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[FYI] U.S. Congress Moves to Criminalize P2P



<http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,62830,00.html>

Congress Moves to Criminalize P2P 
By Xeni Jardin

Story location: 
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62830,00.html

04:00 PM Mar. 26, 2004 PT

Congress appears to be preparing assaults against peer-to-peer 
technology on multiple fronts.

A draft bill obtained by Wired News, recently circulated among 
members of the House judiciary committee, would make it much easier 
for the Justice Department to pursue criminal prosecutions against 
file sharers by lowering the burden of proof. The bill also would 
seek penalties of fines and prison time of up to ten years for file 
sharing.

In addition, on Thursday, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Patrick 
Leahy (D-Vermont) introduced a bill that would allow the Justice 
Department to pursue civil cases against file sharers, again making 
it easier for law enforcement to punish people trading copyright 
music over peer-to-peer networks. They dubbed the bill "Protecting 
Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation Act of 2004," or 
the Pirate Act. 

[...]



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