Anti-Piracy Bill Set To Cost Taxpayers $47m To 2016

enigmax
August 19, 2011
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PROTECT IP, the U.S. government’s legislation to target individuals and domains connected with allegations of copyright infringement, is set to cost millions of dollars to enforce. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, PROTECT IP – which is designed to benefit US-based entertainment companies – will cost the taxpayer a cool $47m between 2012 and 2016.

The Protect IP Act (an acronym for Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property) is a bill introduced earlier this year aimed at combating online copyright infringement.

PROTECT IP will target and censor so-called “rogue websites”, online sites and services (especially overseas) which U.S. authorities say facilitate infringement of local intellectual property rights. The bill also imposes new anti-piracy requirements on ISPs, payment processors and advertisers. Search engines also have duties to perform, such as deleting links to outlawed sites.

The MPAA is a big supporter of the legislation and firmly believes that its implementation will lead to an increase in its members’ revenues. However, for those not in the entertainment business the legislation, which is currently on hold following intervention by Senator Ron Wyden, will come at a financial cost.

According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate released this week, between 2012 and 2016 PROTECT IP will cost the U.S. taxpayer tens of millions of dollars.

“Based on information from the Department of Justice (DOJ), CBO estimates that implementing [PROTECT IP] would cost $47 million over the 2012-2016 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary funds,” the report states.

In order to enforce the legislation, the Department of Justice says it will need an additional 22 special agents and 26 support staff.

“Once fully phased in, CBO estimates the costs of the additional employees under the bill would reach about $10 million annually, including salaries, benefits, training, equipment, and support costs,” says the CBO.

The report notes that there will be an “impact on the private sector”, particularly for the above-mentioned Internet service providers, credit card companies, online advertisers and search engines who have direct or indirect business with “rogue sites”. The legislation intends to outlaw this business but the costs of that are unclear.

“Because of uncertainty about how often and against whom the Department of Justice or copyright holders would use the authority to prohibit the actions outlined in the bill, CBO cannot determine the cost of the mandate to the private sector,” the report concludes.

By its very nature, leading search engine Google will be affected by the new legislation. Recently executive chairman Eric Schmidt spoke out against PROTECT IP-style censorship during the company’s Big Tent conference in London, saying that the company would fight demands to carry out web blocking.

In addition to the 90 law professors who are opposing the legislation, Demand Progress is running a campaign urging Congress to reject the Act.

Oppose the Internet Blacklist Bill

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Noah C.

I’m not trying to be negative, but $47 Mil is pocket change to the government. We spend billions daily, so whats another drop in the bucket?

Of course, I’m certainly not agreeing with this bill, but the idea that it’s actually going to cost tax payers more is kind of… not wrong, but $47 million is only $0.20 per person. Not much. Sure, it’s twenty cents, but honestly, it’s not going to do much to persuade people to not oppose. That’s my view, at least.

Remember. If you have a different opinion, don’t be a dick and contradict it with flaming and anger. It’s dumb.
- Sum One
  
  “We spend billions daily, so whats another drop in the bucket?”
  
  I agree to a point… BUT ever hear of the straw that broke the camels back? All it takes is one small pebble to start a massive landslide.
  - Noah C.
    
    In no way am I condoning the government stealing any more of our money, I’m simply stating that honestly, this is a hard argument to make because of this statement. We have so many things we could cut down on, but we choose to spend pointless money on this, but it’s not a big deal, so the public generally doesn’t care.
    
    If it had some large sum such as 70 Billion a year, this would be front page and evening news in every house and home. But honestly, this isn’t a big deal and is simply another drop in the bucket that’s already overflowing, so we can’t really complain in the first place. We already have enough debt.
    - Anaconda
      
      The MPAA has an annual budget of $100 million dollars, the chief exec has an annual income of $1.5 million dollars.
      
      Anything they recoup (from law suits etc., goes back to the MPAA).
      
      The artists get nothing except extorted.
      
      This is a business plan to pay the monopolies of the Studios and the government coffers. Never imagine this is about protection of intellectual property. This is pure and simple a gravy train for the already rich.
    - Betwindeline
      
      You must also take into account the cost for law enforcement to grab the infringer in his house, then the cost of forensic to analyze the seized hardware, then the cost of the court… It ain’t cheap to “process” people in court, loads of people there get a very nice pay… So in my opinion, 47 Mil is only the tip of the iceberg…
    - Betwindeline
      
      You must also take into account the cost for law enforcement to grab the infringer in his house, then the cost of forensic to analyze the seized hardware, then the cost of the court… It ain’t cheap to “process” people in court, loads of people there get a very nice pay… So in my opinion, 47 Mil is only the tip of the iceberg…
    - Anonymous
      
      And you forget that they will be using YOUR tax money to take away YOUR freedom. You are paying them to rob you.
    - Will
      
      What this article doesn’t tell you is that the payment processors, advertisers and most ISP’s support this bill. It costs money to make the things we love, be it video games, movies, music, books and software. IT ALL COSTS MONEY TO MAKE! The fact that you watch, read or listen to something that you didn’t pay for is wrong. But what’s worse is, FOREIGNERS are stealing the creativity of American’s and we, stupidly, are buying it back! When you go to that file sharing or peer to peer website and “share” and “subscribe” you are paying foreigners in other countries for things that your fellow country-men aren’t being compensated for. Or, when you go to those file sharing sites and their are advertisements running along the side…well, you are supporting the theft of someone else’s work. Most of these sites are run and owned by foreigners who, because they don’t live in the United States, fall outside the jurisdiction of this country’s government. The Protect IP Act would allow the US government to shut down those websites to stop the theft of American products. Everyone should support it!
    - Noah C.
      
