curien

Did Alanis seemingly lend support to a call for the murder of Atwood? If so, that would be ironic.

In some of the places, it seems like the requirements were enacted very quickly. A few years ago, I had the unfortunate experience of having to go through a lot of hassle (and about 6 months extra waiting time) to acquire a US Passport because I didn't have a copy of my birth certificate. (My parents had lost it before I was a teenager.) At the time, I was serving in the military with a DOD picture ID card and a state-issued DL, but I had to pay $50 and wait for a new birth certificate to arrive.

Then there's the issue that I'm lucky enough that my birth certificate name matches the legal name I currently use. Especially for older women, that's definitely not a guarantee. So then they have to track down old marriage and divorce paperwork.

If they'd been expected to have this documentation their entire lives, it would be reasonable to expect them to still have it. But we spent decades where people were allowed to vote without having any documents that are now required for proof-of-identity. It's unreasonable to expect them to be able to materialize these documents on short notice. And even if the picture ID itself is free, the cost of acquiring those old documents often isn't.

For a while now I've thought that one of the main problems with IP is that there's no disincentive to "trolling" -- that is, hoarding IP in the hopes that you'll eventually come across a violation that you can sue over.

What do you think about a small property tax on IP? That would provide an incentive to release works into the public domain without setting arbitrary limits. It would also encourage rights-holders to claim realistic values for their property during IP disputes. Plus, it would generate some much-needed revenue for the government. I saw an estimate a few years ago that US IP is worth about $5 trillion, so even a very modest tax (relative to real estate taxes) could bring in a significant amount of revenue.

I'm interested to hear your opinion.

I wonder why someone would downvote your comment?

Because someone had already responded with a corretion 13 minutes before he did. One correction is helpful, more are just noise.

experts on the subject at hand and are simply ensuring factual and technical accuracy of the bill

We call those people "lobbyists".