Free Bieber! Bill S.978 Could Land Justin Bieber in Prison
Justin Bieber may seem like a wholesome young man but that’s just part of his diabolical genius. Turns out that the teen pop star could be facing up to five years in prison, thanks to bill S.978.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, congress is currently debating bill S.978, which would make it a felony to stream unauthorized copyrighted material online. Violators of the potential new law could face five years in prison.
The bill, which was introduced last May, has gathered support from the entertainment industry, but it wasn’t until this week that bill S.978 got national attention.
Why? Well, a new online campaign called “Free Bieber” has started to go viral.
According to the “Free Bieber” campaign:
“A new bill in Congress makes posting a video containing any copyrighted work a felony– with up to 5 years in prison. But wait… didn’t Justin Bieber get famous by posting YouTube videos of himself singing copyrighted R&B songs? Yep. If this bill passes, he could get 5 years in jail.”
And just in case you haven’t been following Bieber’s career since the beginning, here’s a video of him singing (a potentially illegal) version of a Chris Brown song.
Tiffiniy Cheng, director of Fight for the Future, who organized the “Free Bieber” campaign, said:
“Since copyright law is so expansive, it applies to lots of completely harmless and common things: like singing a song, dancing to background music, or posting a video of a kids’ school play.”
What do you think about Bill S.978? Do you support it even though it could land Justin Bieber in prison? Because it could?
Tags : bill s.978, copyright law, free bieber, justin bieber
Posted: October 25, 2011
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Oct 25, 2011
I support it because he could go to jail. haha
Oct 25, 2011
Too bad it Justin "no talent-steals from everyone else" won't go to prison. He is a tool of the NWO and he won't do a minute of time for this crime. Too bad. he shoudl at least be incarcerated for having a bad haircut and no taste….. Just my thoughts.
Oct 25, 2011
lol, this is hilarious! don't drop the soap pretty boy!
Oct 25, 2011
I could not give less of a sh*t about Bieber. Great, send him to jail, maybe the little teen prissies will follow too.
I do, however, question how this bill affects others who do a similar thing online. How many hundreads of thousands of people have/are doing the same thing trying to get their big shot, and what effects will it have on them? Same?
Oct 25, 2011
Who's Justin Bieber?
Oct 25, 2011
*hundreds
Oct 25, 2011
crazy law. everyone singing in the shower should go to jail.
Oct 25, 2011
I hope they pass that bill , I m sick of hearing and seeing that talentless douche on the radio and tv all the damn time!
Oct 25, 2011
Let him rot.
Oct 25, 2011
By the way, Everyone below me who has taken this an anti-beiber tact. If YOU have posted, or a relative has posted, videos of you lip syncing on youtube, ou can go to jail as well. When your neice or daughter is in jail for jamming out to Miley Cyrus while being five years old have fun.
Oct 25, 2011
isn't he Butthead's pal…
Oct 25, 2011
ex-post facto
Oct 25, 2011
When a new law is passed you cant just go back and arrest people for breaking the law, there is also a grace period before it takes effect so so this is a pointless, as usual news story!
Oct 25, 2011
Ex post facto laws are illegal according to the Constitution, shame people don't fully understand this wonderful document…
Oct 25, 2011
According to the Constitution of the United States, a person cannot be prosecuted for crimes committed before the law was passed. Whoever wrote this article is a moron.
Oct 25, 2011
go. to. jail. hahahahahahahah
Oct 25, 2011
As some of you said before, Justin Bieber would NOT go to jail. The Constitution makes it illegal for someone to be punished for a crime they committed while there was no law at the time saying the act was illegal. If Congress made it illegal for people to smoke, they could not punish everyone who has ever smoked a cigarette prior to the law. He would have to remove the videos however.
Oct 25, 2011
although this video shows his talent, but come on! u gotta know that this is illegal! I've never posted a video of me singing..b/c it's stupid!
