July 30, 2007 12:01 PM PDT

New bill backs prison time for piracy 'attempts'

by Anne Broache
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Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may not have a lot of pals in Congress these days, but he has nevertheless found someone willing to pursue the dramatic copyright crackdown lurking on his legislative wishlist.

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) introduced a bill last week that appears to take its cues from controversial proposals circulated by the Justice Department chief in recent years, which include stiffer prison sentences for copyright-related crimes and creation of entirely new categories of punishable activities.

Notably, under Chabot's bill, called the Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act of 2007, it would be a crime not only to commit copyright infringement but also to "attempt" to do so. Such an offense would carry the same penalties as actually committing infringement--as would engaging in a "conspiracy" with two or more people to carry it out.

The bill would also double the prison sentences currently prescribed for copyright infringement violations, bringing them up to a range of 6 to 20 years.

Life behind bars would also be within the realm of possibility. Trafficking in counterfeit goods and services--including, for example, a hospital using pirated software instead of paying for it--could carry that hefty prison term "if the offender knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts to cause death" through his or her conduct, according to the bill.

The bill also grafts additional penalties onto the thorny Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which dictates it's unlawful to sidestep copyright protection technologies except in certain circumstances. Right now, violating those rules can land you up to 10 years behind bars and as much as $1 million in fines, but Chabot's bill would also require the criminal to forfeit any property used in any manner to commit the offense--or anything garnered directly or indirectly from the proceeds of the activity. (The same forfeiture obligations would also apply to a wide array of other copyright-related offenses.)

Digital rights activists are already bristling at the new language, which currently has no co-sponsors. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, for instance, has argued that the bill and similar past efforts would lead to more convictions of innocent people. In a recent blog post, EFF activism coordinator said he hopes the Chabot proposal "meets the same fate as last year's DoJ proposal and is stopped dead in its tracks."

The Recording Industry Association of America declined to comment. A Motion Picture Industry Association of America spokeswoman praised the effort, adding, "Enforcement is a critical part of overall intellectual property protection."

A relatively new Washington-based group called the Copyright Alliance, which counts both of the entertainment industry groups and a number of others among its membership, also applauded the bill's introduction. Executive director Patrick Ross said in a statement that Chabot "is to be commended for his effort to strengthen enforcement of creators' rights, such as increased resources for law enforcement and the reduction of international trafficking in pirated goods."

Whether the Republican-backed bill will go anywhere in a Democratic Congress already hostile to the attorney general is always wild card.

But now that consideration of an all-consuming patent law overhaul bill is mostly out of his hands, the Hollywood-friendly chairman of a House intellectual property subcommittee, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), may have more time to revisit the wishes of his politically powerful constituents. (Chabot also sits on that subcommittee.) The Copyright Alliance's Ross predicted that the Chabot bill would likely be just the first of several legislative attempts to deter piracy.

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It'll bite you in the ass
by phillynets July 30, 2007 12:58 PM PDT
I'm curious what would happen to Apple or Microsoft - who hold thousands of patents themselves - if they were prosecuted for ripping-off Xerox or the numerous tech companies they pinched over the years. What would the pay-out look like for these companies if the "little guy" could wave the sword of jail time and criminal prosecution at the big boys? "Seizure" of most of Cupertino, CA or Redmond, WA?

What about studios that stole an idea for a movie? "Coming to America" was jacked from the late Art Buchwald. What would the settlement have looked like if Eddie Murphy could have spent a year in jail over such a piece of crap as that one?

Then, of course, there's the whole "stiffling innovation" argument: with the threat of something "new" possibly being something "borrowed" who would bother inventing anymore?

The only people who would ever make out like gangbusters are the lawyers - the higher the possible penalty the greater the legal fees.
Reply to this comment
It would be nice if they were
by Renegade Knight July 30, 2007 2:21 PM PDT
This bill would make my honest effort to sell something I thought I had the right to sell I had an extra unused copy of Vista Home Premium. The Auction was shut down by a MS request via the DCMA act.