      To address several comments that I cannot reply to individually because of the Disqus Comments System:
      
      Anaconda:
      
      The total amount of corruption in the movie and music industry is sickening. Lately I’ve been doing research as to what rights artists have as an individual/entity (in case of a band), and whether in the “business” scheme of things if they should be considered an Employee or Employer. Think about that one. It’s a good question.
      
      (by the way, who is the “artist” in your argument? You may want to think out this statement as it is much different then in the music industry, where there is a recognizable performing band member. A film requires many, many, many more people to produce a product. In my opinion it’s very hard to define “artist” when speaking about movies)
      
      Betwindeline:
      
      I think you have a misunderstanding of the law. This law has not the ability to seize hardware, the FBI already has the power to do that, so our tax dollars are already being wasted. This law allows the government simply to shut down whatever website is a “pirate” website. Because of the enormous margin of error already exhibited by the recent seizures of domains, I can only expect more problems, errors, corruption, and neglect of the Due Process of Law. Sadly, I feel that this “clause” in the law will be ignored if passed because “Due Process” only refers to “legal persons.” This law will set the precedent that websites have no rights as property of “legal persons,” and will be ignored, and simply seized.
      
      Anonymous:
      
      That’s what all taxes are, dummy. xD
      
      Oh, and I won’t forget… Dear Will:
      
      What this article doesn’t tell YOU is that it violates our freedom of speech. Because of the massive scale of this project, they will also be able to shut down sites such as WikiLeaks, which are important WhistleBlower sites. WhistleBlowers, contrary to some opinion, are important in keeping integrity in our military and government. If not, you support 60s Clandestine operations in which we violated other countries righ- Oh wait, you already agree to that in your next statement.
      
      These file sharing sites lay in non-US Jurisdiction, and therefore, we cannot legally do anything about them. Sure, you can access them from American soil, but they are legally property of someone else, therefore, we are breaching international law by taking these sites down. Legitimate or illegitimate, we only have the rights to take down sites that are owned by citizens with servers on American Soil. Not Canadian Soil, not Egyptian Soil (see the important torrent-finder.com case), not Swedish Soil, not German Soil, not Norwegian Soil, and not the Netherlands Soil. It is completely wrong. If you are breaking American Law in another country, and that is not illegal in a different country, then you are not responsible.
      
      See the International Music Sibley Library Project (imslp.org). You will note that they are very, very strict on copyright laws and such things. However, I cannot legally download some files on the website. However, a person in Canada, where the files are “physically located” on the severs, can download them, because they have a shorter period of time on the Copyright Laws, theirs being 50 Years in most cases on the site, and ours being 70-100 years. Is a Canadian liable for copyright infringements that are against U.S. Law, where the U.S. law recognizes a copyright for longer than Canada or the European Union? No, they cannot. Also, standards have been set in piracy of movies/music/other online “goods” so where a company cannot legally sue another person that is not in the jurisdiction of their court, therefore, they are not legally obligated to even HEED that court call, because it falls in a different jurisdiction. If someone wants to sue someone for breaking a law in another country, that’s fine. For instance, a teenager in Germany could drink beer completely legally, whereas in the United States, it would be completely illegal. Nobody in the United States has any right to sue this person in question because they didn’t break any laws of their country, and therefore are not in the wrong of any kind of law, because the law does not fall into any meaning past the United States Borders.
      
      I’m not going to even start on “damages” done to the artist/copyright holder in question, you can validate your own opinions on that. I’m describing the horrific ignorance of the government to abide by it’s own laws, that say that the Law of the Land applies to the U.S. only. Not Germany, not Switzerland, not Pakistan, obviously, so therefore it is not valid in the case of seizing websites either.
    - Sam
      
      It’s only a bad argument for people who actually understand the problem. The party in power in congress thinks that the president taking a 3-day bus trip is a shameful waste of taxpayer money.
- BallJuggler
  
  Yeah i have the same feelings as you … 47 M … that’s nothing to them.. i mean to the people … just tell them that I’ll be good for the economy, and that they are doing it for their own good and they’ll suck it up … pity..
- Benjamin
  
  A penny saved is a penny earned. It all adds up.
- Ven
  
  Also keep in mind that this is supposed to increase sales, which are taxed. Granted, that is money funneled to different places, but still goes back to government somewhere.
  - Bob
    
    actually that is likely taken into consideration when they say it will cost $47mil. besides the US is so far in debt that they need to borrow to pay back debt. and that was before the credit rating downgrade.
    
    in other words the US doesn’t have the money to spend on things which are useful like medicare and they want to put forward something that is not only not useful but against their constitution and simply bad for the country.
    - Will
      
      Bob, you wanna talk money? The fact that writers, software developers, video game developers, people who make movies and music, the choreographers, graphic designers, lighting people, etc who aren’t getting compensated for all the hours and work they do because their creativity is stolen. It’s like you going to work for 8 hours and instead of getting your money at the end of the week, you get 20% of it, b/c the other 80% has been stolen online.
      
