[IP] P2P jail bill moves forward
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 9, 2004 11:41:48 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] P2P jail bill moves forward
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[Note: Rip, Mix, Clink! Now the drama moves to the Senate. DLH]
Original URL:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/09/p2p_jail_bill_approved/
P2P jail bill moves forward
By Andrew Orlowski (andrew.orlowski at theregister.co.uk)
Published Thursday 9th September 2004 13:36 GMT
HR.4077
(http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c108:./temp/~c108JUxVww), the
Piracy Deterrence and Education Act, has been approved by the United
States' House Judiciary Committee.
The bill specifies up to five years' jail for anyone making over a
thousand copyrighted works available for download. That's if the
infringer is profiting from the action: ordinary P2P users would face
up to three years simply for making their collections available.
Thwarted by the courts, copyright holders and their lobby groups,
notably the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA), have been forced
to file "John Doe" suits against infringers. But HR.4077 brings the
full power of the state to their aid:
The FBI will be required to serve as propaganda ministry, or in the
words of the bill, "develop a program based on providing of information
and notice to deter members of the public from committing acts of
copyright infringement through the Internet," and enforcer.
The Feds must "facilitate the sharing among law enforcement agencies,
Internet service providers, and copyright owners of information
concerning acts of copyright infringement described in paragraph".
The committee asks Congress to discourage the P2P networks from
deploying the "guns don't kill people" defence.
"Publicly available peer-to-peer file-sharing services can and should
adopt reasonable business practices and use technology in the
marketplace to address the existing risks posed to consumers by their
services and facilitate the legitimate use of peer-to-peer file sharing
technology and software."
The bill also makes it illegal to use a video recorder in a cinema to
capture a movie.
The chairman of the House Committee which nodded through the measure,
Rep James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis), was paid $18,000 by the Recording
Industry Ass. of America to make a trip to Taiwan and Thailand in
January 2003, a breach of the House ethics rules, say critics. [WaPo
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A57306-2003Apr29) | Reg
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/17/congressman_pocketed/)]
Sensenbrenner said it was a "fact-finding mission", even though his
schedule was arranged by the State Department.
But the distinction between State and corporate interests are now so
close as to be indistinguishable.
Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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