New Copyright Law To See Justin Bieber Face Five Years In Prison

Bieber in prison might sound like a great idea, but at what expense? As The Gauntlet has already covered, S.978 is coming up for a vote. You might remember, this is the bill with bi-partisan support and sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota). It would make it a felony for Internet users to stream unlicensed content 10 times in 180 days. The bill is being pushed by the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America, and others who seek to crush to Internet freedoms for the sake of higher corporate profits. The legislation was passed unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this summer; introduction of a House version is expected in coming weeks.

S.978 would criminalize precisely what Justin Bieber (and his mom) did to gain global renown: Posting videos online of the young singer covering pop songs. Those videos are still on the Internet, so if Bieber doesn't pull them all down right away, he could be prosecuted and sent to the slammer for five years on felony charges. The legislation applies to an incredibly broad swath of normal social media activity: It would become a felony to post cover band songs, karaoke videos, footage of people dancing to music, videos with music playing in the background, and on and on.

FFTF encourages Internet users to visit www.FreeBieber.org to urge their Senators to oppose S.978. The site collects Photoshop renditions of Justin Bieber in jail, and urges visitors to record a video of themselves "behind bars" to post to their YouTube and Facebook accounts.

More information may be found at www.FightForTheFuture.org

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Tags:  RIAA, Justin Bieber   

Jason Fisher    October 19, 2011