Meet the DoJ's 'Anti-Piracy' Lawyers

This week's Slashdot interview guests are the 'point people' for Federal criminal actions against online file-traders and software misapproprators. They know some Slashdot readers may have little sympathy for what they do all day. Be that as it may, this is a great chance to understand what it's like on the enforcement side of the intellectual property coin. We have a special set of 'ground rules' for this interview (below) supplied by the Department of Justice that we must ask you to read before submitting questions. From the DoJ (verbatim):

Answering your questions will be the attorneys assigned to prosecute intellectual property crimes in the Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS). Spearheading this group will be Michael O'Leary, Deputy Chief for Intellectual Property who oversees the day-to-day intellectual property enforcement operations. Here is some background on CCIPS and their intellectual property efforts:

CCIPS began as a small group within DOJ in 1991, with a focus on network crimes (e.g. hacking into machines, destructive worms and viruses, denial of service attacks), intellectual property crimes (e.g. software piracy and counterfeiting), and electronic evidence issues. CCIPS is part of the Criminal Division of DOJ (which, as its name suggests, is primarily responsible for enforcement of federal criminal laws). Today, the section has grown to almost 40 lawyers, of whom about a dozen focus on IP issues. (Please keep in mind that it will be the IP prosecutors answering questions here, so save your non-IP-related hacking or electronic evidence issues for another time.)

What do the attorneys assigned to IP at CCIPS do? The IP prosecutors in the Section are responsible for establishing and enforcing the Department's overall intellectual property rights enforcement program, including the prosecution of federal intellectual property crimes. In some instances, CCIPS handles the prosecution of intellectual property cases. More frequently they work closely with prosecutors in the U.S. Attorneys' Offices around the country who handle the vast majority of federal criminal prosecutions, both IP and non-IP. They also provide training on IP issues for prosecutors and law enforcement, both domestically and internationally. Other responsibilities include reviewing new policy proposals, legislation, or international agreements related to IP, and providing advice to other government agencies or components of DOJ. The prosecutors also work closely with foreign law enforcement counterparts to coordinate IP enforcement activities around the globe.

While they are committed to fully answering your questions, as Department of Justice attorneys, they are subject to various Federal laws, Department of Justice rules, and ethics rules. They are not permitted to provide legal advice to individual private citizens. This means that there is no attorney-client relationship between CCIPS and Slashdot readers, users, or moderators (and answering questions on Slashdot should not be interpreted as creating one). Therefore, they will not answer questions seeking legal advice. Finally, they cannot discuss ongoing cases, investigations or related hypotheticals.

To learn more about the Department of Justice or the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, visit the following web sites, www.usdoj.gov and www.cybercrime.gov.

Comments

Answers

[danormsby]

Who owns the IP on their answers and are we allowed to distribute then on Kazaa if they do?

Haruumph...

[GeneralEmergency]

Since you can answer any juicy questions, I wont bother to ask any.

So...errrr...oh yea....what are your favorite colors?

Re:One simple question...

[Anonymous Coward]

It should be "Hell hath to fury like a woman's scorn for SEGA"

Your welcome

the obvious question

[God! Awful 2]

I know you're not allowed to provide legal advice, but can you clarify this one simple question that's been dragging on all our minds:

Is music piracy theft, or is it just analogous to theft? Or is it analogous to stealing buggy whips?

-a

Re:Question Submission

[Anonymous Coward]

be another 'war on drugs' in which money is pumped into a battle that can never be won

LOL... Is that a troll for the US DOJ?

Re:Why is the punishment so severe?

[Anonymous Coward]

"United Corporations of America"

geez... get it right ;-)

My question to the DOJ

[CowboyMeal]

How seriously do you take a question from someone named "stinky wizzleteats"?

Re:The straightforward question

[Anonymous Coward]

...patented ideas are pubished for everyone to see.

Hey now, let's keep the questions clean and professional.

DOJ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are you under the umbrella of the DOJ? I would think anti-piracy matters would be dealt with by the Coast Guard or the Navy.

Do you monitor your family?

[preric]

Have you ever caught one of your family members sharing pirated material?

Personal Questions

[Agave]

Do you own an MP3 player (or some other hardware dedicated to the playback of digital audio)?

If so, where do you get your digital music from?

Re:The straightforward question

[AstroDrabb]

Prosecutor: Judge, I would like to now call our "professional expert technology witness", stinky wizzleteats to the stand.

Judge: Who?

Prosecutor: stinky wizzleteats, our "professional expert technology witness".

Judge: Umm, sure, go ahead.