      The PROTECT IP Act is about protecting intellectual property, the work of novelest, painters, scientist, authors, creators, game and software developers, etc. Also, what this article doesn’t tell you is that the payment processors, advertisers and most ISP’s support this bill. It costs money to make the things we love, be it video games, movies, music, books and software. IT ALL COSTS MONEY TO MAKE! The fact that you watch, read or listen to something that you didn’t pay for is wrong. But what’s worse is, FOREIGNERS are stealing the creativity of American’s and we, stupidly, are buying it back! When you go to that file sharing or peer to peer website and “share” and “subscribe” you are paying foreigners in other countries for things that your fellow country-men aren’t being compensated for. Or, when you go to those file sharing sites and their are advertisements running along the side…well, you are supporting the theft of someone else’s work. Most of these sites are run and owned by foreigners who, because they don’t live in the United States, fall outside the jurisdiction of this country’s government. The Protect IP Act would allow the US government to shut down those websites to stop the theft of American products. Everyone should support it!
    - Noah C.
      
      To Will, below:
      
      At least be a little be original and not copy and paste something you already posted, word for word.
    - http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell
      
      Uh, Bob… NO country in the world (save perhaps China) doesn’t borrow any money from foreign nations. It is one of the things (along with M.A.D.) that keeps our world so peaceful or relatively peaceful.
    - http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja
      
      @Will
      
      You are a dangerous type of person that believes every1 should be considered guilty upon accusation and carry the burden of proving if this MIGHT reduce criminality. Ppl like you are shortsighted, you are unable to have a systemic view of the problem.
      
      The Protect Act carries a huge chance of being misused. 100% if you ask me. Just check the lists of “rogue sites” MAFIAA releases every now and then, how US Govt is abusing Patriot Act and so on.
      
      Also, it’s been proven again and again and again that the companies and outfits that are pushing for those laws “for the artists” actually couldn’t care less about them.
      
      Citations (check the citations on those articles too)
      http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110816/09574115549/dear-musicians-riaa-is-about-to-totally-screw-you-over-again.shtml
      http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090603/0040425108.shtml
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/17/riaa-and-record-labels-wi_n_862725.html
      
      This is an example on the music industry. MPAA is not behind.
      
      And, using steal instead of infringe is getting old. Get over it. You assume every single file sharer doesn’t buy and UNFORTUNATELY this isn’t true for a good portion of us. Unfortunately because this money is being used against the ppl in the lobby.
      
      So, do yourself a favor, read about it, get educated and stfu if you are just posting clueless ideas.
- FuzzyDuck
  
  Maybe it’s nothing in the grand scale of things, but if every industry starts getting laws like this, $50 million per industry, things will add up into much bigger numbers. I am sure there are plenty of programs more deserving of public money than this.
- Rx293
  
  While we struggle to survive they play with our lives and OUR money like Monopoly.
  - Noah C.
    
    Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT condoning the actions of the government, especially as of late. After Roosevelt, our presidents have mostly sucked. The ones that stay completely OUT of the economy are usually the most successful.
    
    However, don’t blame the government on the first fall-out of the stock market in 1929, that was completely huge corporations, investors and many other peoples problems. It wasn’t really Hoover’s fault at all. We do need some regulations to be set, but in this case, the RIAA/MPAA are just going to have to come up with new business models. It’s happened in the past when a products business model is dead. They just won’t get creative and experiment with things.
    - http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell
      
      You’re joking, right? The fact is that the Presidents who have pushed for the MOST regulation on the economy and businesses have had the GREATEST increases in growth, absent if they inherit a DISMAL economy.
      Most of those are Democrats.
- Neotoasty
  
  You know what the real problem with that is? We’re going to have to work harder, not like we’re already doing that. Working harder and not having much left to go around to make ends meet. Every penny that is going into this pointless bill, are all going to be at our expense than just the taxpayers. Because then the taxpayers are going to look at us to pay for it.
Anonymous

God damn corrupt Government of the United States of America. Republicans and Democrats, they’re all just puppets of greedy, corporate, materialistic America.

Is it me, or are Americans becoming increasingly naïve and stupid?

Don’t fall for the dumb argument that the MPAA and RIAA will help get the USA out of recession and draconian copyright laws will allow them to claw in more revenue from around the world, thus paying larger amounts of taxes to the IRS to help pay off the $14 TRILLION deficit.

USA has already lost its AAA rating i.e. it is now a “2nd world” country.

India and China will soon replace complacent USA as global superpowers.
- Jimbo
  
  they are not paying the correct amount in tax atm! all this would mean is that they would put more of their ill-gotten money ‘off shore’, not pay more tax at all!
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OK7Y7PCSTJ27RCKZ2MGRSAYCTE NEIL
    
    I thought not for profit organisations didn’t have to file in the USA anyway – so is this issue not a red herring? As a non-USA resident can someone correct me?
    
    Agree the dollars it will cost are not the issue either it’s still about bad private business models being protected by the government in the guise of protecting against law breakers….
- asdf
  
  “Second World”
  
  How is America a Communist state exactly?
  - http://torrentfreak.com/ Rob8urcakes
    
    Because the Federal Reserve belongs mostly to China lol
    - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay
      
      Ugh… Chinese holders only have ~30% of the debt. The other 70% of our IOUs are owned from various people and corporations.
    - http://torrentfreak.com/ Rob8urcakes
      
      Aha, so THAT’s what the “United” actually means in the term US of A yeah?
    - http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja
      
      It puts a whole new meaning to those things you say when you get married. In a country scale.
  - Anonymous
    
    On what planet does “Second World” mean Communist?
    - Friend of the People
      
      That’s the very definition of what it means. It’s a cold war term. The first world was America, Eastern Europe, and their allies. The second world was the Soviet Union, the members of the Warsaw pact, China, and their allies. The third world was a term started by India to describe and unite the countries who weren’t allied with either side.
      
