier work. there just is so little new out there i think is worth buying. even XM and sites like Pandora (haven't been there in a while) offer up much that grabs me. with the exception of a few bands that came out of the Athens, Georgia music scene and a few from the Seattle grunge era, i can't see many bands whose music i bought i would still be as passionate about a decade from today. (there are a few- Sublime for instance and Tupac and a few other true poets from the rap world)

the point is, the music industry fed us shit. people grew tired of it and stopped buying it. the same industry made it impossible for people to be heard because the artist was too original and they couldn't justify the financial risk forcing many artists to seek alternative ways of promoting and selling their product. but the pompous asses that run the industry can't possibly see themselves to blame for people's changing attitudes towards music so they look for something/someone to blame. illegal downloading my ass. idjits at the helm, plain and simple!

[Bob Impact]

tl;dr won't even attempt.