(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Senate Bill Could Put Stop To Streaming Media
Source: You must login or register to view this content. // By: The Open Minded // Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

Well not ALL streaming media. The bill that is in the works, Senate bill S.978, would change the way copyright laws for media streamed on the internet are enforced. It would make it illegal for anyone to post media that is copyrighted without the express written consent of the owner.

Now what this means for us, is that anything from posting Call of Duty montages, to the music we use on them, would now be illegal. People who add lyrics to songs on Youtube would now be fined or sent to jail for doing so.

The other part of this bill that has people up in arms is the division of it that would make embedding copyrighted media on an unauthorized website, such as NGU, illegal.

The punishment for breaking the rules of this new bill would include up to 5 years in prison for anyone who posts more that 10 unauthorized works in a 180 day period.

While I do not support this bill, I do see why it is trying to be passed. The amount of copyright infringement that happens is astonishing. Companies lose billions a year from the use and sharing of pirated material.

Now this would have no direct effect on downloading anything from a torrent or file sharing site. You would still be able to do these things. This ONLY affects streaming media such as Youtube, Google Video, or any other streaming media, such as music.

So what do you think about this? Do you think it could get passed? If it does get passed would you still post videos or other material containing copyrighted works?

I doubt this would effect things such as games. Take the newer call of dutys for example. They put theatre mode in place to encourage us to upload our favourite clips etc. and so they pretty much gave us consent already, meaning they would not have a problem with us uploading and give us consent to upload copyrighted material. I am sure that this would be the same for most games as well because as well as encouraging people to play the game more, it also advertises. The only problem would be things such as funny movie clips which i know a lot of people upload. And people would have to be much more careful when recording home videos, because this bill is very strict and you could still be punished if you walk past a tv for example with copyrighted materials are playing. This would just mean a little editing later on, but overall even if in the unlikely case that the bill passes, i do not think that much will be affected. Unless, of course you include illegal streaming of movies etc. but that is against the law already!

god, I hope this doesn't pass

i dunno lol it just popped in my head and i wrote it

I know what they are trying to stop but this is just stupid. lol

This won't work well at all. No copyright is being infringed upon by streaming videos that use content. Fair use much?

I believe this is America doing what America does best, acting stupid. What a crazy bill this is, companies may lose millions in revenue BUT most of them make that back with the help of Google’s ad’s on videos.

I'll put my 2 cents worth, this law is plain retarded regarding the gaming uploads. Because developers have acknowledged the fact that we post up gameplays. They embrace the fact that we upload their games online, because we are advertising their product. Also they even incorporated theater mode and other featured to facilitate our uploads. This law should not be passed. Congress needs to focus on more important things like the recession.