      Understand now?
  - Anonymous
    
    On what planet does “Second World” mean Communist?
- Noah C.
  
  “Second World Country” has absolutely no correlation between debt rating and debt and finances in general.
  
  The term “first world country” was coined in the Cold War to refer to the “Allied” (or democratic nations) nations. “Second” world countries were China, Cuba, and Soviet Russia and other Communist countries. “Third World” countries were usually countries in which either either party was usually working undercover to influence they’re policies on that country, such as Chile and Iran, to which we failed.
  - Anonymous
    
    Third world are nowadays development nations.
    - Noah C.
      
      Yes, I know. I was hoping someone would get that I was calling the whole system of “worlds” obsolete and pointless now. :P
  - Anonymous
    
    Right… And third world does not mean poor. lol.
- Bruce Almighty
  
  I am guessing you are from India or China? You morons love to talk trash about the USA don’t you? As bad as the situation in USA sounds, its nothing compared to the overwhelming corruption & greed in India and China. Hell these two countries don’t even have something called “freedom of speech”.
  
  Before you point fingers at the USA, clean up your own backyard because your country is a mess and a dumphole. Bugger off will ya?
  
  Back on topic, let’s face it $47m over a period of 4 years is hardly gonna put a dent in the government’s treasury. But again, its futile for them to keep trying this censorship gag really, as it can be bypassed quite easily. They are gonna force more and more people to jump on to VPNs by doing this.
  - Anonymous
    
    India has freedom of speech. And it isn’t a mess (sorta). The US is a bigger mess; creating massive trillions of debt due to 2 wars, bad decisionmaking and this bill will help getting the debt up by a billion or so. If the US doesn’t approve this bill, I’m happy. At least then you learned not to waste money. (well, not you, but your almighty overlords of the American species)
    - Bruce Almighty
      
      Yeah India only has freedom of speech on paper. I just read last week some woman was shot dead when she tried to blow the lid off some tiger killing racket. Didn’t read much on that story but you get the idea. I can only imagine what will happen there if someone spoke up against the widespread human trafficking.
  - Anonymous
    
    Oooh, boo hoo. Think about your own clean backyard before you talk. How is your concentration camp holding up? How is that war you went into for the oil?
- Anonymous
  
  We can only hope so. Most of Europe is so sick and tired of you. And those are the countries in the world you are not at war with…
- http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja
  
  God forbids China takes the moral lead. God forbids.
hikaricore

So let me get this straight, not only do they want to censor the internet, but they also want US to pay for it? Yea how about no, you crazy corporate bastards..
- Guest
  
  You already pay to invade other countries. Paying taxes to Government is like paying to Mob.
Nomoretaxes

Thats not really a sound arguement, if the industry says it has lost x billion from piracy, but the change in consumer surplus from piracy is greater than x billion, then if you are looking at whether or not the US should have this legislation or not you have to consider which interest group you look at. If you err on the side of the people in the music/dvd industry then you will enact this legislation, if you err on the side of the general good you will leave things the way they are.

Then theres the fact that these economic losses are going to be exaggerated by the lobby groups, and that these losses are theoretical losses and would never had been realised in a piracy free world. If you think about your favourite author/musician/band/director, chances are at least one of these will have become your favourite by a friend introducing you to them for free, and they are not accounting for these sales.

$47 million over four years may well only be 20c a person, but at the end of the four years if not before, these lobbyists will be back, saying its not working please give us more money. At 20c a person it would not make sense to lobby for reform of this law, so it would be unlikely to get repealed unless it pisses someone big off. Just look at the US sugar industry. The real impact to you would be 20c + whatever you would have saved by not paying for the products you pirate but do not buy.

All this is not even considering the savings to the environment of not having to create x million dvds/cds and shipping it around the world.
StevO

Its just another double dipping. They want the tax and they want the law. They get it both ways, either way.
Okarin

makes me think twice about the campaign about piracy because these things are what bureaucracy love, fighting a war they can’t win so they keep pumping money to their program
- Anonymous
  
  That is why this law needs to be stopped or it will only grow.
Jimbo

the really annoying thing is that the corporations/entertainment industries that have been lobbying so hard to get this load of crap into law are the ones that will be paying absolutely nothing towards it’s implementation or upkeep. as per usual, the ones that will be paying the bill are the ones that it will affect, ie the general public and ISPs. how the hell can that be right? how the hell can the government be so stupid and short sighted, particularly with an election not very far off?
- Anonymous
  
  Well Jimbo they just don’t give a crap about you. So why do you even listen to them?
omg

and the usa wonder why they are in a economy deep shit ….. go ahead and keep spending on useless thing like that …
- cyke1
  
  yea its a waste of 12 million a year but they are even more retarded things our gov wastes billions on then this.
Zzzz

“Protect IP” is a direct anagram of “fuck your IP”.
After encryption, obviously.
Phil Landry

Proud not to be an American!
- Djjjd
  
  Amen!
  
  Europe FTW.
- Djjjd
  
  Amen!
  
  Europe FTW.
- Steve Cooper
  
  Yes, me too. Very proud not to be an american.
Anon

For tax year 2005, $134,372,678 American individual tax returns were filed. Divide $47 million and that’s about 35 cents per taxpayer, over the four years mentioned that comes to about 8.3 cents a year.

