Stong words from Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“Earlier today, we were made aware of a new piece of intellectual property legislation, S. 4108. This bill is a tragedy wrapped in a travesty. It is also a travesty wrapped in a tragedy.
“Under this bill, new government agencies, including a Department of Intellectual Property Security, would be created and given extraordinary powers. Copyright protection would be extended to new types of works and with even longer terms of protection in force. In particular, the fashion industry will say, ‘Bravo’ to this bill. New software schemes would be mandated and new powers would be granted to private industry. Rights of the public would be curtailed drastically indefinitely, forever.
“This bill should be read very carefully. Anyone would have to be a fool to vote for this bill.”
The text of the bill is available here: http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/110-s4108-20080401.pdf. With commentary from PK in the margins.
