While everyone is busy disputing the wrong questions about apocalypse, one Congressman hits the correct end of the problem. I don’t know if it will get through Congress, but it certainly looks like a partial solution.
Darrell Issa has introduced the American Copyright Protection Act, narrowly aimed at foreign copyright pirates. It misses the threat of US pirates. Judging by the stats I see on this blog, about 95% of the bot activity is foreign, 90% from China or its proxies in Vietnam and Singapore.
The endorsers tell the story:
The American Copyright Protection Act is supported by: Motion Picture Association, Recording Industry Association of America, Association of American Publishers, American Bar Association, Council for Innovation Promotion, CreativeFuture, Elsevier, Entertainment Software Association, Independent Film & Television Alliance, Nintendo, Premier League, Ultimate Fighting Championship, TV Academy, and the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office.
Everyone who depends on copyright likes the law. Note that the AI companies are not on the list, and pirates hate it.
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Irrelevant: I remembered mentioning Issa several times back when I cared about politics. Couldn’t remember if I liked him, hated him, or thought he was silly. Turns out the memory is precise! Liked him. Hated him. Silly.
The third reference sums it up:
I’ve always been … bemused? … by McKenna. He reminds me of Calif cong Darrell Issa. Both are capable of being tough and unyielding, which is a good quality, but both always pick the oddest things to get tough about. Issa can doggedly pursue a bad witness in hearings on corruption, but his pursuit leads to an incomprehensible place.
What happened to Rob McKenna? He was on the way up politically, then Superdemon Inslee beat him in 2012 and proceeded to destroy the state. Per wikipedia, McKenna returned to regular law practice in Seattle and didn’t venture into politics again. Can’t blame him!
