impengo's Journal: Cong. Sessions 02/16/08 - Copyright;Do I publish too hastily

Congressman Pete Sessions Park Central VII 12750 Merit Drive, Suite 1434 Dallas, Texas 75251-1229 Robert Johnson 02/16/2008 Dear Congressman Sessions: Copyright law is an area where enforcement is difficult and can be improved. I have observed in the news that Canada has recently been accused of joining Russia and China as an egregious violator of copyright law. (http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/02/12/tech-copyright.html) Canadians are interested in copyright enforcement, and have studied it in some detail. Dr. Michael Geist is a law professor at Ottawa University and has written on the subject at length. The number of things that are covered by copyright law has changed from the days of sheet music and manuscripts. By LISTING the THINGS WE ARE thinking about COPYRIGHTING, it HELPS think more clearly about what laws should do when properly enforced. As a consumer of purchased content, I have a different agenda from organizations that lobby government, like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA.) If we as a populace leave the devising of such laws to them there are ASPECTS OF FREE SPEECH that MAY SUFFER. As such I would like to offer a suggestion or two, assisting you in forming an opinion of how copyright law should develop. I know that copyright law is the subject of international debate, since enforcement across borders is necessary. I know that there may be little you can personally do about it but as I have suggested to others, there are individuals in most instances that are both unimportant enough to have time for study, AND important enough to address the relevant authorities. I am sure that this concept may be helpful in the editorial process of coming to your own attention, and hope that it might also be of assistance to you, should you choose to advocate it. The reason I do not despair is that I know the government intends to obtain the consent of the governed, and implement the best laws possible. I do not oppose a profit motive, and in fact I believe that the artists the RIAA and the MPAA choose to champion should indeed profit from their own intellectual property (IP.) As it stands we laugh at the blonde who slept with a screenwriter to get ahead! In fact the PROFIT for intellectual property is NOT going to THE ORIGINATORS. Attached please find a list of suggestions, influenced by the discussion currently going on in Canada. Yours Sincerely, Robert B Johnson The notice and notice principle means that when I notice and instance of copyright infringement, I inform the offending party, with a notice. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1705/125/. This works reasonably well, even across borders, and gives accidental offenders an opportunity to correct their mistake without draconian financial consequences. More serious consequences should be reserved to those who offend deliberately, so a notice system in the US might be accompanied by a legally binding date, like a return request receipt. A copyright levy could take the place of suing, and still be mutually exclusive. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=451786&cid=22406156. As such, the fine for copyright infringement might be assessed per instance; the unintentional offender could pay a fine if he overlooks the fee, and the intentional offender would pay the fine multiplied by many more instances of the offense. This is an aspect of procedural justice. Backups of computer programs and music media need to be available. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2572/125/. CDs and DVDs can be scratched too easily. In Canada blank media is taxed to support people whose IP rights might otherwise be violated. Businesses that employ blank media might be licensed to by-pass the fee, based on duplicating their own IP. Individuals that generate enough IP to need it would be encouraged to obtain a business license; then license their own business to by-pass the fee. A business that violates copyright law would be a flagrant offender. If the suggested situation led to many deliberate offenders violating UNTIL they got noticed, after which they took down offending content two strategies might be useful. 1. Make it easy to notice copyright infringement, by making it easy to look up and report. In school, I had to use a service to verify if my term paper was authentic. More computing power makes this an ideal way to copyright content. 2. Have a points system, whereby I collect points if I violate a copyright un-noticed. An accidental offender might have five free passes in a year or some other time frame, after which old offenses would roll off, while a frequent violator would either learn to verify OR pay the price. Pyramid schemes are already illegal. If a distributor of illicit MP3s was to organize a pyramid process to bypass the suggested system above, laws with regard to pyramid schemes would be employed to stop his illegal enterprise. Un-biased lobbies might assist the process like the Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright. http://64.233.179.110/blog_resources/google_bcbc_position_paper.pdf