why that was nice

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

Posted by Declan McCullagh

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pressing the U.S. Congress to enact a sweeping intellectual-property bill that would increase criminal penalties for copyright infringement, including "attempts" to commit piracy.

"To meet the global challenges of IP crime, our criminal laws must be kept updated," Gonzales said during a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Monday.

The Bush administration is throwing its support behind a proposal called the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007, which is likely to receive the enthusiastic support of the movie and music industries, and would represent the most dramatic rewrite of copyright law since a 2005 measure dealing with prerelease piracy.

Here's our podcast on the topic.

The IPPA would, for instance:

* Criminalize "attempting" to infringe copyright. Federal law currently punishes not-for-profit copyright infringement with between 1 and 10 years in prison, but there has to be actual infringement that takes place. The IPPA would eliminate that requirement. (The Justice Department's summary of the legislation says: "It is a general tenet of the criminal law that those who attempt to commit a crime but do not complete it are as morally culpable as those who succeed in doing so.")

* Create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software. Anyone using counterfeit products who "recklessly causes or attempts to cause death" can be imprisoned for life. During a conference call, Justice Department officials gave the example of a hospital using pirated software instead of paying for it.

* Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations. Wiretaps would be authorized for investigations of Americans who are "attempting" to infringe copyrights.

* Allow computers to be seized more readily. Specifically, property such as a PC "intended to be used in any manner" to commit a copyright crime would be subject to forfeiture, including civil asset forfeiture. Civil asset forfeiture has become popular among police agencies in drug cases as a way to gain additional revenue, and it is problematic and controversial.

* Increase penalties for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anticircumvention regulations. Criminal violations are currently punished by jail times of up to 10 years and fines of up to $1 million. The IPPA would add forfeiture penalties.

* Add penalties for "intended" copyright crimes. Certain copyright crimes currently require someone to commit the "distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period of at least 10 copies" valued at more than $2,500. The IPPA would insert a new prohibition: actions that were "intended to consist of" distribution.

* Require Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America. That would happen when CDs with "unauthorized fixations of the sounds, or sounds and images, of a live musical performance" are attempted to be imported. Neither the Motion Picture Association of America nor the Business Software Alliance (nor any other copyright holder, such as photographers, playwrights or news organizations, for that matter) would qualify for this kind of special treatment.

A representative of the Motion Picture Association of America told us: "We appreciate the department's commitment to intellectual-property protection and look forward to working with both the department and Congress as the process moves ahead."

What's still unclear is the kind of reception this legislation might encounter on Capitol Hill. Gonzales may not be terribly popular, but Democrats do tend to be more closely aligned with Hollywood and the recording industry than is the GOP. (A few years ago, Republicans even savaged fellow conservatives for allying themselves too closely with copyright holders.)

On behalf of Rep. Howard Berman, the California Democrat who heads the House Judiciary subcommittee that focuses on intellectual property, a representative said the congressman is reviewing proposals from the attorney general and others. The aide said the Hollywood politician plans to introduce his own intellectual-property enforcement bill later this year but that his office is not prepared to discuss any details yet.

One key Republican was less guarded. "We are reviewing (the attorney general's) proposal. Any plan to stop IP theft will benefit the economy and the American worker," said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the House Judiciary committee. "I applaud the attorney general for recognizing the need to protect intellectual property."

Still, it's too early to tell what might happen. A similar copyright bill that Smith, the RIAA and the Software and Information Industry Association enthusiastically supported last April never went anywhere.

CNET News.com's Anne Broache contributed to this blog.

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9719339-7.html

I hope this guy isn't AG for long; the way things have been going for him lately he wont be.

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

Yep. It makes perfect sense. For the Air Force, We have classified this site as a forum, yet we allow it. These forums are fairly low bandwidth since there aren't a lot of photos and videos on here. Mainly just text. Very low rent, whereas Myspace.com and Youtube and the likes consume an enormous amount of bandwidth. If you are incapable of understanding that simple part of the reasoning, then you shouldn't post here. Even though it is the unclassified network, there are still several mission critical apps that use the transport.

standard desktop for the lose.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

The administration does a great job of sticking up for industry to the detriment of consumers.

 

[jotay21 10+ year member]

standard desktop for the lose.

That sucks. I hate it. We are working with big AF right now to have some changes made to that policy.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

I actually thought that this thread would overcome the negative correlation between intellectual level and response rate because the topic is applicable to so many in the lounge, but i guess i was wrong.

I should have added a race element in the title like "Mexican wants to arrest u for Piracy Z0mg!11!Sí senior!!!"

 

[ballstothewall 10+ year member]

Wow, those are some pretty stupid proposals.

I'm also gonna have to agree with Jmac on that one...

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

they've been doing that for years with the drug war FYI...

people going to jail for giving advice to people on how to grow their own stash...

Rico laws anyone?

so i should mention, anything that makes people go to jail without good evidence is a bullshit law. just saying that someone ATTEMPTED to copyright and sending them to prison is just straight up bullshit. later

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

they've been doing that for years with the drug war FYI...people going to jail for giving advice to people on how to grow their own stash...

Rico laws anyone?

so i should mention, anything that makes people go to jail without good evidence is a bullshit law. just saying that someone ATTEMPTED to copyright and sending them to prison is just straight up bullshit. later

its the slow progression toward a total police-state.

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

its the slow progression toward a total police-state.

and i find it very scary in all honesty. nice to know canada is only a few hundred miles away. if shit starts going downhill, im gone

its one thing if you CATCH someone doing it...but its a total other thing if you catch someone with things and start to make up a whole ****ing fairly tail on what they MIGHT have done with it, and made millions of dollars selling pirated copies...

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

****! I was just coming on here to post about this.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39642

Got it from there just now. Kinda crazy. What am I going to do with my 15,000 mp3's and 200 DVD's? *ponders*

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

****! I was just coming on here to post about this.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39642

Got it from there just now. Kinda crazy. What am I going to do with my 15,000 mp3's and 200 DVD's? *ponders*

ok ill make you feel better...

what the ****, that crazy! those bunch of bastard politician peices of shit. dude thanks for the nice post. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif

 

[Army-Killa]

When I was in ramadi we could look at whatever the hell we wanted. Now in Germany alot of shit is banned it dont matter though if you wanna use a military comp you should only expect to be able to see military shit.

 

[ballstothewall 10+ year member]

****! I was just coming on here to post about this.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39642

Got it from there just now. Kinda crazy. What am I going to do with my 15,000 mp3's and 200 DVD's? *ponders*

Pop some popcorn, listen to music or watch movies all day. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif

 

[Loud3 10+ year member]

When I was in ramadi we could look at whatever the hell we wanted. Now in Germany alot of shit is banned it dont matter though if you wanna use a military comp you should only expect to be able to see military shit.

Very true.

Where are you in Germany? I spent 6 months in Stuttgart. Loved it.

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

You know what is really sad to me is that these "artists" make more money on one album than most people make in 20 years of work. Then because they all can afford 15 cars and 2 toilets made of gold (master p) they go after us for wanting to enjoy what they have created.