Jail for US file sharers?
p2pnet.net News:- A bill that would give the entertainment industry cartels a powerful new weapon to use against p2p file sharers in the US looks likely to be approved.
“File-swappers who distribute a single copy of a prerelease movie on the Internet can be imprisoned for up to three years, under a bill that’s slated to become the most Draconian expansion of online piracy penalties in years,” says CNET News.
“The bill, approved by Congress on Tuesday, is written so broadly it could make a federal felon of anyone who has even one copy of a film, software program or music file in a shared folder and should have known the copyrighted work had not been commercially released. Stiff fines of up to $250,000 can also be levied. Penalties would apply regardless of whether any downloading took place.”
Senator Orrin Hatch was front and centre for the Hollywood inspired Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2004 and, “Invoking a procedure used for noncontroversial legislation, the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the measure, called the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act,” says CNET. “Because the bill already has cleared the Senate, it now goes to President Bush for his signature.”
Ex-RIAA man Mitch Glazier is now a record label cartel lobbyist. But he made his bones in 1999 when he greased the now infamous “sound recording” amendment into the completely unrelated Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act which made music recordings ‘works for hire’ which in turn meant artists weren’t able to get possession of their own masters.
The amendment led to an oversight hearing chaired by senator Howard Coble – for whom Glazier was once chief of staff. Coble kicked off with, “As many of you know, this amendment has caused some to criticize my colleagues, my staff, and me as having indulged in unfair, deceptive, and sneaky behavior.”
But it nearly worked, and now Family Entertainment and Copyright Act supporters in Congress have, “won passage of the prison terms by gluing them to an unrelated proposal to legalize technologies that delete offensive content from a film,” says CNET.
“That proposal was designed to address a lawsuit that Hollywood studios and the Directors Guild of America filed against ClearPlay over a DVD player that filtered violent and nude scenes.”
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
CNET News – Prison terms on tap for ‘prerelease’ pirates, April 19, 2005
front and centre – Orrin Hatch on S. 3021, p2pnet, November 26, 2004
April 20th, 2005 at 4:21 pm
I guess it is time for me to visit the movies with my camera and distribute produced DVD’s in local parking lots. I HATE BULLIES and I hate the crap they produce and the exhorbitant price they charge for it.
April 20th, 2005 at 4:38 pm
Bush will problably sign the bill because he is more than likely controlled by the Big Music Cartel. If you have deep enough pockets in this country you can buy out just about anyone for the right price. It would be nice though to see Bush to actually go against the grain and not sign the bill. But as good things must come to an end so must file sharing. Which is painfully regretted because it is so fun to do.
April 20th, 2005 at 5:03 pm
filesharing wont end, jailtime simply will not persuade enough people to stop, also can you imagine the outcry if anyone is jailed for simply downloading a movie?
Whats more US law only applies in the US, its completely unenforcable anywhere else.
April 20th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
File sharing won’t end. In fact, it’s only just beginning.
Cartel efforts are about as effective as a fart in a wind-storm.
Cheers!
April 20th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
A LOT of the prerelease movies and music you see on filesharring networks, is spread from asia… cause for some reason, a LOT of movies are shown there first.
Jail time will only applie to people that spread/have movies and music that hasn’t been commercially released yet… although its likely that they will expand upon it… >: (
anyway, fuck this lousy contry… I’m leaving… XD
April 21st, 2005 at 4:30 am
I’m absolutely sure they’ll keep themselves reserved with this law’s actual use.. it’s there as a straw man to lie to schoolchildren about… kinda like the pot laws in detroit.
If they dared to put someone in prison for casual sharing it would be an easy target for some pro bono attorneys in the USSC
April 21st, 2005 at 4:33 am
No.. he’ll sign the bill because he doesn’t know the difference between an email and an emu. he’s a clueless dark aged technophobe so he blithly believes what those around him tell him.
April 21st, 2005 at 2:28 pm
The U.S. has the highest percentage of its citizens in prison in the world.
It is a shame that the government bows to the cartels’ demands to pass laws allowing the imprisonment of people spreading movies while at the same time providing free customer data (sex offender registries) to paedophile organizations at taxpayer expense. Maybe if the government would spend its time protecting the citizens rather than the cartels, Americans would not have to be afraid to let their children play outside.
When will this end? Will their be 4 classes of people before it is over with? The super rich, the super poor, corrections officer, and inmates? We are already 1/4 the way down the slippery slope.
April 22nd, 2005 at 12:32 am
Love it or LEAVE IT!
April 22nd, 2005 at 12:35 am
Or you could wait for Mexico to get here. Gas is getting more expensive every month. It’d be cheaper than leaving.