Another bill has been introduced into Congress to turn every 15-year-old kid with a CD burner and cable modem into a criminal. Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.) have written legislation that makes uploading a single copyrighted song punishable with a 5 year prison term and a $250,000 fine.
Nevermind that you can do less time for manslaughter, beating someone senseless, or even being CEO of Enron (hey, wait, that guy isn’t doing ANY time!).
I don’t care what party these bozos belong to, they need to be voted out of office. They’re making it clear who butters their bread and tosses their salad, and it sure ain’t their average constituents or you and me.
What’s the value of one mp3? A buck, if that? So uploading that gets you a fine worth 250,000 times its value?
Just imagine if Enron management or the head of a busted savings and loan could be fined for 250,000 times the value of what they bilked investors, employees and the public out of.
But, of course, that will never happen. Because that mp3 uploading kid never sauced on the campaign contributions, junkets and gifts like a greedy, snaky CEO.
These sorts of bill just demonstrate ever more strongly that any connection there might be between morality and law is utterly illusory. If this law passes (and I sure bet against it), I hope their kids and grandkids get nailed uploading the new Eminem mp3 on Kazaa. Wanna bet those little tykes would never see the inside of a jail cell or that big old fine?
Conyers and Berman, along with any other double-dealers who sign on to this legislation, should be bonked on out of Congress, and then sent up the river for 3 years to see what it feels like.
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