Infringement ‘Detrimental To the Public Health, Safety’

Permalink: http://www.CopyrightReform.us/archives/67
Posted by Bryan Andrews | Posted in: External Articles | May 2008

“The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has declared that copyright infringement ‘substantially interferes with the interest of the public in the quality of life and community peace, lawful commerce in the county, property values, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare of the county’s citizens, its businesses and its visitors.’ You might laugh, but that means they can close up a property for up to one year for violations of the anti-infringement ordinance [PDF] and the owner can be fined $1,000 for each infringing work produced on site. Not to mention the penalties in the PRO-IP Act, which just sailed through the House.”

Comment: The problem is the current IP laws do cost lives - thousands die from treatable diseases every day for no reason other than protecting the profits of drugs companies. For a copyright example, many third world countries cannot develop while the necessary infrastucture and knowledge cannot be freely distributed (software and books).

If you want a full review, check out http://www.iprcommission.org/home.html

People, such as the grandparent, need to stop simply associating copyright infringement with downloading movies for free and see the real damage IP laws and regulations do to millions of lives throughout the world.

Source: Slashdot