Just shameful. Lol
Slow news day.
- http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA
  
  “Corporate personhood” and lobbying at it’s best….again…..
  
  Or another way to look at it.
  
  800 jobs for 4 years
  ( minimum wage $7.25, 40hours per week , 50 weeks per year)
  
  “Slow news day” if you want the issue brushed under the carpet and ignored…
  
  It is shameful..
  - Noah C.
    
    It’s interesting that you put it in the job perspective. It’s a very good argument. 800 jobs is a lot these days, with our rough economy.
- Guest101
  
  Compared to the billions, maybe trillions, of deadweight economic loss due to copyright monopoly existing in the first place, it’s a tiny amount, but it’s still adding insult to injury.
Curtis A. DeHart II

I don’t want 1 cent of my tax dollars going towards this crap! The companies should pay every pennie! I want the companies to pay for my ear restorations because I can’t control other people with their music loud as hell in their cars!
- Ven
  
  Yes, and you should have to hire a private investigator when someone robs your house or hits your car or stabs your kids.
  
  It’s funny how people hate to pay to defend the freedoms of others even though they expect everyone to pitch in where they deem necessary.
  - Momo
    
    WTF, man!!
    
    Copyright is not a freedom and it’s not even a right. By definition it’s a just legally-granted privilege that limits everyone’s rights but is meant to enrich the public domain in return. Currently, it’s doing a lot of limiting and little enriching of the public domain because it’s been hijacked by corporations. Fact.
    
    It’s definitely not a freedom comparable to his kid’s right to life. You are an asshole for even making that comparison. If that’s the sort of thing you are here to say, I’d prefer you didn’t say anything at all.
    - Ven
      
      I don’t know where you get the idea that copyright is not a right… It is property protected by our constitution (at least here in the U.S.). And the “fact” is that millions of people pay for this enrichment, and millions more download it without paying – a pretty strong case for it making a difference in the public domain. Your opinion may be that it isn’t worth the time of day, but really that is your opinion and not… fact.
      
      Freedoms are all similarly bound in the idea that we equally deserve them. So a child’s right to life should be defended, as should property rights. You place yourself on a slippery slope when you let individuals decide that the freedoms of some are not worth keeping around because you do not like them.
    - Noah C.
      
      Of course it’s not an appropriate comparison in to a kid’s right to life. Moving on.
      
      Copyright IS in fact a freedom and IS in fact a right. I solely have the right to copy anything that I create, and you don’t have the right to copy that and distribute it unless I sell my Copyrights to you. I still have sole “Moral Rights” that will count me as the true author of the document/work of art/song. It’s meant to protect the person that created the work from others trying to steal and distribute it, not to enrich the Public Domain. Not yet, at least.
  - http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA
    
    I know you were being sarcastic @ven… (but its real)
    
    “”you should have to hire a private investigator when someone robs your house or hits your car or stabs your kids.“”
    or..pay for healthcare and fire service.
    
    This is the USA were talking about….
    The land of private services……no public services welcome
    (lobby’s have paid to strip the people of public $ervice$)….
    
    firefighters watched a family’s home burn to the ground because they had forgotten to pay a $75 annual subscription fee
    http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/tennessee-firefighters-watch-home-burn/
    
    Suppose Copyright is more important to you than…….
    Healthcare ?
    Peoples homes ?
    Peoples right NOT to get shot ?
    Jobs ?
    
    ect… And anything that is GOOD for the people…..
    no corporations are not people… that law is stupid and goes hand in hand with copyright / patents….. and the abuse of a legal system……. that HAS legal BRIBERY at it’s core…….
    
    “”t’s funny how people hate to pay to defend the freedoms of others even though they expect everyone to pitch in where they deem necessary. “”
    
    Copyright is NOT a freedom…. What planet you from ? ( opposite world )
    
    Copyright IS a limitation………. A REMOVAL OF FREEDOM
    - Ven
      
      Those folks who’s house burnt down didn’t pay a subscription for a city-based firefighting service when they lived in the county. Yes it makes for juicy headlines and hatred, no it is not a travesty. It would be roughly similar to calling San Diego’s Fire Dept. from Tijuana: not their jurisdiction means that legally they are not allowed to respond.
      
      Copyright is not more important to me than anything else: however, we have a list of freedoms (the Bill of Rights) and they should be treated with equal importance. Atheists probably don’t give a crap about the money we spend defending the freedom of religion, but until they can convince our government that religion is stupid and doesn’t deserve it you can bet they will be taxed for it.
      
      Have you ever read up on why corporations are considered citizens, or do you just entirely assume that it was all crooked dealings? If the latter, we are both wasting time as we don’t see eye to eye on the fundamentals of government.
      
      “Copyright IS a limitation………. A REMOVAL OF FREEDOM”
      
      Is it? How does the Black Eyed Peas copyright on Don’t Phunk With My Heart remove your freedoms? By restricting your ability to distribute their work? Legitimately interested in your answer.
    - http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA
      
      @Ven
      
      a. Fire thing…..
      
      Firefighters watched…. They had the power to put the fire out …BEFORE the house burnt down…..
      Money , Jurisdiction …. should not matter…. They should have put the fire out…. They COULD HAVE…..
      
      b. “”we have a list of freedoms (the Bill of Rights) and they should be treated with equal importance. “”
      Copyright is NOT on there….
      The exact opposite is tho…..Freedom of Speech..( which is the freedom to disseminate information )
      
      c . ” Have you ever read up on why corporations are considered citizens, or do you just entirely assume that it was all crooked dealings? If the latter, we are both wasting time as we don’t see eye to eye on the fundamentals of government.”
      
