To follow up on our previous post about the Ten Strikes Bill (S. 978), we are happy to report that over 150,000 Americans have spoken out against this legislation.
Hundreds of videos in opposition to S.978 have emerged on YouTube in the days since Demand Progress first issued an alert about the bill. Demand Progress has edited many of the videos into a single video which explains S.978 and its likely ramifications. You can watch the video here:
The “Ten Strikes” bill, the legislation would make it a felony to stream unlicensed content 10 times over the course of 180 days. Violators would serve up to five years in prison.
The 10 Strikes legislation passed out of the Senate Judiciary committee last Thursday, and is now advancing quietly through the Senate. More than 30,000 Demand Progress members have emailed their lawmakers to urge them to oppose the bill.
<div>Sen. Amy Klobuchar's "10 Strikes" legislation would make streaming of unlicensed copyrighted content a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. As written, the bill would subject internet users who stream content 10 times or more to criminal charges. Potential uses that would be criminalized under Klobuchar's bill are:
David Segal, Demand Progress Campaign Director stated, "Senator Klobuchar's 10 strikes bill has the potential for innumerable unintended consequences that would stifle innovation and personal expression on the internet. The special interests pushing this legislation seem to have little understanding of or concern for how many ordinary Americans use — and should be free to use — the Internet"
This week, senators will be voting on a "Ten Strikes" bill to make it a felony to stream copyrighted content — like music in the background of a Youtube video — more than ten times.
As the writers at TechDirt point out, under this bill you could go to jail for posting video of your friends singing karaoke:
“The entertainment industry is freaking out about sites that embed and stream infringing content, and want law enforcement to put people in jail over it, rather than filing civil lawsuits…. We already pointed to one possibility: that people embedding YouTube videos could face five years in jail. Now, others are pointing out that it could also put kids who lip sync to popular songs, and post the resulting videos on YouTube, in jail as well.”
Senator Klobuchar, who first introduced this bill, claims that “individuals or families streaming movies at home,” will not be targeted — only “criminals that are intentionally streaming thousands of dollars in stolen digital content and profiting from it.” Yet, how can Congress draw such a line, when oftentimes, a personal video (perhaps accompanied by those ubiquitous overlay advertisements) innocently goes viral and gets millions of hits?
This Wednesday at 8PM Eastern, the Republican Presidential candidates will be holding their own YouTube debate. Similar to the Democratic version in South Carolina in July, the candidates will be asked questions via YouTube videos. YouTube accepted thousands of videos and those submissions will be winnowed down to a handful that are presented as questions for the GOP. Senator Dodd jumped on the opportunity to ask the Republican field a question about the issue that matters most to him: protecting our Constitution.
Here's a transcript of Dodd's question:
Hi I'm Chris Dodd. I'm from East Haddam, Connecticut and my family and I are spending a little time in Iowa these days.
I have a question about the Constitution.
Many Americans are concerned that the administration seems to be making a false choice, that is, to be safer we have to give up rights. I don't believe that, I wonder if you do.
And if you believe that we ought not give up our rights, then what would you do in order to protect our Constitution?
It's up to CNN to pick which questions are asked, but what would help them see it is if you take the time to give it a good recommendation, leave a positive comment, share it with your friends, or add it to your favorite videos. If you have a blog, post it. The time to ask your own questions of the Republican field has expired, now it's time to push the best videos to the top and get the Republican candidates on record about what they will do to protect our Constitution.
Jamison Foser of Media Matters recently documented the lack of discussion of the Constitution and rule of law issues during both parties' presidential debates. With over 1,500 questions asked, there's been almost no focus on the most fundamental issue that the next President will have to deal with. Senator Dodd is hoping to change that by asking the Republican field what they will do to protect the Constitution. I hope they get a chance to answer Dodd's important question.
As promised, here are Senator Dodd's answers to the top rated YouTube user submitted questions. Senator Dodd answered these four questions because they were the favorites listed by Community Counts, a site that's allowed visitors to vote on which questions the Presidential candidates should be asked.
Without further ado, Dodd's answers to the top four YouTube user-submitted questions:
