Senators Want To Put People In Jail For Embedding YouTube Videos

spytap:

So yeah. If you embed a YouTube video that turns out to be infringing, and more than 10 people view it because of your link… you could be facing five years in jail. This is, of course, ridiculous, and suggests (yet again) politicians who are regulating a technology they simply do not understand. Should it really be a criminal act to embed a YouTube video, even if you don’t know it was infringing…? This could create a massive chilling effect to the very useful service YouTube provides in letting people embed videos.

*sigh*

Using legal means to prop up businesses based on a now-artificial scarcity doesn’t change the fact that artificial scarcities are - by their very definition - nonviable in a marketplace. If the existence of the real world - or the general habits and customs of humanity - have to be regulated to allow for your business model to function, you don’t have a business model anymore.

(Source: azspot)