Copyright bill boosts penalties, creates new agency
In the aftermath of the $222,000 jury verdict that the Recording Industry Association of America recently won against a Minnesota woman who shared 24 songs on Kazaa, the U.S. Congress is preparing to amend copyright law.
Politicians want to increase penalties for copyright infringement.
It's no joke. Top Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday introduced a sweeping 69-page bill that ratchets up civil penalties for copyright infringement, boosts criminal enforcement, and even creates a new federal agency charged with bringing about a national and international copyright crackdown.
"By providing additional resources for enforcement of intellectual property, we ensure that innovation and creativity will continue to prosper in our society," Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich) said in a statement.
The legislation, called the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act, or Pro-IP Act, is throughly bipartisan. The top Republican, Lamar Smith of Texas, on the Judiciary committee is a sponsor. So is Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chair of the subcommittee that writes copyright law, and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).
The Motion Picture Association of America, which has long championed stiffer copyright laws such as this fall's legislation aimed at file trading at universities, applauded the Pro-IP Act as well.
"I believe that the American business community can speak in one voice today in support of these legislative efforts to protect intellectual property," MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman said in a statement. "I am pleased to see a concerted effort by Congress to address this growing problem, and the MPAA looks forward to working with congressional leaders in the weeks to come."
Here are some of the major sections of the Pro-IP Act:
* Fines in copyright cases dealing with compilations would be increased. Right now, as in the case of Xoom v. Imageline, the maximum penalty for infringement of one compilation is $30,000. Now courts would be able to make "multiple awards of statutory damages" when compilations are infringed.
* Maximum penalties for repeat copyright offenders would be easier to obtain. Current law says that anyone who "willfully" infringes a copyright by distributing over $1,000 worth of material (including over a peer-to-peer network) is a criminal. The Pro-IP Act keeps the 10-year prison term intact for felonious repeat offenders--but, crucially, deletes the requirement that repeat offenders must have distributed at least 10 copyrighted works within 180 days.
* Any computer or network hardware used to "facilitate" a copyright crime could be seized by the Justice Department and auctioned off. The proceeds would be funneled to the agency's budget. The process is called civil asset forfeiture, and typically the owner does not need to be found guilty of a crime for his property to be taken.
Probably the most extensive part of the Pro-IP Act is its creation of a new federal bureaucracy called the White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative, or WHIPER. The head of WHIPER would be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
WHIPER seems to be modeled after the U.S. Trade Representative, with the head of the new agency bearing the rank of "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary." WHIPER's head is charged with being the president's principal advisor and spokesman for intellectual property matters, as well as identifying countries that don't adequately protect IP rights. It gets to create its own official seal as well, and the WHIPER head appears to be paid as well as the attorney general and secretary of defense ($186,600 in 2007).
One of WHIPER's major tasks would be to create a "Joint Strategic Plan" that, in part, involves "identifying individuals" involved in the "trafficking" of "pirated goods." An annual report is due to Congress by December 31 of each year. In addition, 10 "intellectual property attaches" are intended to be dispatched to embassies around the world.
Finally, the U.S. Justice Department's intellectual property enforcement apparatus would be completely revamped. An "Intellectual Property Enforcement Division" would be created and subsume the IP-related functions that the department's computer crime section in the criminal division currently performs. The new division would receive $25 million per year to start with.
Declan McCullagh, CNET News' chief political correspondent, chronicles the intersection of politics and technology. He has covered politics, technology, and Washington, D.C., for more than a decade, which has turned him into an iconoclast and a skeptic of anyone who says, "We oughta have a new federal law against this." E-mail Declan. 
What took so long?
And if you want to buy the music for a reasonable price then you could purchase it from http://mp3sparks.com/ - a legal Russian site that under Russian copyright law can charge prices for music that are based on Russian wages. Such music is automatically legally licenced for use in any other country that is a signatory of the Berne copyright convention.
First off... "our" politicians have obviously been sitting on all kinds of such legislation for months. And now, they are seizing their chance, and they are going to shovel-through all of this CRAP now, at the end of the session (and year)... as fast as they can... so that there is no chance for the American-People to effectively-protest, or stop it (before its too late).
