New Laws Threaten Private Property

[RickO'Connell]

In the near future, carrying your iPhone, laptop or any data storage device across national borders could be risky business. The governments of Canada, EU and the United States are involved in talks to promote tough new international copyright laws.

Imagine having your iPhone scanned for copyrighted material on your way to a diner across the border. That’s exactly what the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement would have you endure if it gets its way. It would slow travel with any data storage device and make anyone re-think their decision to carry an iPhone that has any copied music files.

If the deal passes, border guards would become copyright enforcement police responsible for checking data on laptops, iPods, cell phones and even USB thumb-drives. Draconian variations on copyright laws would be enforced to ensure any regard to fair use is tossed out the window. Established in the landmark 1984 Supreme Court decision, Sony vs. Universal City, fair use protects copying material you already own for personal use. Under the new policy you’d have prove you owned any CD you ripped onto your laptop or MP3 player.

The scary thing about this tri-lateral negation process between the EU, Canada and the US is it’s being held in secret. It seems to reflect the RIAA and Hollywood movie studio’s wettest dreams for content protection. ACTA documents were leaked that say officials could be given the "authority to take action against infringers."

So, anyone found with infringing content in their possession would be open to a fine or worse, could have devices confiscated or destroyed. All this would take place under searches without a lawyer present where debatable versions of laws are enforced and executed on the spot.
We can only hope ACTA is thrown away. Our overworked border security officials have more important security issues to keep them busy without having to become copyright enforcement agents.

http://www.gizmorepublic.com/portab...order-new-laws-threaten-private-property-5550

 

[black_dust]

Well what if you own the cd and ripped the mp3s from that, you still use it for personal use and you OWN! it so how the hell can they charge you

 

[Nirvana]

Lame

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

Well what if you own the cd and ripped the mp3s from that, you still use it for personal use and you OWN! it so how the hell can they charge you

plus how they hell are they going to prove that you do or don't own the cd

 

[jaguarr]

The average border guard doesn't have time or the inclination for this kind of crap nor can they prove whether you do or don't own the copyrighted material you may have on a device, so I wouldn't worry much about that. It's what they're purportedly trying to do with ISP's that makes this so worrisome, to be honest. Personally, I think this is just a bunch of scare-tactic mongering more than anything else. There are so many privacy laws they'd be violating with something like this it would get pummeled in a court setting. More reading:

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/story.html?id=ac94392c-7e05-4e30-af00-f237e9c23a9d
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080526.COPYRIGHT26/TPStory/National
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Proposed_..._intellectual_property_trade_agreement_(2007)
http://ipjustice.org/wp/campaigns/acta/

Personally, while I respect and understand the need and desire of IP owners to want to protect that which they own and ensure they are compensated for it's use, I have serious problems with government entities using tax-payer dollars and resources funded by those tax-payer dollars to fund enforcement campaigns against private citizens and tax payers on the behalf of companies and corporations that cannot find ways to manage their own business models. There are far more important things those tax dollars should be used for and it shouldn't be the purpose of the government to enforce those companies business models and protect their IP. It's one thing to put the laws and regulations in place to protect that IP, but it's overstepping many boundaries to full-on and actively enforce and prosecute against them, particularly when there are more pressing matters our time, attention, resources and tax dollars should be addressing.

jag