We are at a critical juncture in the world of copyright claims. The "Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act"—the CASE Act—is apparently being considered for inclusion in next week's spending bill. That is "must pass" legislation—in other words, legislation that is vital to the function of the government and so anything attached to it, related to spending or not, has a good chance of becoming law. The CASE Act could mean Internet users facing $30,000 penalties for sharing a meme or making a video. It has no place in must pass legislation.

The CASE Act purports to be a simple fix to the complicated problem of online copyright infringement. In reality, it creates an obscure, labyrinthine system that will be easy for the big players to find the way out of. The new "Copyright Claims Board" in the Copyright Office would be empowered to levy large penalties against anyone accused of copyright infringement. The only way out would be to respond to the Copyright Office—in a very specific manner, within a limited time period. Regular Internet users, those who can't afford the $30,000 this "small claims" board can force you to pay, will be the ones most likely to get lost in the shuffle.

The CASE Act doesn't create a small-claims court, which might a least have some hard-fought for protections for free expression built in. Instead, claims under the CASE Act would be heard by neither judges or juries, just "claims officers." And CASE limits appeals, so you may be stuck with whatever penalty the "claims board" decides you owe.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/12/we-have-one-day-tell-congress-not-bankrupt-internet-users


I have a reason this is going to sneak through...there's not enough attention being given to legislation right now.

Thank a Dimocrat!

If you have to sneak your transformational copyright bill into a "must pass" government spending bill, it seems fairly evident that you know the bill is bad. Earlier we talked about how the White House is trying to slip a Section 230 repeal into the NDAA (military appropriations) bill, and now we've heard multiple people confirm that there's an effort underway to slip the CASE Act into the "must pass" government appropriations bill (the bill that keeps the government running).

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20201201/10514145802/tis-season-congress-looks-to-sneak-unconstitutional-copyright-reform-bill-into-must-pass-spending-bill.shtml

This thing has bi-partisan support, of course...

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/s1273/details

Quote from: ModelCitizen on December 07, 2020, 11:16:09 AM
This thing has bi-partisan support, of course...

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/s1273/details

If by "Bi Partisan", you mean leftist RINO, then yeah, no real surprise. When will you realize leftists are not in power to help their constituency?

Quote from: ModelCitizen on December 07, 2020, 11:16:09 AM
This thing has bi-partisan support, of course...

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/s1273/details

You think because this has rino support that it makes it okay..............

Stick around and you might find out that we despise the rinos more than democrats for their voting habits.

Quote from: ModelCitizen on December 07, 2020, 11:16:09 AM
This thing has bi-partisan support, of course...

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/s1273/details

Funny how libs think anytime a rino and a dem get together its somehow bipartisan. Its in fact the exact opposite.