It would take an army of lawyers to tell the difference between "Attempted piracy" from "Honest Mistake". Though I still maintian my right and that MS trampled all over it.

Maybe they should kick in prison time for media execs any time the DCMA is abused. That would balance it out nicely. "If you can prove it was attempted piracy, they go to jail, but if the attempt turns out to be inadvertant, accidental, unintensional, or legitimate, you go to jail instead."
View reply
Yet another sign that the U.S. Governent are a bunch of idiots
by thenet411 July 30, 2007 1:05 PM PDT
You want to put me away for 6-20 YEARS for nothing more than ATTEMPTING to copy a song, movie, or piece of software but you let idiots who drive drunk stay out of jail and continue to drive?

Does anyone else see how crazy our government has become? How completely clueless our "representatives" are? I am moving to Canada. That's all there is to it. Yes, Canada has it's own problems but that cannot possibly be worse than moronic crap like this.
Reply to this comment
Clueless in Congress
by SeizeCTRL July 30, 2007 1:45 PM PDT
How do these people come into power? Surely if we knew the kind of crap they would attempt to put into legislation, they would be laughed right out of the polls.
200+ Years of Law-Making...
by paulej July 30, 2007 6:00 PM PDT
I have a theory. We constantly send "law makers" to Washington. We charge those people with creating new laws on a wide variety of topics that one person or another considers important. Rarely (or never) do we charge them with removing rubbish laws or re-writing laws.

So, what we have is the compilation of laws on top of laws that has grown for the past 200 years. If there is a particular "hot topic", law makers go in and try to patch and existing piece of law. It just gets uglier.

Worse, more and more laws get created. In this land that is supposed to stand for freedom, we are choking ourselves with laws. There are very few freedoms left in America. Having traveled all over the world, I cannot say that other countries are better, but we definitely do not stand above others in terms of personal freedom, that's for sure. But, we should.

Can somebody in Washington explain what is wrong with the current copyright laws? Is it illegal to copy movies? Yes. Are we punishing those who do it? Hmmm? Perhaps not very much. Rather than enforcing existing laws, it seems our government wants to create life sentences for the crimes that are already crimes and then hope to scare people to death. This kind of social control reminds me of terrible communist countries (and some dictatorships) from which America was supposed to be so different.

Paul
Money more important than lives
by bones321 July 30, 2007 1:17 PM PDT
Amazing that they want to put people in jail for piracy, yet those who drive drunk or commit a crime go free with a warning (if that). BTW, I thought the jails were already overcrowded...
Reply to this comment
RIAA/MPAA/BSA Prison Wings
by arluthier July 30, 2007 1:22 PM PDT
They are... but the record industry, motion picture industry and software giants are looking for some new cheap labor. So they are building new wings and factories at the prisons to create more crap dvds. ;-)

mmmm prison sponsorships! now there's a way to help out those underfunded prisons. The Running Man revisited.
They are...
by J_Satch July 31, 2007 7:59 AM PDT
...overcrowded but that doesn't stop the feds. This is just what we need. Spend countless millions to put people in prison for years because they copied a cd or a dvd...

DC is infested with ********, and they stink.
no co sponsers
by HlLLARY CLITON July 30, 2007 1:40 PM PDT
this has no chance of passing
Reply to this comment
In a time when smart repubs are running from Bush as fast as possilbe
by The_Decider July 30, 2007 2:34 PM PDT
There exist repubs who would embrace his puppet?
Reply to this comment
Why Not Execution?
by Mystigo July 30, 2007 2:59 PM PDT
We should execute any college students who break the software
protection on computer games (and seize their assets of course).
These kind of trouble makers are too smart for their own good.
They would only turn into a bunch of high-income smarty pants
running around telling the rest of us what to do. Off with their
heads!

