FC: Heritage on P2P hacking bill: A good idea; and Berman speaks

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Subject: New paper on Berman P2P bill
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 13:59:40 -0400
From: "Gattuso, James" <James.Gattuso () heritage org>

        FYI -- thought you may be interested in this short paper on the
Berman P2P bill released last week by Heritage:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternetandTechnology/EM835.cfm


James L. Gattuso
Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy
The Heritage Foundation
214 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
(202) 608-6244

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Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2002 11:51:55 +1000
From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochrane () theage fairfax com au>
Organization: The Age newspaper
To: declan () well com
Subject: Berman outlines case for P2P bill


Hi Declan

So anyone who disagrees with Rep Berman is "illogical" and a "piracy 
profiteer"? But  he finishes by saying "I don't claim to have drafted a 
perfect bill, and I welcome suggestions for improvements". That's what 
people have been trying to tell him; it will be interesting to see if he 
takes any of that to heart or if this is just window dressing aimed to 
jolly us along. By labelling critics as he has, I suggest the latter is the 
truth.

You gotta love the hyperbole:

"Some, in the media and among the piracy profiteers, claim that the bill is 
not limited in this way. They claim that the bill gives a copyright owner 
immunity for anything she does, no matter how illegal, as long as one 
effect is to stop piracy on a P2P network. According to their "logic", the 
bill would allow a copyright owner to burn down a P2P pirate's house if one 
effect of the arson is to stop the pirate's illegal file trading. Clearly, 
the bill says nothing of the sort, and no judge or disinterested party 
could read it that way. "
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20021001_berman.html

I don't recall anyone saying this, but by casting such a outrageous 
comparison anything else looks reasonable.

Berman is yet to address the issue of what happens outside the US borders 
-- obviously not an issue that is high in the minds of Congressmen, but it 
is the sort of thing that is of interest to the citizens and lawmakers of 
America's "allies".


--

Nathan Cochrane
Deputy IT Editor
:Next:
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.next.theage.com.au




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