Gonzo is a major moron and complete idiot.
He will get fired soon, and then we will move on.

Why does the AG even care? Copyright and patent law are civil matters and rightfully should stay that way.

Every day American citizens have their identities stolen, everyday somebody is scammed by a Nigerian, everyday religious fanatics are blowing themselves up and killing innocent people, our local governments are rife with corruption, and the AG thinks attempted copyright infringement deserves his attention.

The living breathing people of this country need to be protected before we concoct imaginary crimes against imaginary property.

Exactomundo.

Because the AG is bent on proving a link between almost every piece of legislation and "homeland security", so as to extend the reach and control of his office over parts of our legal system where they do not currently have clear jurisdiction.

If you read the proposed "Act" in detail, it even provides for wiretapping in support of copyright investigations. Tell me how that is directly related to "intellectual property protection"?

This should make it easy on you. Read before you start shouting McCarthy. This is right from the DOJ... Betanews/Media did a decent job on this one. And FYI, it is not a bill, not yet, so I encourage you to read. Hopefully everyone reading realizes that the AG cannot introduce legislation???

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa...2007/May/07_ag_353.html

Quote by Gonzales: “Imagine a heart patient undergoing emergency surgery at a hospital that unknowingly purchased substandard counterfeit surgical equipment or medication”

So the implication here is that if a hospital uses counterfeit software, even from renown vendors, it becomes "substandard", even though the functionality is identical to the purchased license? Come on: Life imprisonment for pirated software? Most GUN CRIMES don't carry that penalty. So pirated software is more serious than killing with a gun? Yes. McCarthyism is alive and well.

Your link provides nothing more than a snippet of text asking to pass the legislation. Still an incomplete picture. Try this if you really want to read it: http://politechbot.com/d...ion.act.2007.051407.pdf

This (IPPA 2007) is dangerously worded text. Don't rely on the media paraphrasing. Read the bill yourself. McCarthy is reincarnated.

ANYTHING Representative Lamar Smith is FOR I am AGAINST. I am in his district and NOT politically aligned with him or the Rich he represents. Bet your life if he is for it, in some way some PAC has him in their pocket. The attitude of Congress is different than it was a short period ago. Maybe because the DOJ has been so Pro Big Business the Congress is now seeing things in a different view.

Really? You have got to change the channel or website and get your news from more than once source (something other than theborg.com)! I'll admit that I am in my thirties, but when did it become cool to hate parties, hate people, hate law, and some even hate America. At one point it was cool to not go with the masses and to think, act, and behave freely. Do you really feel this worth the hate being generated in OUR country? Do a little research and get two sides to each story, not just one. If you do, the Country is a lot suitable for all of us. Research helps you understand. If you don't understand, you don't respect. Most comments like the ones in this post are disrespectful and gather no merit as I read them.

Hate is the easiest of all emotions. Kindness and Respect take effort, don't be lazy!

i hate you.

At least you didn't say "I love you"...

That would have been weird.

OK now I think this guy has to go.... He is just trying to save his own @$$ by taking the focus off of him.

The focus has been off him for weeks.. The case against him is DEAD - all that testifying did nothing... it was all for show.. trust me.. he will be there to wave hello to the next POTUS. Only Bush can fire him, and he isnt going to do it.

Ladylust you seem to forget that the People put people into power and they can be removed by the people. Each and every day something more seems to occur which will build up into something that even GWB can't hold back. Gonzales can be impeached! I guess if POTUS won't fie him then we should fire POTUS!

...and perhaps if he'd actually done anything wrong that would be an option, now wouldn't it?

The issue is dead. The testifying was a dog and pony show. Let it go, man.

Seriously... If you hate America, get out. Everyone is speaking out about a company's ability to maintain its intellectual property. But how you can read this as "poor bad guys who write viruses, copy CDs and DVDs, and those really poor hackers that try and take down Air Traffic Control," I really can't understand your translation. Quit spouting at your party talking points and stay on topic. Free Enterprise is America and it is what made America. And, if we are really cautious and government serves both the people and business, we won't get ourselves into a situation where government has to subsidize business.

And yes, some DVDs and CDs are overpriced. So, don't buy them. And yes, some organizations contain security holes. But, don't hack them. And finally yes, there are many ways to crack many major operating systems and applications. But, don't write viruses for them.

Well said.

Yet another example of how The Industry Money machine controls the government instead of the government looking out for their Citizens. Lets face it folks. until people stand up and say Hey Idiot in office, you do this and your going to be voted out of office... they will continue to do whatever the heck PAYS them the most. in this case its the Copyright patent Mafia, that want to extort every penny possible out of the public even if they have already purchased their product once, and wants to use it the way they see fit. NO NO NO you pay us for every time your eyeballs see it, or ears hear it, and they will be happy... Nothing less will ever make the industry say they are not losing money. Oh you heard a part of Clients A song while sitting at a red light from another car. guess what, your a pirate in their eyes. Not only that, but the guy that is playing it with his windows down is a distributer. and stealing from the industries profits by allowing their product to float through the air.

You know what, I want to go down to the patent office and patent AIR. then anyone breathing it will be guilty of patent infringement, and all people breathing it will owe me money. Their examples of Losses through piracy is just as stupid.

You know, in theory, Congress is supposed to be run by the will of the people. I'm sure this would be in the 90% against range... yet somehow I think that this will have traction.

I'm so done believing that our system of government works "for the people". I was never a corporations-conspiracist. But now I'm finding it very difficult to believe that Congress isn't fully in the grip of big business.

"Investigators will be able to more easily wiretap suspected pirates or seize computers involved in their investigations."

As if it was hard now.

The government is too big, too pervasive, and needs to be cut down to size. It really is getting to be an emergency.

agreed

Great, another example why this country is going down into the s***hole. Main while, we are complaint the Chinese communist government on human right, yet on the same time, we are doing the exactly same thing in name of democracy.

What in God's name does this have to do with human rights? You're not actually under the impression you have the right to pirate? It may well be over-reaching and futile, but it certainly isn't a violation of your rights.

nope but i would consider that cruel and unusual punishment.

This rediculous bill better be shot down in 2 seconds if they have half a brain.

Another example of how out of touch these people in DC are!

I gotta say when I read the bit about bodily injury and death I thought I just didn't understand what they meant. Nice to see everyone else is scratching their heads on that.

I suppose the hospitals with licensure out of whack could result in a death if the software crapped out during a case or something.

I work at a hospital though and I'm not sure what kind of software could be pirated that would be that mission critical. All of our software comes direct from the vendor and if a hospital is getting it from somewhere else, then its probably not the software that will kill you.

what? Are people using the instruction manual to inflict bodily harm on someone?

Looks Alberto will be taking a job with the RIAA after he gets forced out of the AG office over the political firings.

It will never happen the only person that can get rid of him is Bush and he will NEVER do it.

"Those using pirated software that "recklessly causes or attempts to cause death" could be sentenced to life imprisonment. Additionally, the sentence for counterfeiting that results in serious bodily injury will be raised from 10 to 20 years."

Eh? So that's snapping a copied software CD in half and stabbing someone with the pointy bit?

"Those using pirated software that "recklessly causes or attempts to cause death" could be sentenced to life imprisonment. Additionally, the sentence for counterfeiting that results in serious bodily injury will be raised from 10 to 20 years."

Can someone please explain how using pirated software will cause bodily injury and also death????????????

Beats my logic maybe i am getting to old to understand and use new softwares ........

In another article I saw mention of Hospitals that don't have all their licenses in order. If you are a sloppy surgeon just make sure your software is legal.

Maybe that new job Alberto is lining up is with the BSA