And, second... isnt it absolutely amazing how protecting the wildest, wet-dreams, of the richest corporations in America... so clearly, take precedence over: obscene gas-prices... an illegal-war, that 70-percent of the American people, vehemently, oppose... wholesale government-corruption... the violation of citizen-rights... real national-security... or, any other truly-important matter..?
If you arent OUTRAGED... You, just, arent paying attention.
Or how about this: If the senate and the house (neither deserving of a capital letter) want an IP department, they can fund the budget from their retirement, their 'perks', and their travel expenses.
It is just amazing how complacent the US citizen have become. Please contact your representatives and stop this madness.
Also, imagine a hotel lobby in NY, full of people. Suppose you *know* someone is doing something the shouldn't. How do you trace that person? They are all in the same room, with their laptops in their, well, laps. Now what?
Just because you hate the RIAA doesn't mean you have to be so stupid as to invite government intervention by suggesting it's "ok" to violate copyright.
1. We need to stop purchasing any product of a MPAA/RIAA member.
2. Copyright should only be supported for non MPAA/RIAA members. Stealing from an independent artist is immoral.
3. Any law maker on the state or federal level who supports any pro MPAA/RIAA legislation should be voted out of office.
It is time for people who listen to music and watch movies to start our own PAC. We need to lobby for laws that make any content protection that prevents the user from backing up software or moving it from device to device illegal.
The RIAA/MPAA have a great deal of money and political influence. We the users have more. It is time to start using it.
EFF.org would be a good place to start.
pressing problems so they can finally move on to the legislation
the MPAA and RIAA paid them to pass.
We are becoming a government/Nation run by big business.
Democracy is governemnt run for/by the people who elect the government leaders.
With all the truly serious money, in many different forms, now part of the governmental and legislative process, Democracy is lost.
Think about it. If I give you a large sum on money today, will it affect a ddecision you will make concerning my issues later? You bet!
Democracy is lost.
the Democrats that can make sure this bill is not enacted. Of
course they are the ones supposedly upholding our rights.
Bull, they are simply in the pocket of Hollywood and the
entertainment industry and the citizens lose again. I thought
when we voted the Republicans out we would get better
representation. Perhaps we have to change leadership every
two years until they understand the people are tired of their
not listening. I will hold my nose and vote Republican.
Chops off their hands like the Iranians. I sure love the direction this great country is heading, leading by a bunch of greedy & PAID b*s* politicians. I sure love the part about your property being taken without being found guilty. More and more like the time of king and queen. Off with your heads or your hands whichever THEY choose
I'm so glad politicians are focused on squeezing the profit out of such frivolous endeavors as the healthcare industry or insurance carriers, and rightly ensuring that gains for recorded music and video continue to stream in. Let's stick it to those greedy doctors and insurers who think they can get filthy rich saving lives and keeping people healthy. It's important to keep your priorities straight, after all.
Besides, if these doctors were so smart, they wouldn't waste all that time showing up to work everyday and treating patients. They'd just spend a few months doing it once, record the effort, and then collect perpetually, even after they've died. The fools! Didn't they realize that Elvis has made more money since being dead than the doctors who treated him or the paramedics who carried his fat carcass off the toilet, all combined, could earn in a lifetime?
- Well if we ALL stop paying taxes that will get their attention and reflect
- by zincmann December 6, 2007 10:21 AM PST
- our disgust with the way this country is headed. I also agree its unacceptable how our government is writing laws to the highest bidder with no regards to our more pressing issues in this country. I guess they need that money to fund all the important programs that are being imposed in this country. And as others have said, while the middle class struggle with high fuel oil and gas prices, rising adjustable mortgage rates, lower salaries, rising credit card percentages NOW lets hit them with large lawsuits for sharing music, because most of these people PROBABLY cannot afford the already inflated CD and DVD prices currently in the stores. AMAZING, if there was some revolutionary in this country to organize a revolt pool peoples donations together and lobby for an overhaul of the governmental policies we would be off to a great start
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- This is called the New World Order
- by mythicalpoet December 6, 2007 12:52 PM PST
- Slowly, day by day, our freedoms have been withering away. Before you know it 1984 will be on your doorstep and you won't be able to do a thing about it then. Surely you knew that 9/11 was a another (yes, another, with more to surely follow) False Flag attack orchestrated by the government? If not, Operation Mockingbird has you and you haven't done your homework. Shame on you.
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