Proposing a bill regulating file sharing for American Gov't

I have to present a bill about regulating file sharing in my Gov't class and was hoping for some input on my bill. Other people will ask questions and try to say how the bill won't work, does anyone spot any obvious leaks so I can be prepared? Any help would be appreciated, I kinda suck at gov't. +kma will be given

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In the speech, I was going to provide stats about how much the movie/music industry loses per year and how it's immoral to take an artist's work without paying to convince the class to approve the bill. I will of course describe the specifics of the bill during the speech.

Why should the people who download the copyrighted material be the only ones who get in trouble? If you make it available, then you should also get in trouble (sections 9-13). It doesn't seem like they are getting in trouble, but rather only the people who download from them.

Also...are you for or against this bill? It seems like you are talking to them about how much the music/movie industry loses each year, making you for it ... but that you find it immoral to make this bill, which would be against it.

These are my thoughts upon reading it once.

[quote9f52bf4133="moviemadnessman"]Why should the people who download the copyrighted material be the only ones who get in trouble? If you make it available, then you should also get in trouble (sections 9-13). It doesn't seem like they are getting in trouble, but rather only the people who download from them.

[b9f52bf4133]Yeah, I guess I forgot to add in the provision that the uploaders would get in trouble too, I'll add that right now.[/b9f52bf4133]

Also...are you for or against this bill? It seems like you are talking to them about how much the music/movie industry loses each year, making you for it ... but that you find it immoral to make this bill, which would be against it.

[b9f52bf4133]I am for this bill just for tomorrow to spur a class discussion but in reality I'm not necessarily for it. I meant to say how it was immoral to take artist's work and not pay for it. Thanks for the input[/b9f52bf4133]

These are my thoughts upon reading it once.[/quote9f52bf4133]

But now, on the issue of immorality, is it always necessarily bad? What about with the users of such sites such as Bittorent and Limewire, who share their collection of files with others in exchange for downloading files that they don't have? There was a time when money was not valued, because people would rather barter. Could one not argue that filesharing is like bartering, as long as you share things as well?

Also along those lines, what about the copyrighted material that you can't find, because they are either out of print or have never been printed? For example, Rocko's Modern Life has never been released, so I was glad when I was able to get all 4 seasons through alternative methods, rather than tracking them down and buying them. Or as another example, there is a DVD by Zach Galifianakis that is out of print now (Look Who It Isn't ... great stuff), and so although it is copyrighted, it is very hard to find a real copy. And if people are willing to share great things like this, to "barter" these files, does that make it so wrong?

Just a few more points to look out for if they come up about the whole "morality" issue )

First I would be very strongly against this. However, in the interest of being helpful
An IP address alone should not lead directly to a search of a users computer. Instead, it should lead to some kind of traffic monitoring (similar to a wire tap for phones) of the user at the ISP level so that accurate evidence could be obtained. For example, Mr. X is suspected of file sharing so the Gov't would get a search warrant allowing them to spy on all of the internet traffic of Mr. X without actually invading Mr. X's home and violating privacy. This would be reserved after hard evidence has been collected. It's too easy to spoof an IP address for it to be conclusive.

And - sorry I have to say this - please don't talk about loss of revenues for the music industry without at least mentioning that competition from other entertainment (DVDs, etc) is also a factor in the lost revenues. In other words, the however many billion of decreased sales that the recording industry likes to blame specifically on piracy does in fact have other factors leading to it.

[quote9cc910cfb7="cubbieco"]First I would be very strongly against this. However, in the interest of being helpful
An IP address alone should not lead directly to a search of a users computer. [b9cc910cfb7]Instead, it should lead to some kind of traffic monitoring (similar to a wire tap for phones) of the user at the ISP level so that accurate evidence could be obtained.[/b9cc910cfb7] For example, Mr. X is suspected of file sharing so the Gov't would get a search warrant allowing them to spy on all of the internet traffic of Mr. X without actually invading Mr. X's home and violating privacy. This would be reserved after hard evidence has been collected. It's too easy to spoof an IP address for it to be conclusive.

And - sorry I have to say this - please don't talk about loss of revenues for the music industry without at least mentioning that competition from other entertainment (DVDs, etc) is also a factor in the lost revenues. In other words, the however many billion of decreased sales that the recording industry likes to blame specifically on piracy does in fact have other factors leading to it.[/quote9cc910cfb7]

Sorry this is kind of off topic but some internet company's already do this to stop piracy. They use packet sniffers to collect/decode data that is being upload while torrenting. Then when they have enough of the information they need to know, to know what you were downloading/uploading they can charge you with serious crimes.

