US Rep Berman to introduce new piracy bill

[Peter Loge]

From Variety:

Posted: Thurs., Aug. 23, 2007, 5:46pm PT

"Lawmaker proposes piracy warning
Internet subscribers would receive letter
By DAVE MCNARY, BEN FRITZA leading lawmaker will propose federal legislation requiring telcos and cable operators to send Internet subscribers a warning letter if they access pirated content.
Rep. Howard Berman (D-Los Angeles) disclosed Thursday at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce antipiracy panel in Hollywood that he'll introduce the legislation as early as next month.

If enacted, it would mark a significant change in federal law by making Internet service providers responsible for piracy on their networks, not just those who download or share the content..."

The full story is at http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117970777.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

[Greg Strangis]

If you substitute "pronographic" material for "pirated" material, would this proposed legislation still be feasible?

I always thought the individual user was responsible for his/her own content consumption, not the ISP, and that this responsibility/liability had been affirmed at the highest judicial levels.

[Peter Loge]

Without seeing the bill itself it's hard to know precisely how Congressman Berman would make this work.

As I understand it the law protects ISPs, and I imagine Congressman Berman's bill has an enforcement mechanism that doesn't run afoul of current law (or that changes the current law).

The telcos have a vested interest in decreasing piracy as well - digital content (especially movies) use a lot of their limited bandwidth. If only purcahsed, legal content were downloaded that would likely free up a lot of limited bandwidth capacity.

[Greg Strangis]

The telcos have a vested interest in decreasing piracy as well - digital content (especially movies) use a lot of their limited bandwidth. If only purcahsed, legal content were downloaded that would likely free up a lot of limited bandwidth capacity.
Y'know what uses up bandwidth? And slows the Internet to a crawl?

Spam. E-mail spam. Billions of spam e-mails sent every single, 365 days a year.

Let's see Mr. Berman legislate us out of spam. If he could do that, I might be convinced to switch parties.