Submitted by jrenaut on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 9:31am.
Posted in
Nashville copyright craziness -- success! Rematch on Mar 5 - Boing Boing
Yesterday's rally in Nashville to stop a new copyright bill that would put the expense of policing the movie industry's business model onto universities was a success -- the bill has been stalled and won't be reconsidered for ten days.
I have two friends down in Nashville (Well, just outside of Nashville, but close enough). One of them probably knows about this already. In fact, I was sort of expecting a post on the subject.
I won't elaborate on all the reasons why laws like this are absurd - BoingBoing does it pretty regularly, and I don't really have anything to add.
But if you're in or around Nashville, especially if you are or soon will be a student at a Tennessee college, this matters to you. Don't let them raise your tuition to support the lazy recording industry that stubbornly refuses to embrace the new business available to them through the internet.
Copyright Craziness Indeed
I have been following the story. My brother currently attends UT. I graduated from UT (which is obviously the school of focus here since it sits in Knoxville, the same city as Tim Burchett's district). Not surprisingly, UT is somewhere in the top 10 of schools targeted by the RIAA.
Obviously it's ridiculous to pin the movie and music industry's inability to adapt to new markets on university network admins. And to threaten to pull funding? In effect, certain school funding would now be determined by the movie industry and how they feel about their bottom line that year? Insane.
I keep going back to the idea of how absurd it would be for crime victims to sue the department of transportation because they constructed roads that allowed criminals to drive in their car and carry out their crime. The MPAA/RIAA is essentially doing the same thing threatening universities because they provide an infrastructure for people to engage in illegal activity.
Anyway, I'll be following the March 5th event and can swing by on my way to work.
Good to hear
I don't even understand how rational human beings can think laws like these are okay. I don't advocate illegal downloading, but this is absurd.
Nice summary article here. Apparently the University of Utah has made a lot of progress in pushing students toward encrypted P2P, which is more like pushing the problem under the rug than actually solving it. I imagine the students are perfectly happy to be under the rug.
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