![thedailywhat:
PIPA Vote Postponement of the Day: After reports surfaced yesterday that Sen. Harry Reid won’t force Democrats to vote in favor of PIPA, the Senate Majority Leader announced today that he will postpone the vote on the Senate’s anti-piracy bill “in light of recent events.”
“There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved,” Reid said in a statement, adding that it remained necessary to take action against piracy, which costs “the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year.”
The test vote on PIPA was originally scheduled for Tuesday.
[tpm.]
There is a reason that these legitimate issues cannot be resolved while still putting together a bill addressing the same concerns. That reason is that there is nobody in the Senate who understands these issues well enough to craft wise legislation. As such, they are relying on input from the very people who have proven to not have truth or American interests at heart. Billions of dollars lost to the economy and thousands of jobs lost each year due to piracy? [citation needed (no, a credible one please.)] I have a better idea. Instead of crafting increasingly invasive, destructive, and counterproductive legislation, why not first try rolling back some past mistakes.
Undo the DMCA. Media companies have already shown that they are happy to abuse it by sending take down notices for works they have no rights on and anti-circumvention clauses only serve to provide a legal end run past the public domain, oh, and to lock up a programmer who dared to add text to speech capabilities for legally purchased ebooks so grandma could enjoy them.
Take back copyright extensions. The Supreme Court recently ruled that Congress has the power to institute retroactive copyright. This means those who make money and create jobs in preserving and making available classics of the past have increased risk. It’s up to Congress to say, “we don’t want that power,” and remove that risk. With reasonable copyright terms (no, I don’t think it is reasonable for works that entered copyright before I was born to not enter the public domain until after I am dead) I bet we’ll have a better shot at preserving contemporary American culture and enable our entrepreneurs to create the jobs associated with doing that. This will also restore pressure to encourage creative professionals to continue making great new works or as Samuel Clemens planned when copyright terms would not extend past his death, to improve old works that were still of value.
It’s not a bad idea to try new laws and find out empirically if a different balance improves the nation, but we’ve tried this line of inquiry long enough. It’s time to step back and ask, “what did we get out of it?” My answer is, “not nearly enough.” On the topic of staying this misguided course, the American people recently gave you a giant, “DO NOT WANT.” Time to undo that mess and try something else. You have the power to help lead this nation in a new and better direction. Do you have the courage to try?
Oh, and while I’m wishing for a pony, could you create a few more jobs in the IRS so they can get around to sending me my 2010 tax refund? I’d like to put that money into the economy and maybe help create some jobs.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly3r0y4gen1qzpwi0o1_1280.jpg)
PIPA Vote Postponement of the Day: After reports surfaced yesterday that Sen. Harry Reid won’t force Democrats to vote in favor of PIPA, the Senate Majority Leader announced today that he will postpone the vote on the Senate’s anti-piracy bill “in light of recent events.”
“There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved,” Reid said in a statement, adding that it remained necessary to take action against piracy, which costs “the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year.”
The test vote on PIPA was originally scheduled for Tuesday.
[tpm.]
There is a reason that these legitimate issues cannot be resolved while still putting together a bill addressing the same concerns. That reason is that there is nobody in the Senate who understands these issues well enough to craft wise legislation. As such, they are relying on input from the very people who have proven to not have truth or American interests at heart. Billions of dollars lost to the economy and thousands of jobs lost each year due to piracy? [citation needed (no, a credible one please.)] I have a better idea. Instead of crafting increasingly invasive, destructive, and counterproductive legislation, why not first try rolling back some past mistakes.
Undo the DMCA. Media companies have already shown that they are happy to abuse it by sending take down notices for works they have no rights on and anti-circumvention clauses only serve to provide a legal end run past the public domain, oh, and to lock up a programmer who dared to add text to speech capabilities for legally purchased ebooks so grandma could enjoy them.
Take back copyright extensions. The Supreme Court recently ruled that Congress has the power to institute retroactive copyright. This means those who make money and create jobs in preserving and making available classics of the past have increased risk. It’s up to Congress to say, “we don’t want that power,” and remove that risk. With reasonable copyright terms (no, I don’t think it is reasonable for works that entered copyright before I was born to not enter the public domain until after I am dead) I bet we’ll have a better shot at preserving contemporary American culture and enable our entrepreneurs to create the jobs associated with doing that. This will also restore pressure to encourage creative professionals to continue making great new works or as Samuel Clemens planned when copyright terms would not extend past his death, to improve old works that were still of value.
It’s not a bad idea to try new laws and find out empirically if a different balance improves the nation, but we’ve tried this line of inquiry long enough. It’s time to step back and ask, “what did we get out of it?” My answer is, “not nearly enough.” On the topic of staying this misguided course, the American people recently gave you a giant, “DO NOT WANT.” Time to undo that mess and try something else. You have the power to help lead this nation in a new and better direction. Do you have the courage to try?
Oh, and while I’m wishing for a pony, could you create a few more jobs in the IRS so they can get around to sending me my 2010 tax refund? I’d like to put that money into the economy and maybe help create some jobs.