      Are you fucking Joking ?
      
      Corporate Personhood + First Amendment = Corporate Government
      Money = Speech ?
      
      d. “”Don’t Phunk With My Heart”" … Limitation to do WHATEVER I want with it…
      EXCEPT SELL…. Counterfeiting / FRAUD ..different story…..
      
      Remix… move to other devices…make ringtone..share with friends…play at a house party…. have in the background of home movie I throw up on Youtube…..
      Limitation to do WHATEVER I want with it…for personal and/or non profit…..
  - Anonymous
    
    The first thing you said was obviously sarcastic, so I’ll let that go. The rest though, come on Ven. We pay to defend the freedom of others every day. Our taxes go towards police departments, towards fire departments, towards schools, towards a lot of other things. But guess what all those things have in common? They are being paid for and are for the benefit of EVERYONE.
    
    This is a load of crock. And what you said is just a desperate attempt to make a comparison. Defending the rights of a handful of corporations is not the same as paying to defend the freedoms of others. It’s not even about “rights”, or the artists, as much as they’d like you to think otherwise. It’s about their profits and trying to find ways to keep control and how to hang on to their outdated business practices. Nothing more. And now on top of all that, they want tax payers to foot the bill to protect them and their interest. I wouldn’t mind, and I’m sure others wouldn’t as well, if it was for ALL OUR BENEFIT, but it’s not. It’s for the benefit of a few. And as we’ve all heard Spock say, “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. Unless of course “the few” are corporations who can lobby the government to defend them and rewrite laws and make special changes just for them.
    
    I’m sorry, but this is just beyond ridiculous. I was just b*tching with a few friends the other day about taxes. And how we pay a ton of money for a bunch of random things, most of which are pretty irrelevant to us, and now I hear this. I’m not pissed. Nor surprised. But I just don’t see how you and a handful of others can support such a thing. I know you’ve said you’re an artist but still. This has nothing to do with looking out for your interest or protecting you. I think deep down you realize that. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. This while being coated under the veil of “good intentions” is anything but. But the road to hell is indeed where it’s going to lead us. Just you wait. As someone else already stated, in a few years, even this won’t be considered effective enough. And we’ll move on and find something even more stringent and then get the privilege (/s) of footing the bill for that as well.
    
    Man, seriously, F*CK THE MPAA/RIAA. Not the artists, not the actual people who create. But the studios and labels. Who profit off the hard work of others. Who then turn around and retain profits, while giving the real creators the shaft, and while further depriving the American people of their hard earned dollars (as in more taxes, for something that isn’t a benefit to the rest of us) so they can and ONLY THEY can benefit off more bullsh*t laws. Etc.
    
    On that note, I’m ending here. Have a good weekend all of you guys. Oh, and for some reason as I read this article and some of the comments here I was reminded of a song. “Fuck Authority” by Pennywise. It seems fitting. I think in this case my minds replaced “authority” with “RIAA/MPAA” and it seems even more fitting. Give it a listen.
    - Ven
      
      Look, I’m not really on board with PROTECT IP, and honestly I don’t think I will be entirely happy with any legislation that fights file sharing. Not because I think piracy is okay, but mostly because I have yet to see one good method for proving an individual is file sharing.
      
      Still, I was pointing out in my post that we pay taxes into a system that helps the rights of everyone, not just the rights that apply to everyone. I threw my name in a hat and said I didn’t want to see this pass into law, but if it does I’m not going to stop paying my taxes. And most importantly I’m not going to spit on those who are trying to get their rights under current law defended, even if I disagree with the whole situation. It’s the mindless and ignorant hatreds that will cause the most damage in the long run.
anoni

The real problem with this is that once money starts going to oppose something, it’s almost impossible to reverse, I mean look at the war on drugs, not only do you have lobbying against, but you have money going to all of these different places that benefit, that also now lobby to keep it, and that is most likely what you’ll see here aswell.
- Anonymous
  
  Yeah and the war on drugs has been a proven failure. So keeping people working in made up jobs just to keep them working is called, what? Communism?
- Anonymous
  
  Yeah and the war on drugs has been a proven failure. So keeping people working in made up jobs just to keep them working is called, what? Communism?
Amen

Abolish copyright.
- FUCKMAN
  
  I would 100% support it!
  i dont care if they charged us extra taxes on ipod, internet, blank cd/dvd, Harddrive, computer, and stuff i wouldnt mind it at all and they probably made TON of money of of that like Canada!?!?! but why cant they just give us the freedom to download stuff for personal use?!?!
  
  the more they do this the more people gonna go out and sell this type of stuff on street and stuff!
  
  i just wish our leader would understand from 2 point of view instead 1
Dsaf

YAY! Now WE can have a great wall! Just like china!

