Why Politicians Make Such Good Politicians
Because they can spin anything to look worse than it is.

Bill Would Put Net Song Swappers in Jail which is nothing new really. But here's the kicker, The Conyers-Berman bill would operate under the assumption that each copyrighted work made available through a computer network was copied at least 10 times for a total retail value of $2,500. That would bump the activity from a misdemeanor to a felony, carrying a sentence of up to five years in jail.

Which means that, if you download a song they are making a gross assumption that its been copied at least 9 other times. And since every song is worth $25 all on its own (neverminding the obvious fact that a CD with 18 songs on it costs $17) and all of a sudden you're now charged with a felony?

[Update: Doh, upon closer inspection of the numbers, I realized that they are counting each song's value at $250 a copy. How's that work? Not the math, that was just stupid thinking on my part.]

How in the fuck does this garbage make it off some asshole's drawing board? This is bullshit. The political equivalent of adding "violations" to a traffic stop to make it worse. Oh yeah, the burned out tail light? That's another $75, the under inflated tire? That's another $50. And its crap.

Want some more?

In a series of hearings on Capitol Hill last spring, lawmakers condemned online song swapping and expressed concern the networks could spread computer viruses, create government security risks and allow children access to pornography.

Not porn? Heavens no. We don't want children figuring out where babies come from, do we? Then they might ask all kinds of difficult questions that parents don't want to answer. By the way, kids can get access to porn one hell of a lot easier than using a P2P program, just do a search on "naked" and you'll find plenty of sites willing to let you get a peek. And they don't care if you're under 18. A side note here, why is the US so against the idea of kids seeing nudity and so for allowing kids to witness horribly sickening acts of violence like the evening news? Sex is a good thing and violence is the opposite of sex yet its okay to show to children because there are no titties involved? No wonder our fucking country is such a backwards moronic place.

And viruses seem to have no problem spreading themselves by exploiting Microsoft's numerous bugs and holes. I don't think I've ever heard of a virus spreading via peer-to-peer networking. And creating government security risks? How? Because our government "bots" are trading files online too? That's easy, police your own damned systems, you morons!

The two "architects" of this crappy bill should be publicly humiliated for attempting to sell this piece of shit.