1/4 million dollar fine for bootlegging d+d books?

[alsih2o]

a bill has hit the house of representatives in the U.S. that would make it a felony to share files peer to peer of copyrighted material.

here is a link- http://www.msnbc.com/news/940397.asp?0cv=CB20

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Hmm...seems a bit harsh for it, but I do understand the reasoning. Thing is though...what do they do about international file swapping and such?

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

This makes me want to say things Eric's grandmother wouldn't like to hear about topics Eric's grandmother doesn't want us talking about. So before the thread gets closed, I'll post a link to the nutkinland thread I just started.

http://www.nutkinland.com/viewtopic.php?p=151537#151537

 

[Kae'Yoss]

"A bit harsh" ? If you blow up your neighborhood, you get away with less.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Yeah, but big money doesn't care if you blow up your neighbourhood.

 

[Henry]

I expect everyone who has something to say to both follow the ground rules in the FAQ, and to handle it with the decorum that is characteristic of our fellow posters. We don't shut down copyright threads, as long as they stay on topic, civil, and don't include pirate-links.

 

[The Sigil]

FWIW, I do get on file-sharing systems from time to time.

For the same reason Hellhound does... to see if anyone is "sharing" my stuff.

I have found people sharing my stuff probably half a dozen times. Each time, the sharer gets a, "look, I would appreciate it if you didn't do this" note. Nothing nasty, no threats of litigation - I have neither the time nor the inclination to do that.

But just a little nudge to "do the right thing." I think most people do, at the end of the day, want to "do the right thing."

While I think the IP-protection laws in the US are getting WAY out of whack (punishment is not relative to crime severity), and because of that, I am in no hurry to try to "enforce my copyright" on someone else and bankrupt them, the rest of that thought is quite political and as such I'll refrain from further comment.

--The Sigil

 

[Arc]

*opens up kazaa* Lets see, 3774004 users currently online, and assuming that most of them are in America, and that most have at least 1 copyrighted file... that's 3 million lawsuits, and up to 750000000000$ in punishments. Is the prison system, or our judicial system big enough for that? Consider each case would take perhaps 1 day (as it's a felony, deserving a trial), that's around 8200 years of court time. There's no way this could effectively be enforced, because America's legal system would be gridlocked for ages.

 

[Grishnak]

Is that payable in PP, GP, SP and CP?? I'm sure my 16th level char could pay for me hehe.

 

[alsih2o]

*opens up kazaa* Lets see, 3774004 users currently online, and assuming that most of them are in America, and that most have at least 1 copyrighted file... that's 3 million lawsuits, and up to 750000000000$ in punishments. Is the prison system, or our judicial system big enough for that? Consider each case would take perhaps 1 day (as it's a felony, deserving a trial), that's around 8200 years of court time. There's no way this could effectively be enforced, because America's legal system would be gridlocked for ages.

most of these people are simply downloading files shared originally by others. i believe this law, as well as many other actions taken to prevent this kind of theft, is aimed at the original people who "post" the file.