Keeping the execution option open is cost-effective too. The
RIAA, a law unto themselves, could just line up the accused
against a wall and shoot them. No messy trials, appeals, or jails.
And this would send a great "getting tough on crime" message
that any politician would love to embrace at election time!
Reply to this comment
Re: Why Not Execution?
by Mr. Bentor July 30, 2007 5:10 PM PDT
Don't laugh, it has actually been considered, and I doubt it has been entirely taken off the table for some time in the future.
wht not put everyone in jail
by batavier July 30, 2007 3:18 PM PDT
This country already has more people in jail than any "civilized" contry. Jails are already overcrowded as a result. If these people have their way, pretty soon everybody will be in jail. Oh,is lying to the American public and/or to Congeress a suitable offense?
Reply to this comment
Then Everyone is a Criminal
by R. U. Sirius July 30, 2007 3:25 PM PDT
Attempted infringement? Wow, that means if I copy a CD to my iPod I am a criminal.

Talk about a police state. What has happened to this country? These politicians have gone nuts.
Reply to this comment
They haven't gone nuts.
by J_Satch July 31, 2007 8:02 AM PDT
They've found some nice deep pockets to slither into.
He may be on his way out
by Lee in San Diego July 30, 2007 3:34 PM PDT
Impeachment proceeding against Attorney General Gonzales may
begin tomorrow.
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Time to move to Linux and OSS
by Orion Blastar July 30, 2007 4:24 PM PDT
where it is not piracy to copy and download the software off the Internet or off DVDs and CDs.

Just do a total boycott of copyrighted software, and don't use anything that is not open sourced, freeware, public domain, or another non-commercial license.
Reply to this comment
Easy to do!
by ben::zen July 30, 2007 8:57 PM PDT
I've actually done almost that, though I do
respect game makers. No sense in destroying
their hard work (gotta play, after all!) I
*have* XP on my computer, haven't touched it
since before the animated cursor problem
appeared. I use OO.o for all my work (looking at
KOffice), use Konqueror (faster than Firefox)
and AmaroK for music! Viva la Revolution! Viva
Linux! For myself, Viva Kubuntu! (You may beg to
differ, it works very well for me. I like apt. I
might try openSuSE or Fedora, but for now...)
And have no movies to watch? No thanks...
by richto July 31, 2007 4:20 AM PDT
At least with Windows you have the choice to legally watch movies with DRM intact, or illegally rip off the DRM and watch them as you please.
View reply
lets just start interning people...
by dondarko July 30, 2007 5:40 PM PDT
might as well since that is where we are going. Yet we keep giving power to these retards.

If it were up to my I would put an age limit on politics. 65 and you're retired, period. WE NEED YOUNG PEOPLE ARE MORE OPEN, UNDERSTANDING, KNOW TECHNOLOGY GOVERNING THIS COUNTRY! NOT A BUNCH OF OLD FARTH THAT CAN'T EVEN WORK A CALCULATOR ON THEIR OWN!
YOU put the retards in office and you brought this upon yourself. make sure you elect them in the next round so they can imprison you for "copyright violations" b/c you looked at the store window and a tv which had copyrighted material you were not licensed to view!

I blame you as much as those retards passing these laws that are taking every last shred of our constitution and our rights!
Reply to this comment
RE: New bill backs prison time for piracy 'attempts'
by protagonistic July 30, 2007 6:18 PM PDT
This is really great. So this would mean you could conceivably be
put in jail longer for copyright infringement than for rape. Kind of
shows where our politicians priorities are. Where do these idiots
come from?
Reply to this comment
Copyright "criminals" go to jail while real criminals like murders...
by SpaceDude2001 July 30, 2007 7:11 PM PDT
Isn't nice that Copyright "criminals" go to jail longer than while real criminals like dear I say it murders... What a country...
Reply to this comment
Throw Them All Out!
by als July 30, 2007 7:39 PM PDT
This is our fault. We keep sending the same incompetents, deviants, liars and half-wits back to Washington to do the same things they have been doing for years, which is nothing at all for it's citizens! Odds are a million to one, that IBM, GM, Hollywood, The New AT&T and all of the rest will get the legislation that they want enacted, long before you do. The only recourse we have is our vote. I plan on using mine to vote all incumbents out of office and I hope everyone will do the same. And Ohio, if you want to see your sons and daughters do 20 years of hard time for copying a cd, then please do vote for Steve Chabot.
Reply to this comment
Moan and Groan - or Fight Back
by sandkicker July 30, 2007 8:58 PM PDT
Everyone complains, and yet they still go out and buy the latest songs or movies.

