Haley Miller ([email protected])
Wed, 5 Aug 1998 14:45:04 -0400
It doesn't sound like it REALLY targets our sites or the kind of technology
most of us have on our sites (images, sounds of all kinds, lyrics etc.)
BUT what maybe alot of us don't realize (or don't care about) is that most
of us are posting copyrighted material in some form or another. we are
guilty of copyright infringement if we post lyrics, some images, Wavs, MP3
or RA etc. We are not generally claiming authorship of those things nor
making money of them, but we are publishing them. This bill CRIMINALIZES
that with hefty fines and jail time (!) etc.
It's mostly targeting software manufacturers and others SELLING things on
the internet (and I sure how know many wirelings HATE internet commerce and
advertisements :-p)
I'd like to believe that U2 and Island would never try and hinder U2's happy
thriving Internet community. But there are a lot of people who might be more
than eager to hop on the proverbial band wagon. Polygram, other bands or
whole host of people with a small stake in the music industry's publishing
might try and apply this bill to fan sites.
Oasis already tried, I don't know how successfully, to stop fan sites from
publishing lyrics and sounds. (and Dave Matthews Band TRIED to stop bootleg
manufacturing)
but before I continue to ramble on partially informed(too late), I'm
wondering how this will affect sites with connections outside the US (ie
involving an Irish band who owns the rights to all their music and most of
there merchandising). As much as the American government likes to wave
around the big stick it carries (lewinski jokes aside), how much clout will
this bill have internationally? For non-American companies, sites on
non-American ISPs or site owned by non American webmasters, it would be
difficult to enforces if even applicable.
So where does this leave us webmasters. Probably nowhere different then
yesterday. And it probably won't affect us for a long while, if ever. But
it's something to be aware of.
Peace, Love and Vegetables and soap boxes
Haley
want to my little copyright infringement?
* http://www.smith.edu/~hmiller/vieu.html *
'"I went mad for a while," said Ford Prefect, "did me no end of good....and
then I decided I was a lemon for a couple of weeks. I kept myself amused
all that time by jumping in and out of gin and tonic."' -douglas adams,
"life, the universe and everything"
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