p2pnet - rss feed: US Top Cop on copyright ‘crime’
p2pnet.net news:- “IP (intellectual property) theft is not a technicality, and its victims are not just faceless corporations - it is stealing, and it affects us all. Those who seek to undermine this cornerstone of U.S. economic competitiveness believe that they are making easy money; that they are beyond the law. It is our responsibility and commitment to show them that they are wrong.”
MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) boss Dan Glickman? RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) spinster-in-chief Mitch Bainwol, perhaps? After all, it is the standard entertainment cartel party line.
However, behind a statement is none other than self-proclaimed US Top Cop Alberto Gonzales, quoted by CNET News.
He was enlightening the audience at an intellectual property event sponsored by the lobby group TechNet.
Not that it comes as any kind of surprise. The Bush administration has been in tight lockstep with the entertainment industries in particular as they boost the commercial concept of copyright infringement to the level of major international crime.
“Urging the necessity of keeping the nation’s copyright laws ‘up to date,’ he pointed specifically to the Intellectual Property Protection Act (IPPA) of 2007 (PDF), which was drawn up by his department and submitted to Congress in May,” says CNET, going on:
“In addition to the provisions mentioned above, that bill would allow more ready seizure of computers and other assets used to commit copyright crimes, punish certain ‘intended’ copyright crimes, and require Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America about attempts at importing ‘unauthorized fixations of the sounds, or sounds and images, of a live musical performance’.”
Last month CNET News ran a summary of eight of the IPPA’s most important sections, namely:
1 - 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.”)
2 - 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.
3 - Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations. Wiretaps would be authorized for investigations of Americans who are “attempting” to infringe copyrights.
4 - 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.
5 - 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.
6 - 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.
7 - 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’,” said CNET.
“America’s No 1 enforcement officer, federal attorney general Alberto Gonzales, is on the road as part of a deeply cynical dog-and-pony show set up by the Big Four record labels and Big Six movie studios, but implemented by the Bush administration,” p2pnet said in March, 2006, continuing:
He’s visiting schools with horror stories of what’ll happen if kids don’t buy entertainment cartel product.
“I hope you never have the misfortune to deal with me as a result of engaging in something you shouldn’t be doing,” he warned 7th and 8th graders at Windmill Springs Elementary school in San Jose, California, states CBS News. “Illegally downloading music, movies and software is a form of stealing,” he said, demonstrating his own appalling ignorance of the laws he’s supposed to uphold.
No theft is involved, and file sharing isn’t a criminal matter, efforts by the cartels to elevate it to that level notwithstanding. It’s a civil one and what’s at issue isn’t if someone’s broken a law. It’s whether or not he or she has infringed a copyright, which is a very long way from “criminal” or “illegal”.
Nonetheless, Gonzales’ scare ‘em all campaign is part of a week long program, “in which the kids studied Internet dangers as well as the moral, social and legal implications of Internet piracy”.
Only in America. For now.
Also See:
CNET News - Gonzales: It’s time to punish ‘attempted’ piracy, June 28, 2007
CNET News - Gonzales proposes new crime: ‘Attempted’ copyright infringement, May 15, 2007
p2pnet - Alberto Gonzales’ school horror show, March 31, 2006
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
June 29th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
“Nonetheless, Gonzales’ scare ‘em all campaign is part of a week long program, ‘in which the kids studied Internet dangers as well as the moral, social and legal implications of Internet piracy’”.
This is complete bullshit. Don’t let anybody tell you what to believe.
February 28th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I think what pisses the companies off about pirating is that the p2p coorporations aren’t (all necessarily) doing it for a profit. They’re mostly just facilitating the existence of p2p. “Those who seek to undermine this cornerstone of U.S. economic competitiveness believe that they are making easy money” is laughable but “that they are beyond the law” is pretty much true. (How often do you download legal content on p2p anyway?)