Political Bloviation

I read about this monstrosity at Ars Technica, earlier this week. I thought that Congress critters would roll over and turn private civil matters into a free out for the RIAA, I got nauseous. Hopefully the reaction from DOJ and Commerce will help scuttle this ugly, ill-conceived heap of offal.

DoJ to Senate: don’t make us be Big Content’s copyright cops
In polite but unmistakeable language, the Departments of Justice and Commerce yesterday told Congress that the new Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008 (EIPRA) was a monstrosity so horrifying that only a stake through the heart of several key provisions could make it palatable. This is the bill, remember, that would give Justice the power to bring civil (not just criminal) lawsuits on behalf of groups like the RIAA, seek “restitution” damages, and then turn the money over to the private groups.

In other words, the DoJ could become a pro bono lawyer for the RIAA, freeing the trade group from all that bad PR and the millions of dollars it has spent filing tens of thousand of lawsuits in the last few years. Plus, the RIAA would still get all the money. Shockingly, the DoJ didn’t think this a really good use of taxpayer-funded resources.

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