Doh! Bill for national oak tree fails...

[Jesda]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6208947/

[vicki]

Wrong link, perhaps? I'm getting an article about file sharing mediums?

[Mr1der]

he must be drinking again...

confusing trees with the internet...

[gabossie]

Damn, I'm so gonna get busted for file sharing one of these days...

[Jesda]

Read article, scroll down. What happened was, national designation for a tree was embedded into a file sharing bill that would put just about all of us behind bars.

[[Zero-S]]

Haha theres one line in there about the oak.

[w1ngzer0]

why is all this file sharing and mp3 **** being attacked so much. Why didn't the government in the early 80's use radio signals to find out who was recording songs from the radio or from other tapes. Artists suck today anyway and thats why they are being whiney bishez about it

[andrave]

song artists: shut the **** up and start going on tour in more than 10 major us cities, and charge less than 100 dollars per ticket. Radio is a medium that benefits those few artists that labels chose to promote, not for talent, but for monetary interests. I for one am tired of hearing the same 10 or 20 songs over and over all day. And I'm not paying 17 dollars for a couple songs that I like and a bunch of crappy filler that you recorded just to slap an album together. If you really care about the music, record less crap, perform your songs more and in more places for less money, and don't be so anal about people actually listening to your music. Cause if I can't dl, I just won't listen at all.

[Looneybomber]

Why didn't the government in the early 80's use radio signals to find out who was recording songs from the radio or from other tapes.

LOL like that is possible, and if they could come up with a way it would end up being an invasion of privacy probably.

I don't think it's the recording artists but the recording labels. The big companies who fear they are losing money on CD sales. I think the internet is helping. I now listen to a broader spectrum of music, with vastly more artists. Lying soley on a radio I would never have heard of Paul Van Dyke, Armin Van Buuren, John Digweed ect...No stations play that music here. If I like something I will buy the CD for higher quality music. MP3's have too much compression grain and artifact noise for me.

[ceniack]

why doesn't the government spend some money on soemthing worthwhile, lay paying teachers more money, or cheaper college tuition.

also, the punishments dont' really fit the crime. 3 years in jail for sharing 1k or more MP3s, and 10 years for taping a movie. there are murderers and rapists that don't get that much time.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I got a copy of Korn's Greatest HIts yesterday. What's on the cover?A nice little seal that says "FBI Anti-Piracy Warning" I tried to get a pic of it, but I can't find one anywhere. It's next to the barcode on the back--and on the CD itself. It's going to have about as much effect as the FBI warnings on VHS tapes and DVD's and the parental advisory badging on CD's. What a waste of legislative time and effort.

also, the punishments dont' really fit the crime. 3 years in jail for sharing 1k or more MP3s, and 10 years for taping a movie. there are murderers and rapists that don't get that much time.

Because murderers and rapists can afford good lawyers. We poor people who have to "steal" our music can't.

[Looneybomber]

why doesn't the government spend some money on soemthing worthwhile, lay paying teachers more money, or cheaper college tuition.

And where would the money come from? You would either have to raise taxes or cut some spending somewhere. Once they try and cut spending from someplace everyone starts whining like little babies. So their only choice is to raise taxes cuz we all know no one in the govt. is going to take a pay cut in order for their 4th grade teacher to get a raise.

also, the punishments dont' really fit the crime. 3 years in jail for sharing 1k or more MP3s, and 10 years for taping a movie. there are murderers and rapists that don't get that much time.

I would like to see someone actually end up getting that much time. We all know the RIAA has more money to invest in lawyers than any of us will ever make in our life. However most people would get off with a lesser sentence. More than likely a few will go to jail just as a demonstration that they're serious. The rest will just get a hefty fine.

[ceniack]

And where would the money come from? You would either have to raise taxes or cut some spending somewhere. Once they try and cut spending from someplace everyone starts whining like little babies. So their only choice is to raise taxes cuz we all know no one in the govt. is going to take a pay cut in order for their 4th grade teacher to get a raise.

wouldn't have to raise taxes, they could cut spending on worthless crap like sending people to prison for smoking weed, downloading music, prostitution (sp?) and other "victimless" crimes.

regulate weed, tax it like they do cigs and alcohol, bam, billions saved on a drug war that will never be won, billions more saved on puting people in prison for smoking weed, billions (or millions) of dollars in tax revenue.

less crime, because a) it won't be a crime, which means it won't be as risky to sell, which means the price will go down, which means people won't have to steal to have money to buy it.

same with prostitution, make prostitues get licenses every year (a tax), also make them get tested for STDs at least once a month (much like many people in the p0rn industry are required to do). and BAM! money saved and earned, not spending money fighting it, and making money taxing it.

there are really alot of things like this that could save the US billions of dollars.

[Jesda]

Yes they could cut a million things, but they wont. Thats the sick political reality. Any attempt at fiscal responsibility results in finger-pointing and labelling. This is why the debates came down to Big Government A versus Big Government B.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I agree with you wholeheartedly.