AfterDawn: Tech news

Senate may vote on copyright bill

Written by Jari Ketola @ 16 Nov 2004 4:42 User comments (3)

Senate may vote on copyright bill The US Senate may be voting on the Intellectual Property Protection Act (IPPA) this week. The bill combines aspects of several proposed copyright and piracy acts, and has raised concerns in several groups.
The bill, if passed, would make many P2P users, and digital consumer devices criminally liable for copyright infringement. While skipping "offending" content on DVDs would be permitted, devices that would skip forced advertisements on DVDs would be illegal. Especially Disney has excelled in putting 30 minutes of trailers and advertisements on their DVDs.

Additionally the IPPA would permit, or rather obligate the Department of Justice to file civil lawsuits against suspected pirates. Bringing a video camera into a movie theater with the intent to tape the movie could lead to a three year imprisonment, fines or both.

The entertainment industry, RIAA and MPAA both feel that the proposal has many aspects that are essential for the survival of the industry.



The groups that oppose the act fear that it might be pushed through in a lame-duck session this week. They are calling for the Senate to postpone the consideration of the bill until there's enough time for proper hearings and debate.

Source: Wired

Previous Next  

3 user comments

117.11.2004 07:00

Absolutely Pathetic!!

217.11.2004 18:27

this is so stupid. if the act passes, they'll probably have a mandatory minimum for those kind of things. i personally LOATHE all dvd makers who put unskippable advertisements on their dvds. but, thats why i have anydvd and CloneDVD! but they'll be illegal if it passes...

318.11.2004 03:10

Forcing 30 minutes of trailers and ads on users who have bought a DVD for home use? No way.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

News archive