Obama's Draconian Intellectual Property Law Proposals Already in Effect

The mass incarceration that's taken place over the last three decades, largely under the auspices of the "War on Drugs" that has only served to create a permanently criminalized underclass will not only continue, it will greatly expand under Obama administration's crackdown on intellectual property law offenders as he felonizes infringement.

Take former Goldman Sachs computer programmer, Sergey Aleynikov.  He did not kill anyone. He did not assault anyone. He did not inflict bodily harm on any living creature, nor take or sell drugs...he did something much worse: he stole source code from Goldman Sachs.  For this victimless crime, because Goldman Sachs is no one's victim, the government wanted to seek a sentence five-times higher than what probation recommends.  Well, federal Judge Denise L. Cote, who likened his crime to “economic espionage”, sentenced him to four-times what the probation recommended - eight years - explaining that Mr. Aleynikov's conduct “deserves a significant sentence because the scope of his theft was audacious — motivated solely by greed, and it was characterized by supreme disloyalty to his employer.” Oh, the irony!

Did Mr. Aleynikov break the law?  Do something wrong?  Yes he did; however he certainly showed remorse when he said, “I never meant to cause Goldman any harm. I am sorry for the burden and emotional impact this trial has caused on my family, and my mother and children.” I think it's fairly clear that Mr. Aleynikov does not pose a threat to society; therefore, should receive the minimum sentence, especially considering he is a first time offender.

President Obama is not legitimately trying to address infringement or counterfeiting problems with his sweeping revisions to U.S. copyright law. He is simply cracking down on the people in order to protect the interests of corporations, instead of encouraging companies to adapt to the changing technological environment.

“The legitimate desire to address some serious counterfeiting abuses - such as medications or industrial components used in defense products - has been hijacked to create draconian proposals to alleviate the content industry of the burden of protecting its own interest using its own extensive resources. The government's role in protecting the public's right to safe medicine and component parts should not be allowed to morph into supplanting the responsibility of private companies to use existing legal remedies to remove possibly infringing content online and bring legal action against those involved. -- CCIA President & CEO Ed Black

Links:

Government Seeks Sentence Five Times Higher Than Probation Recommends

Intellectual Property Watch