All the more incentive for me to not pay my taxes.
- FUCKMAN
  
  Lmfao we laugh at china about their Oppression but now look at this….how ironic is it…..
Lothor The Evil

This may be off topic a bit, but I’m doing a comparative analysis and will end up being on topic.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/07/AR2010090706933.html (dated Sept. 8, 2010)
In 2007 congress passed an energy conservation measure that bans ordinary incandescent light bulbs by 2014. GE, a major manufacturer of light bulbs, closed down all light bulb manufacturing plants in the U.S. since they do not manufacture CFL light bulbs in the U.S. Jobs were shipped over to China since china is a major manufacturer of CFL bulbs. CFL bulbs are more costly and contain mercury. If a bulb should break, it can pose a health risk.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/08/15/lets-put-stop-to-war-on-salt/ (dated Aug. 15, 2011)
The federal government trying to force food companies to reduce the amount of salt in food products all in the name of a healthier lifestyle. Quote: “Yet, many food manufacturers are working to preempt regulation by reducing the sodium content in their products at considerable cost. Those costs are then passed on to consumers—many of whom will simply forgo the less salty, blander versions of those food products, as Campbell’s reversal of its decision to lower many of its soups’ salt content due to weak sales indicates.”

My personal observation: I love Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Months ago there was something on the news and the maker of the ice cream got in trouble for mislabeling it as having “all natural ingredients”. Before that, I could get 2 pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for $3.69 regular price, or 2 for $6.00 on sale. Now it is $4.69 regular and $3.99 each on sale.

(just speculation) If the Protect IP act passes and credit card companies are forced to stop doing business with certain web sites, the lack of profits might be, you guess it, passed on to the consumer in terms of higher interest rates and/or higher fees. I also believe internet service providers may lose a lot of customers due to some being disconnected for infringements, websites being moved to an out of U.S. country, people canceling their service in protest, etc.

THE ENDS DO NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS YOU ASSHOLES!
Every god damn time the federal government interferes and bans something and/or forces a company to change, all in the name of the greater good, the consequences far outweigh the benefits!
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OK7Y7PCSTJ27RCKZ2MGRSAYCTE NEIL
  
  You’ve made an excellent point but also missed the bigger issue in your own statements – it’s not the government interferring it is major corporations lobbying and paying governments to introduce legislation that protects their profits. The examples you gave di not lose money for the large corporates – in fact their profits increased by sourcing product from overseas
- Ven
  
  It is similar to the discussion we had this past week regarding universities and textbooks. Eventually we will see textbook cost rolled into tuition fees, and in similar fashion we will be offered the ability to download all the music, tv, and film we want because we are paying for it anyway.
  - Anonymous
    
    What? Communism? Really?
    - Ven
      
      It’s not really communism, it’s the copyright industry moving to a service-based model to adapt in a changing world. Communism is when the government forces all of that “equality” on you.
      
      I totally understand it from their point of view: it would be one swift kick to the nads of piracy.
  - Anonymous
    
    What? Communism? Really?
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay
    
    I doubt the “you must be a criminal” tax will really pass through…
MasterJ633

I got an Idea, Anybody who Is FOR the PROTECT IP and Running For Office, Don’t Vote For Them in the 2014 Election.
This Bill Alone will cause more harm then good.

Many Innocent People who the Government will “Say” is doing this will be arrested/fined for no reason.

And Shutting Down / Blocking Websites is Violating The 1st Amendment of Freedom of Speech.

The Dumbasses in Office Right now are using Laws and Amendments as “Suggestions” rather then Law.

Pretty Soon, The Internet will be Censored like it is in China.
Sure they block this and that, but WHERE will they Draw the Line?

I know Damn Well they won’t just stop with Piracy Stuff.
And “Their” definition of Piracy could be very different then what most think.
- MasterJ633
  
  *Correction, I meant 2012 Election, Not 2014.
  Typo Fail.
Pingback: P2PTalk » Anti-Piracy Bill Set To Cost Taxpayers $47m To 2016
Zzzz

Taxpayers to supporty hugely profitable corporations.
Welcome to democracy.
- Bruce Almighty
  
  Its bullocks I know. In a true democracy, the citizens should have the power to demand that the government use the tax payer’s money for more useful purposes like the development of the nation instead of wasting it to protect private organisations that care neither about the nation’s well being nor about its citizens.
  
  The problem is once we elect a government, we have literally no power to effect any changes till the next round of elections come up. And then its back to square one. New candidates will step up and give us empty promises, wearing the flag of USA on their sleeves and the process continues…
Foff

This is f’ing stupid. It won’t put a dent in piracy there are a million ways around it. In fact whatever they might do has already been circumvented. I hear cable and dish are dying slow deaths. People are disconnecting in droves. The economy is to blame but Mafiaa will blame piracy. Hell they have cancelled almost all the tv shows I had any interest in. I have almost no shows left to download and even less reason to ever buy cable. Less and less people are buying movies at one time it seemed a cool idea to have a library of movies on DVD. Now the romance of owning a movie has worn off and a DVD on a shelf is mostly wasted space. Who wants to take the time to put a dvd in a player and go through all the crap tacked on the front of the dvd when a ripped version on a hdd is much more convenient.

The bottom line is no matter what technology brings us Hollystupid with always whine that they don’t make enough. When that little Justin Beiber sh#t can make 50 million in one year I say case closed. Hollystupid can the shut their whinny stupid mother f@cking mouths!!!!!!!!!
GUEST

Killing all the corporate parasites will cost a lot less.

To help with the gov deficit let’s kill them all!
AnarchyNow

“and this is how democracy dies…”
- http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA
  
  yep..paid for by lobbyists …..
  
  forgot to add…..
  