Oct 25, 2011
You can not be prosecuted for doing something before it was illegal. Dumb*ss
Oct 25, 2011
What about the posters in the background, aren't they copyrighted? do you think he contacted FOX and got permission to use Barts likeness? LOL. This bill is friggrin' STUPID.
Oct 25, 2011
Is that for real
Oct 25, 2011
He'll never face prison for that.
Oct 25, 2011
This bill has 100% my support. The Law is the Law, and we all should abide by them. Bieber is about to be some dudes "Baby! Baby! Baby! Oh"
Oct 25, 2011
As much as I can't stand Bieber, I must say: common sense has died.
Oct 25, 2011
I am pissed!!
Oct 25, 2011
This somehow sounds fake.
Oct 25, 2011
and throw away the key.
Oct 25, 2011
I don't like Bieber, but this bill sucks ass, technically if you get taped singing any copy righted song and posting it on youtube or facebook..whatever, you go to prison. Gay Bill to make awful law..I'm anti Bill S.978.
Oct 25, 2011
ya, what they didn't state here, is that not only would he "go to prison" but so would basically all of youtube.
Oct 25, 2011
Who is that?
Oct 25, 2011
As much as I completely hate Beiber and his stupid, dopey, crappy, terrible songs, this bill is stupid and it must not pass…. Even the consequences of this bill is stupid… I'll say he doesn't deserve to go 5 years in the slammer as much I hate Beiber and his stupid song. This bill should die and never to be brought up again…
Oct 25, 2011
if that's the case all the pop stars and singers should go to jail…i mean they all got their start with copyrighted music…the boy didn't sell the damn copies…please they need to come up with jobs this ain't shit….vote for OBAMA.
Oct 25, 2011
Dumb, argument is silly. Laws are not retro-active. They take effect from the moment they are past, and do not apply to things you did when they were still considered legal.
Oct 25, 2011
Fuck this Bill.
Oct 25, 2011
So according to this law if anyone happens to appear on video that happens to have something in the background, or says something, that is copyrighted would be eligible for five years in prison? Even if it was done unintentionally? I would guess that many of our politicians that are probably supporting this bill would be more than elligible for that prison sentence then.
Oct 25, 2011
Let me get this straight, congress wants to pass a bill that would make it illegal to sing a song? That is absurd! What happened to freedom of speech? As long as I'm not making money off of the song (which there are already laws in place to prevent) and I'm not slandering someone, there should be nothing wrong with it. Is this really what our country needs? More asinine laws that make our judicial system even more convoluted? It's clear that the government will acquiesce to any corporation in the name of money! Somewhere along the way our government's purpose has changed so that money is the primary protected resource, while the people are pushed to the side throwing out all common sense along the way. Ridiculous!
Oct 25, 2011
Let me get this straight, congress wants to pass a bill that would make it illegal to sing a song? That is absurd! What happened to freedom of speech? As long as I'm not making money off of the song (which there are already laws in place to prevent) and I'm not slandering someone, there should be nothing wrong with it. Is this really what our country needs? More asinine laws that make our judicial system even more convoluted? It's clear that the government will acquiesce to any corporation in the name of money! Somewhere along the way our government's purpose has changed so that money is the primary protected resource, while the people are pushed to the side throwing out all common sense along the way. Ridiculous!
Oct 25, 2011
You sir are correct!
Oct 25, 2011
Who is this Justice Beaver?
Oct 25, 2011
The law wouldn't affect him anyway, despite whether or not ex post facto laws are illegal. He is not a US citizen and would go back to Canada before the law passed if it would get him in any serious trouble. For those who aren't aware, Justin Bieber is well hated by many. The music industry is simply attempting to pass yet another DMCAesque law by tricking us into screwing ourselves over this time. "How?" you ask. By using someone a majority of anyone who is of voting age dislikes, a law claiming to threaten the hated individual would easily gain wide support but in the end only hurt Americans. Meanwhile the person the law claims to threaten won't use their celebrity to fight the law since it doesn't actually present them any actual danger. Clever move music industry… clever indeed.
