DoJ backs PDEA and PIRATE bills
p2pnet.net News:- With INDUCE ‘sputtering‘ in committee, the US Department of Justice will throw its full weight behind “piracy enforcement bills” such as the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act and Pirate Act, says digital music news.
That’s not too surprising. The DoJ has been backing Hollywood for quite a while now.
There was the farcical Operation Gridlock in which the might of the FBI, the Office of the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, and the DoJ’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section were combined against the tiny Underground Network, portrayed as a massive file trading enterprise with 7,000 members.
Under it, five homes and one ISP in Texas, New York, and Wisconsin, were raided and computers, software, and computer-related equipment seized.
The Underground Network is actually a forum with several hundred, not 7,000, members, exactly the same as countless others on the Net.
As its GuidoZ told p2pnet at the time, “We’re just regular people with jobs and families and homes, just like everyone else. We’re not criminals. If we find a user sharing something illegal, we ban them instantly.”
We confidently predict a serious ooops statement from the DoJ. But unlike its Gridlock announcement, it won’t be splashed to the world’s media
Then there was Operation Fastlink when FBI agents raided schools in Arizona looking for digital movie and music files as part of, “the most far-reaching and aggressive enforcement action ever undertaken against organizations involved in illegal intellectual property piracy over the Internet,” according to the DoJ.
Referring to the piracy enforcement bills the DoJ will support, “The Pirate Act would open the door for civil action by the government, unleashing ‘tens of thousands of continuing civil enforcement actions might be needed to generate the necessary deterrence,’ according to bill sponsor Orrin Hatch,” says digital music news.
Whoa!
US attorney general John Ashcroft (above right) “had some fighting words for those guilty of copyright infringement, outlining a plan to gear up enforcement efforts by the Department of Justice”.
Ashcroft yesterday presented a plan from the recently created Intellectual Property Task Force, with a very deliberate enforcement agenda, the story says, going on:
“Citing annual US losses of $250 billion, the report recommended bulking up staff assigned to intellectual property and anti-counterfeiting issues, with more focus on overseas problem areas like like Hong Kong and Budapest. Commented Ashcroft, ‘The Department is prepared to build the strongest, most aggressive legal assault against intellectual-property crime in our nation’s history’.
“The announcement follows a series of raids conducted by the DOJ against several low-profile P2P operators in late August. Those raids, part of Operation Digital Gridlock, resulted in seized computers, software, and computer-related equipment. But the operation did not affect major P2P services like Kazaa or eDonkey, with nominal impact on overall file-sharing volume. That net result underscores an ongoing issue for the Department, which carries criminal enforcement powers but cannot effectively launch civil proceedings.
“That places the DOJ on the civil sidelines, at least for now. According to the recent Intellectual Property Task Force recommendations, ‘In civil cases where the constitutionality or viability of important civil enforcement tools are at issue, the Department of Justice should intervene by submitting a written brief to the court hearing the case’.”
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See:-
sputtering – RIAA collapses INDUCE talks, p2pnet, October 8, 2004
full weight – Department of Justice Toughens Stance on Piracy, Digital Music News, October 13, 2004
GuidoZ – Gridlock and CWOTMAM, p2pnet, August 29, 2004
raided schools - FBI’s Operation Fastlink, p2pnet, April 22, 2004
October 13th, 2004 at 6:02 pm
this should be ‘expect more DoJ screw-ups’
October 14th, 2004 at 9:05 am
In two weeks we will know if Mr. Ashcrofts reign will be over in January. Please vote. Not that any US ATTY Gen appointed by Kerry or Nader(lol) would be any less aggressive towards corporate profit defense at the expense of middle to poor class americans. Maybe if we do get a new ATTY Gen, they will actually try to fight crime that really affects us, like terrorism.
October 14th, 2004 at 11:24 am
“…the report recommended bulking up staff assigned to intellectual property and anti-counterfeiting issues, with more focus on overseas problem areas like like Hong Kong and Budapest.”
They do know that they cannot enforce US laws in other countries,
right? Right?
How and why exactly would the US Department of Justice
try to focus on other national’s jurisdiction?