Clinton responsible for 12-year olds going to jail? Help.

[stanwyck]

Clinton-bashing wingnut at work says Clinton is responsible for the legislation which is now putting 12-year old downloaders behind bars for file sharing. Never mind Clinton didn't write the legislation. Any specifics/facts you can provide are appreciated.

[meegbear]

1. That can't be true ....

<sarcasm>
The Clinton Cronicles says he has them killed.
</sarcasm>

[LuminousX]

2. Huh?

Which 12-year-old is her referring? The girl in the Bronx was being sued - not criminally charged.

[Occulus]

6. And yet

the article about her settlement says they "didn't know filesharing was illegal" and the paper does nothing to refute that assertion.

Filesharing is not illegal; unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material while gaining no profit in the process is copyright infringement, (until now) civil matter.

Go read up on the railrods' assertions a hundred years ago and you'll find that they were able to insinute into law the idea that they were people under thw law. Now that same position is being used for these 'artificial people' (music corporations) to legally fine, tar, and feather other legitimite, human people for causing a loss of profit. No actual theft is involved because theft involves a deprivation of property, and making a copy deprives nothing but potential profits which do not yet exist.

Is the RIAA trying to say that they're entitled to a profit, even if their product doesn't sell as well as it used to?

Are they trying to say they're entitled to control of the distribution of their product?

What's really going on here?

[Occulus]

3. He should have

vetoed the DMCA. This is one case where I contend that Clinton was a total failure and neglacted to do his duty to the upblic, which to this day enjoys a (continually eroding) fair use of copyrighted material.

Corporate personhood is to blame. They were able to lobby, something they shouldn't ever have been able to do in the first place.

[diplomats]

4. Dumb question: What's the DMCA?

eom

[Occulus]

8. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

An especially unpatriotic and servile piece of legislation. It makes even discussing how to use, for example, DeCSS, illegal.

Sinister.

[Melsky]

7. Totally agreed

DMCA is screwed. I think we should revoke corporate personhood. Corporations are not people! They don't deserve the same rights as people, which works out to having more rights than people have.

But there are no 12 year olds jailed for file sharing. She might be grounded for a while though!

[Occulus]

9. DU mail me Melsky

I'm totally opposed to the very idea myself. Maybe we can cook up something between us.

[bluestateguy]

5. Gross exaggeration

Yes, Clinton signed the law, but it takes a Congress to pass laws, and Republicans controlled it in 1998. Plenty of valid questions have been raised as to whether or not the DMCA permits the RIAA to do what they are now doing. Also, no one is "going to jail". The RIAA is only pursuing civil lawsuits at this time.

The problem is one cannot expect Democrats to stand up to the entertainment industry in light of all they money they get from them. That is one of the few wealthy constituencies that supports Democrats more than Republicans.

[Occulus]

11. Yes, but

that didn't prevent the newspaper from allowing to stand the insinuation that it's illegal. Which it's not.

Filesharing in general, I mean.

We need to find legitimate reasons to use filesharing, though- I'm thinking sharing the Diebold files would be a good use of Bearshare, E-Mule, and others, for example.

In any case, there's copyright infringement, and then there's software piracy. The first involves no profit; the latter, sale of unauthorized copies for profit.

[stanwyck]

10. Thanks, smart people

I needed facts to retaliate. I absolutely refuse to let people get away with making bizarre statements which have no basis in reality. It's time to fight back. No more go along to get along. Let's call these blowhards on their rhetoric. Pin them down. Make them be specific. Counter whenever possible. This is a battle for our future.