Sorry if it is unclear, I need some sleep.

[quote4b35e1563e="moviemadnessman"]But now, on the issue of immorality, is it always necessarily bad? What about with the users of such sites such as Bittorent and Limewire, who share their collection of files with others in exchange for downloading files that they don't have? There was a time when money was not valued, because people would rather barter. Could one not argue that filesharing is like bartering, as long as you share things as well?

[b4b35e1563e]Yeah but the creator of the file wouldn't get any commission for their work for bartered files. You could just barter a Beatles CD for a huge library of CDs which doesn't seem right.[/b4b35e1563e]

Also along those lines, what about the copyrighted material that you can't find, because they are either out of print or have never been printed? For example, Rocko's Modern Life has never been released, so I was glad when I was able to get all 4 seasons through alternative methods, rather than tracking them down and buying them. Or as another example, there is a DVD by Zach Galifianakis that is out of print now (Look Who It Isn't ... great stuff), and so although it is copyrighted, it is very hard to find a real copy. And if people are willing to share great things like this, to "barter" these files, does that make it so wrong?

[b4b35e1563e]The fact that a copyrighted file is hard to find/out of print could possibly be a stipulation to this bill, I might add that in.[/b4b35e1563e]

Just a few more points to look out for if they come up about the whole "morality" issue )[/quote4b35e1563e]

[quotefc086461ff="cubbieco"]First I would be very strongly against this. However, in the interest of being helpful
An IP address alone should not lead directly to a search of a users computer. Instead, it should lead to some kind of traffic monitoring (similar to a wire tap for phones) of the user at the ISP level so that accurate evidence could be obtained. For example, Mr. X is suspected of file sharing so the Gov't would get a search warrant allowing them to spy on all of the internet traffic of Mr. X without actually invading Mr. X's home and violating privacy. This would be reserved after hard evidence has been collected. It's too easy to spoof an IP address for it to be conclusive.

[bfc086461ff]Good point, I think that I will add in that clause to my bill. I thought about doing something like this originally but I didn't want to overwhlem the class with computer terms that they wouldn't know. [/bfc086461ff]

And - sorry I have to say this - please don't talk about loss of revenues for the music industry without at least mentioning that competition from other entertainment (DVDs, etc) is also a factor in the lost revenues. In other words, the however many billion of decreased sales that the recording industry likes to blame specifically on piracy does in fact have other factors leading to it.

[bfc086461ff]You are right, I will definitely mention this in my speech.[/bfc086461ff]
[/quotefc086461ff]

[quoteee2d49c725="hitnaui"][quoteee2d49c725="cubbieco"]First I would be very strongly against this. However, in the interest of being helpful
An IP address alone should not lead directly to a search of a users computer. [bee2d49c725]Instead, it should lead to some kind of traffic monitoring (similar to a wire tap for phones) of the user at the ISP level so that accurate evidence could be obtained.[/bee2d49c725] For example, Mr. X is suspected of file sharing so the Gov't would get a search warrant allowing them to spy on all of the internet traffic of Mr. X without actually invading Mr. X's home and violating privacy. This would be reserved after hard evidence has been collected. It's too easy to spoof an IP address for it to be conclusive.

And - sorry I have to say this - please don't talk about loss of revenues for the music industry without at least mentioning that competition from other entertainment (DVDs, etc) is also a factor in the lost revenues. In other words, the however many billion of decreased sales that the recording industry likes to blame specifically on piracy does in fact have other factors leading to it.[/quoteee2d49c725]

Sorry this is kind of off topic but some internet company's already do this to stop piracy. They use packet sniffers to collect/decode data that is being upload while torrenting. Then when they have enough of the information they need to know, to know what you were downloading/uploading they can charge you with serious crimes.

Sorry if it is unclear, I need some sleep.[/quoteee2d49c725]

Yeah it makes sense that such endeavors are bring made to stop piracy but I'm going to assume that there are no such agencies out there for the sake of the assignment.

[quote5158401f89="hitnaui"]

Sorry this is kind of off topic but some internet company's already do this to stop piracy. They use packet sniffers to collect/decode data that is being upload while torrenting. Then when they have enough of the information they need to know, to know what you were downloading/uploading they can charge you with serious crimes.

Sorry if it is unclear, I need some sleep.[/quote5158401f89]

My point is that sometimes people spoof IPs when using torrents so this type of software can produce false positives. If this ever become a criminal investigation I would want something at the ISP level to eliminate the possibility of a false positive.