Why not stop buying media and software for 6 months and try to get your friends and relatives to do the same.

Face it, politicians are in the back pocket of Hollywood and Nashville, so if you dont hit them where it hurts, all the complaining in the world wont get their attention.
Reply to this comment
What a joke.
by gerardogerardo80 July 31, 2007 12:17 AM PDT
More than 90% of Hollywood movies are junk, at least as bad as Windows and they are not worth the money I used to pay. At least a money back policy should be included in the bill, if the software is junk, or the movie boring, or plain stupid, consumers should have the right to be reimbursed.

As for the frase, the best things in life are free, for sure Linux does justice to it.
Reply to this comment
Remember all those scifi movies?
by rcrusoe July 31, 2007 5:30 AM PDT
Remember all those scifi movies where corporations have replaced the government in the future?

If this kind of crap is allowed to continue, they won't be scifi too much longer. They will be prophetic.
Reply to this comment
Corruption, here today!
by ColdMast July 31, 2007 8:23 AM PDT
Just like pharmaceutical companies can shove what ever stuff [sensors self] they want down unsuspecting human test subjects, yet hippies can't light up with out going to jail for 5 years.

You can get all the plastic parts you could ever want to cure you of your fast food fixation symptoms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Dystopian_novels
Chabot get paid?? ehh I meant donation from corporation
by vhac July 31, 2007 6:28 AM PDT
I sure do wonder if these idiots get paid to push idiotic bills? Some other genius senator did that before when his website clearly STOLE codes from other programmers and the guy was clueless about the internet. How about jail time for attempt of accepting bribe, i meant donation from corporation :grin:
While I don't mind punishment for the profiteer of piracy goods, this take it a step too far. Maybe we should jail the 7 years old girls for attempt to download a song. Where are the politicians who would actually listen to the people voted them in?
Reply to this comment
GET A LIFE you RIAA losers!
by inachu July 31, 2007 6:52 AM PDT
I can buy music and or rip music from my CD i bought and place it on my IPOD but I am not allowed to rip movies?

Get a life! I bought it through retail stores and I can put it on any device I own PERIOD!
Reply to this comment
WRONG!!!
by Dalkorian July 31, 2007 11:18 AM PDT
Inachu posted this thought to the discussion:

"I can buy music and or rip music from my CD i bought and
place it on my IPOD but I am not allowed to rip movies?

Get a life! I bought it through retail stores and I can put it on any
device I own PERIOD!"

WRONG!! All you did was give money to a bunch of lazy
executives. It bought you no rights whatsoever, either to protect
your investment (copy) nor to even view the material. Best to
burn the disk now to prevent temptation, unless you like the
idea of life in prison. While you're at it, why not give more
money to the lazy executives who want to imprison you? If you
don't, you could be held accountable for the fact that the word
"copy" crossed your mind at some point between the giving of
money and the destruction of evidence - oh yeah, burning the
disk is destroying evidence, leading to more charges and more
prison time.

Yes, I'm being sarcastic here. Or am I?

I haven't bought either a CD or a DVD in years and I don't plan
on starting now. Besides, as has been mentioned already, most
of the stuff on disks now is total crap and not worth either the
money they're asking or the prison time they want to impose on
us. Screw them (MPAA and RIAA both).
RIAA & MPAA double dipping in my wallet.
by inachu July 31, 2007 7:22 AM PDT
I should not have to pay twice to get a movie I bought lets say at Best Buy or Safeway and watch it on my dvd player then pay again to rip it to my ipod or PSP.

The future license agreement of any media by held by consumers will read, "By purchasing this media you agree you are not allowed to watch/listen to it in your own home on any device."
Reply to this comment
Exactly
by ColdMast July 31, 2007 8:27 AM PDT
I think if the RIAA keeps taking away my media rights, I'll just switch to books.
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