U.S. Bill Would Put Net Song Swappers in Jail
 

Andy Sullivan

Internet users who allow others to copy songs from their hard drives could face prison time under legislation introduced by two Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday.

The bill is the strongest attempt yet to deter the widespread online song copying that recording companies say has led to a decline in CD sales.

Sponsored by Michigan Rep. John Conyers and California Rep. Howard Berman, the bill would make it easier to slap criminal charges on Internet users who copy music, movies and other copyrighted files over "peer-to-peer" networks.

The recording industry has aggressively pursued Napster, Kazaa and other peer-to-peer networks in court and recently announced it planned to sue individual users as well.

In a series of hearings on Capitol Hill last spring, lawmakers condemned online song swapping and expressed concern the networks could spread computer viruses, create government security risks and allow children access to pornography.

Few online copyright violators have faced criminal charges so far. A New Jersey man pleaded guilty to distributing a digital copy of the movie "The Hulk" in federal court three weeks ago, but the Justice Department has not taken action against Internet users who offer millions of copies of songs each day.

The Conyers-Berman bill would operate under the assumption that each copyrighted work made available through a computer network was copied at least 10 times for a total retail value of $2,500. That would bump the activity from a misdemeanor to a felony, carrying a sentence of up to five years in jail.

It would also outlaw the practice of videotaping a movie in the theater, a favorite illicit method of copying movies.

"While existing laws have been useful in stemming this problem, they simply do not go far enough," said Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

A Conyers staffer said the bill had won the backing of many Democrats but Republicans had yet to endorse it.

The staffer said backers hoped to discuss the bill at a hearing on Thursday and combine it next week with another sponsored by Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith.

A Smith spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle....toryID=3103468

g'head - make 60 million otherwise law-abiding Americans criminals - i dare ya:f:

Pardon me whilst I throw up..................

Re: U.S. Bill Would Put Net Song Swappers in Jail
 

Shouldn't that read 'Democrat' instead of 'Democratic', or, at best, 'democratic'? I know, I know, completely off-topic.

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0...9654%2C00.html

Upload a File, Go to Prison

A new bill proposed in Congress on Wednesday would land a person in prison for five years and impose a fine of $250,000 for uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network.

The bill was introduced by Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.). They said the bill is designed to increase domestic and international enforcement of copyright laws

More specifically, the bill targets peer-to-peer file trading, an aide working for the congressmen said. The law is meant to keep up with changing technology.

Content like movies, music and software are the country's No. 1 export, but the creators are being hurt by people who use technology to get the content for free, Conyers said.

Jason Schultz, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the bill "a sign of desperation" by the recording industry and Hollywood as they try to hold on to their business models.

The bill, called the Author, Consumer and Computer Owner Protection and Security Act of 2003, or ACCOPS, would allocate more money to the justice department to investigate copyright crimes: up to $15 million a year, compared with the current budget of $10 million. The bill would also enable information sharing between countries to help in copyright enforcement abroad.

The bill "clarifies" that uploading a single file of copyright content qualifies as a felony. Penalties for such an offense include up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. In addition, filming a movie in a theater without authorization would immediately qualify as a federal offense.

"We're giving notice that this is something we want specific attention paid to," said the aide. "The current law is very general."

ACCOPS also mandates that file-sharing websites must get consent from consumers to search their computers for content or to store files. In addition, those who provide false information when registering a domain name could also be charged with a federal offense.

Last year, Rep. Berman introduced a bill that would protect copyright holders from liability if they impaired or disrupted the unauthorized distribution of their content on P2P networks. The bill is still being debated.

EFF's Schultz said ACCOPS shows that the recording and movie industries "don't care what kinds of collateral damage they create." Sufficient laws are in place to punish those who violate copyright law, he said.

Plus, the poorly written bill sets up an unnecessarily wide dragnet, Schultz said. It criminalizes the placement of any copyright work on a computer network.

"If you have a file stored on your computer and your computer is connected to a publicly available network, you may not even know that you are committing a felony, but this law could put you in jail," he said.

"There have been hearings, year in and year out, and consumers have not complained about anything that is going on in this bill," Schultz said. "The only people complaining are the content industry folks.

"The content industry is asking the public to fund this kind of an effort against themselves."
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Unbelievable!

Marius

I was thinking the other day how ironic it is that downloading is considered so unethical and yet it is the uploaders who get prosecuted. Smoke and mirrors.

Extremely disgusting. Now the RIAA/MPAA want taxpayers to pay for the expenses of their extortion.

Completely uninhibited greed and corruption on an unprecedented scale.

All this and they still have failed to scientifically prove that non-P2P issues are not significantly responsible for (perceived) decline in CD sales.

You wouldn't think that issues like a depressed economy, consumer boycott, and product quality can stay out of consideration forever.

i find it difficult to fathom that some people don't think political discussion should dominate this board when bills like this are being bandied about.

using p2p is inherently political. i hope everyone eventually realizes this.

conservative p2p

as p2p use becomes more widespread and ingrained in the social fabric, it makes those other forms of "traditional media distribution" look radical. :ND:

- js.