I decided to write a letter to Senator Feinstein and will likely send it to 
Senator Boxer AND Congressman Baca.

July 9, 2011

Dear Senator Feinstein

I am here to announce my opposition to S. 978 and I would like to express how 
regressive this bill is for our nation as a whole. I know you are bought and 
paid for by the content providers and you will not likely change your mind like 
Congressman Bachmann suddenly embracing LGBT equality.

This bill will end up jailing so many non violent offenders for copyright 
issues, this will end up leading to more people in jail for terms up to five 
years like how Oklahoma jails people with dime bags of marijuana with 10 year 
sentences. Threatening to shut the internet connection of people who upload 
videos of lip syncing to popular music will help to destroy the fandom for 
people's appreciation for the works of the leading musical acts of today.

I know that the RIAA wants the money they used to make before the Internet, but 
we are in a new age.

I could understand going after illegal downloads and torrent sites that offer 
unauthorized products, but killing off interpretive content such as a music 
video concept by an independent film maker, a hobbyist covering their favorite 
tune or a drag queen dancing around pretending that he is Jenifer Lopez helps 
to spark the people against S.978.


What is the RIAA asking from you when you meet with them? Maybe you can ask 
your friends at the RIAA and MPAA to offer to sell hobbyist licenses at $50 to 
start. So you can still help your friends make some money, and prevent our 
states and the federal government from clogging our prisons from S.978 
offenders.

We currently are having severe budget problems where we might default on our 
debts, and this bill might actually cost the government more money in enforcing 
it. Jailing people for five years for broadcasting an online video game game 
play session from World of Warcraft as an example is rather regressive and 
draconian such as Australia's internet censorship.

I would encourage you and your friends who wrote this bill Sen. KLOBUCHAR, Sen. 
CORNYN, and Sen. COONS to amend this bill. We can both respect intellectual 
property, but there can be a new way in solving the problem.

Because S.978 will create more political opponents and people who support 
issues you advocate for such as LGBT equality and pro-choice will likely 
consider a homophobic opponent in 2012 instead.

Best,

Matthew Munson

Ontario, California
  
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