[cmelbye]

As the President of the United States, he would have the power to stop this policy from being put in motion. If he had the intellect, he would realize that this is a bad idea and he would stop it. At this rate, he'll doing as much bad as McCain does to the Internet in my opinion.

[nailer]

Saying 'if he was smart, he wouldn't stop piracy' begs the question why taking creative works without permission isn't worth stopping.

[loewenskind]

It would be worth stopping or slowing, but putting someone in jail? How does that help anything? Destroy someone's life over a download?

Plus, letting the Music/Movie industry keep things as they are is slowing progression. If the government is going to get involved in this they need to also insure that new (i.e. online) competition is allowed in on media distribution. The existing players have a monopoly on it, and a monopoly is something that provably hurts the economy.

[nailer]

> Destroy someone's life over a download?

The law isn't proposing to destroy lives of casual downloaders. They'll get a fine at most - which is what all legislation I've ever seen does. Jail is inevitably reserved for more organized networks.

> Plus, letting the Music/Movie industry keep things going as they are

Piracy also affects the software industry and independent artists. Like me, like the other guy in this link that had his worked nicked, like our Bingo Card Guy. Piracy doesn't distinguish between good people and bad people. It's about getting things you want without paying for them.

There is no pirate site that refuses to steal from indie artists, ethical companies, or OSS contributors.

New online competition is media distribution is allowed! My company sells it works directly, so do heaps of independent artists. Nobody from other companies or the government can stop us selling work online.

[loewenskind]

Great, so I can get the latest Holywood blockbuster online from you for $3 instead of have to walk to the back of a Walmart and pay $20?

[nailer]

No. I don't make it, so I don't determine the price. That doesn't mean you have the right to steal it.

[loewenskind]

My point is; the model is wrong. An expensive, outdated method is being used because distribution of these movies is controlled by a small established group with deep pockets. I don't imagine the producers like the situation, nor the stars of the movie. They would probably make more if they could just release their film online instead of paying a middle man to package it up and ship it around.

If the government is going to step in and try to stop piracy, fine. I want to live in a world where I can write an application and become financially independent from it (and without having to give it away and get paid for support, yuck!). But they also have to address this issue that these old, but rich companies are hurting the economy by insisting on being inefficient middle men that customers don't care about and probably not creators of the content either.