|
|
Catching Up on the Newsby George Ziemann -- July 9, 2010 Okay, I've had an Internet connection for a week now, finally caught up with my e-mail, made a good start on the story of my cross-country trip (see below), but I haven't talked about news yet. The four most significant topics I've seen so far are Sony v. Tenenbaum, Viacom v YouTube, the FBI's retarded approach to copyright, and ASCAP's new insane plan. Sony v TenenbaumThis one is just a few hours old. Having noted that the plantiff's actual damages in this case were about $30, District Judge Nancy Gertner reduced the jury's award from $675,000, or $22,500 per infringed work, to $67,500, or $2,250 per infringed work, on due process grounds, holding that the jury's award was unconstitutionally excessive. So now the fine is only 2250 times the value of the actual damages. That's not unconstitutionally excessive? By that measure, if you shoplift a pack of cigarettes in New York City (retail -- about $8), a reasonable fine is $18,000. Viacom v YouTubeThis one is a couple of weeks old, but I just wanted to make sure I mentioned it. June 23, 2010 -- In Viacom v. YouTube, the Court has ruled that YouTube qualifies for DMCA "safe harbor" protection. I haven't read the court documents, but I'm guessing the fact that some of the material Viacom was suing over they themself placed on YouTube might have effected the decision here. I could be wrong, but if I were the judge, that would have been my logic. FBI Goes Full RetardFirst of all, I know that some people take offense to any use of the words "retard" or "retarded." However, my dictonary defines "retard" as "to make slow; delay the progress of; hinder or impede." What the FBI is doing with copyright law qualifies as retarded. It was bad enough when Obama started filling the Dept. of Justice with former RIAA attorneys. It was worse when it was revealed that the FBI would now take on the RIAA's job of hunting down copyright infringers. But what I saw last night was so ridiculous that it made me laugh for a long time. I was watching a video of American Gangster, legally purchased by someone from WalMart, according to the sticker on the outside of the box. Of course, the movie is preceding by a warning with the FBI logo that says the following:
What do I find funny about this? Infringement without monetary gain is not a criminal offense, but a civil offense. The FBI has no business wasting its time, effort or our tax dollars on civil offenses. That is the job of the copyright owner. The AHRA (American Home Recording Act), which arose from the ashes of the Sony/Betamax case, says that Americans are free to make a personal use copy of whatever they damn well please. The DMCA changed this slightly by making it an offense to bypass copy protection, but the "Record" button on the DVD/VHS player I'm using seems to indicate that Philips Electronics already did that work for me. It would also seem that I can put a pre-"War on Piracy" VHS recorder between the DVD player output and the TV and accomplish the same thing without technically breaking the law. You can't send someone to prison for a civil offense. The maximum fine for civil copyright infringement is $150,000 per work infringed. The FBI warning is bullshit. Whoever worded it is either an intentional liar or an idiot. In either case, they shouldn't be working for the FBI, which has much more important crime to solve. Or have they captured everyone on the Most Wanted List, solved every bank robbery, kidnapping and other types of federal cases involving real criminal activity? I think not. ASCAP Ignores History, Reality and Their MembersFrom their own "About Us" page, ASCAP makes the following claim:
For several years now, ASCAP has been pushing a Bill of Rights for Songwriters and Composers that is based upon the questionable "You're stealing our stuff" logic. According to their latest e-mail, they have a total of 12,000 people who have signed on to this. A whole 3 percent of their membership. Despite the decided lack of interest in their "Bill of Rights," ASCAP is now attacking what many artists (including songwriters, composers and publishers) have embraced for years -- Creative Commons licensing. There is a June 24 article at zeropaid.com titled "ASCAP Declares War on Free Culture," wherein details of a letter sent to ASCAP members (although I'm an ASCAP member, both as publisher and songwriter, and never received one) asking them to fund a fight against Creative Commons, EFF, Public Knowledge and everyone else who realizes that "the way things are" has changed drastically in the last 10 years. The article is well worth reading if you haven't seen it yet. Since the only entity which can adopt a Creative Commons license for a work is the copyright owner themself, this seems like a fight that ASCAP cannot win, no matter how much money they collect from imbeciles who can't comprehend the simple truth of the situation. We have choices now. ASCAP or BMI work registration is a choice. So is Creative Commons. ASCAP has as much chance of suing Creative Commons, EFF and Public Knowledge out of existence as they would trying to do the same to BMI. It just ain't gonna happen. Of course, ASCAP is the organization that spent 17 years trying to sue radio out of existence for playing their music. That fight didn't end because ASCAP wised up. It ended when the radio broadcasters gave ASCAP exactly what it asked for, formed BMI and stopped playing ASCAP music completely. Good thing, too, since ASCAP viewed jazz, blues, country, western, folk and a number of other genres as not worthy of being published. If not for BMI, rock and roll might have been stillborn. ASCAP says that radio stopped playing their music due to a boycott on ASCAP's part, but 17 years of legal assault hadn't worked, so the idea that a boycott did is laughable. As is their current activity. ASCAP doesn't have a fucking clue, has forgotten how much money they wasted trying to stop radio in the 1920s and 1930s, and is still following the 90-year old playbook that made them big losers in 1940. On top of that, it's own members don't seem too damn thrilled about these ignorant ideas. What needs to be remembered is that the biggest publishers are the RIAA record labels' publishing arms. That's who is calling the shots here. So the four major labels and 11,996 other ASCAP members seem to think this is a good idea. The other 368,000 of us don't seem to count. I'm not a BMI member, so I don't know where they stand on this mindless activity. Then again, I haven't heard them pointing out how butt-stupid it all is. It is said that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. ASCAP and BMI should know this history because they are the ones who made it happen. It's their history. In this case, ignorance is no excuse. Each day that passes brings us closer to the time when history repeats itself and a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) which embraces the Internet comes along and gives the stupid fucks at the RIAA and ASCAP exactly what they are asking for. I've been trying to tell P2P users for years that this is the best and most efficient way to stop this insanity -- instead of sharing RIAA music, erase it from the Internet and support those acts, songwriter, and publishers who are actively trying to have their music heard instead of harboring a desire to punish those who would be their audience. I didn't think the current scenario would have to go the full 17 years before someone came along and made 1940 happen again. But there are no signs that it will happen any faster this time around. Might even take longer. However, I do have faith that eventually musicians' love of (and passion for) music will outweigh the love of money on which the industry is currently based. The United States used to have a Music business; now it's the music Business. Lawyers and investment brokers are running things today; musicians used to be in charge. That's why today's music sucks. The lawyers and accountants couldn't recognize a new, exciting breakthrough in music if it crawled up their leg, nested in their asshole and was chewing on their balls 24 hours a day. We've got to get those morons out and get the musicians back in control. Maybe all four major labels will have to go under for this to happen. EMI barely escaped being taken over by CitiGroup in June and the actions of Terra Firma, the current owners, didn't solve EMI's problem, it just put off the ultimate outcome a little longer. EMI is going to be the first one to go. And I'll cheer when it happens. We'll be one step closer to the rebirth of music in America. It can't happen a moment too soon. |