  “and this is how democracy dies…”
  
  This message was brought to you from….. NRA
  ( Securing school’s with student supplied Hand Guns since 2012 )
AnarchyNow

“and this is how democracy dies…”
Bruce Almighty

The Obama government is hopeless. We need another Ronald Reagan.
- GUEST
  
  Ya right! after years of Reganomic in which corporations take it all, 90% of the money went in the pocket of the top 1% richest family and the rest have to borrow to death to keep the economy going. This until the world run out of credit and cash and become unable to afford anything. And now the corporations are about to enslave us unless we kill them all first.
  
  LET’S KILL THEM ALL!
- Ven
  
  While I don’t really want to see another Reagan, I agree that we could use a president who could actually figure out how to play politics enough to enact some change.
True North

47 million,total BS! When inflation and and other factors are taken in WE KNOW that by 2016 that figure will be 147million, an what will be accomplished? NOTHING! other than the costs passed on to YOU (americans), for the extra hassle and equipment(?) needed by your ISPs this WILL be passed on to you and for what? awwwwww i cant get to TPB no more, oh wait, proxy server ,there`s TPB! Pirater-1 Goverment-0
Pingback: Anti-Piracy Bill Set To Cost Taxpayers $47m To 2016 | Torrents & File Sharing News
Anonymous

tinyurl.com/2df4ccp
Hategrin

TBH IDGAF I buy most of my music off of Amazon or iTunes and I watch all my movies on netflix. I don’t pirate shit and I don’t pay for plastic either.
Me

They think money is gonna stop people from downloading music or movies? Why ain’t anyone complaining that any 10 year old can download porn? I can see better places to spend the money than a futile effort to help their friends profit.

I SAY THE ARTISTS should band together to protect their property and make sure any money gained goes to them self.

AND if a CD didn’t still cost $20 more people would buy them! Cassettes were down between $5-$10 at the time CD’s came out and CD’s were supposed to come down, they never did.

They should offer music on chips that couldn’t be copied…it can be done.
- Ven
  
  It can’t really be done. I think the industry is looking at Apple’s closed system with Itunes/Ipods/iphones with the hope that they can turn music/movies into a giant closed hardware and software system (much like video games have consoles). Not a perfect solution, but it would greatly cut down on the average consumer’s ability to pirate.
  
  They don’t need to make piracy impossible, they need to make pirating a song more of a hassle then signing on and paying $1 on Itunes. Once they do that they have won. It will be near impossible as long as they are trying to enact both hardware and software DRM.
  - Anonymous
    
    +1
Koneill45

The movies companies are not losing money because of downloading its all the crude movies their throwing at us.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

There’s more to it. They aren’t losing money, period. The global market continues to increase while the American market stagnates. So more movie theaters are being made and more people are having access to movies sooner.

I could go on, but I believe that is appropriate to show that demand for movies continues to increase.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

There’s more to it. They aren’t losing money, period. The global market continues to increase while the American market stagnates. So more movie theaters are being made and more people are having access to movies sooner.

I could go on, but I believe that is appropriate to show that demand for movies continues to increase.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

-double post…-
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

-double post…-
Anonymous

tinyurl.com/2df4ccp
Anonymous

tinyurl.com/2df4ccp
Maroan

RIAA and MPAA want to reinforce laws against copyrights thieves and other matters. Well.. Its ok with me, but they want all of it for free? No way. We pay allready so much money to these retards, they dont need to make mote profits on our backs, thanks. They can afford to pay ridiculous huge money to lawers who suie grand mothers, dead people and printers, they can afford to pay that bill as well. Write to your senators, and urge them to say no.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay
  
  Been doing that. The Senators and Congress critters don’t want to listen. Yay for progress in the White House where we KNOW we’re being ignored.
Guest

I think what they fail to realize is that with this new plan to force the public to pay more taxes for their cause will only result in more piracy. More money goes toward taxes the less they have to splurge on that album or movie ticket, especially during a recession. Basically, they are inadvertently promoting piracy.
Asdfg

What I’m surprised that no one has mentioned is the numerous studies that have shown ever since the introduction of Napster, piracy has only helped to increase sales and revenue for these greedy bastards. FUCK THE MPAA AND THE RIAA
Asdfg

What I’m surprised that no one has mentioned is the numerous studies that have shown ever since the introduction of Napster, piracy has only helped to increase sales and revenue for these greedy bastards. FUCK THE MPAA AND THE RIAA
- http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell
  
  Bingo….. it’s time that these companies stop arguing with reality and move on past the ‘piracy hurts sales’ bullplop.
Arpankumar Patel

Law is juts another way for RiAA/MPAA to gain money(by ripping thier consumer off), now if they add they may not restrict when something can be reelased to pother median then maybe worth a little thought. if you ever noticed most bills like these never have other Intellectual proeprty types involed like Software Industry and so forth.

MPAA basically saying if want soemthing buy the movie or go F yourself u can’t watch via NETflix, redbox,e tc.. for some days after release on disc.
Tuffguy

Regardless of the cost I have to ask – if the only beneficiaries of this legislation are the film and/or music companies why does the taxpayer have to foot the bill???
Guest

I’ve already invested in a VPN, I suggest everyone does. In the end, Its worth it
Ficticious

ROFL RiAA/MPAA is going to shoot them self in the foot. Pirates are itunes best customers, this probably applies to all pirated media.
Pingback: Protect IP Bill Set To Cost Taxpayers $47m To 2016 - NamePros.com
Guest

So, govt is cutting education while supporting 47m Anti-Piracy Bill. oh man no wonder this country is going to shit. Morons in congress.

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