Oct 25, 2011
raped in record time by bubba.
Oct 25, 2011
If it means a no talent punk like Beiber will go to jail, I'm all for the bill. Guys like him have ruined the cretive part of music like existed in the 70s and 80s….bands wrote, played, sang and produced the song they wrote, songs that had personal meaning about life experiences or viewpoints. Biebers' music is so plastic……He comes into a studio and asks, "Hey, give me the lyrics to whatever song I'm recording today, play the pre-canned background music once or twice for me so I can sorta know the beat, then lets do two takes so we make sure we get the quality we need. If there are any problems, just re-mix it, or overdub it with someones' voice".
Oct 25, 2011
Wouldn't the bill if passed just be from that point forward? I don't think they can go back in time and arrest you for this when it wasn't illegal. Anyway, who cares Justin Bieber would make somebody a cute girlfriend.
Oct 25, 2011
Wait… how ignorant are we? For one, Ex Post Facto Laws are illegal. Two… isn't Bieber from Canada? So when he was posting viral videos, he would have been doing so from Canada…. not the US. How would US law even apply? Ethnocentric fools. Oh, and why would he get arrested for doing something that wasn't technically illegal prior to the law being passed? This campaign is stupid. It's just a marketing ploy to get uneducated people to vote "No". Not saying I agree with bill… just saying maybe we should encourage a more intelligent method rather than relying on the ignorance of our youth.
Oct 25, 2011
so does this mean that because I have posted covers on my youtube I could go to jail? cause that's ridiculous.
Oct 26, 2011
thats what majority of artists do now a days…
Oct 26, 2011
What are you trying to say? lol
Oct 26, 2011
Chelsea TheIntern Arnold All of them will either be fined or go to jail. Video Games will not be streamed online, lip synching or creative covering will become nonexistant, and then first step towards the death of internet freedoms will begin.
Oct 26, 2011
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. You get five years in jail for listening to music while you record a video. Next, jaywalking is going to be ten years in a maximum security prison.
Oct 27, 2011
What about musicians (like me) who post guitar covers on youtube, that bill is crazy.
Oct 27, 2011
Not sure why they posted this on my Facebook page. I commented on it on another site. They did NOT ask my permission to do so.
Nov 2, 2011
This Bill is stupid I hope they know that if they pass this there will be a lot of people going to jail even little kids. Go on you tube and just watch all the millions of little kids and people singing other artist songs its what we do we sing and people need to stop hating on Justin Beiber he was a little kid when he did that and I'm sure he wasn't doing it to copy write he was doing to sing and his mommy was aww let me tape it. Why aren't there articles all of the internet about the six year old little girl singing a Britney spears song, its because she is a nobody and everybody seams to hate Beiber for no reason. I do support the bill but I think that if it goes into affect that anyone after the bill does copy write should go to jail. They way they are doing it now is like making a rule after a game has started so that you can when its not fair.
Feb 4, 2012
Are you freaking kidding me? Just because he was singing songs on youtube? DOING WHAT HE ENJOYS? EVERYONE posts songs they sing on youtube. I don't see any of them getting arrested! This is stupid! Why does the government continue to take away our freedom? This is why it SUCKS to be American! This isn't freedom! It's not like he's still singing copyrighted songs! And all of you criticizing him should be ashamed for being for the bill, putting a young person like Justin go to jail. I call everyone hypocrites for this, because everyone sings, and if this is the truth, then EVERONE who sings should be put in jail.
Apr 7, 2012
true, but what this article is trying to tell everyone, is that ANYONE who posts a video of anything online that could be considered copyrighted, would be up for a potential jail sentence. Not that Justin Beiber would be going to jail, but that if you , your kid, your grandmother posted a video os singing New Kids on the Block, then you or they could go to jail.