File Trading Law Would Include 'Willing' Traders

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

File Trading Law Would Include 'Willing' Traders

Posted by timothy on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @05:12AM from the coalition-of-the-willing dept.

mgessner writes "From InfoWorld comes a story on the U.S. House's approval of a new, tough law against trading files online. 'The bill expands the definition of file traders eligible for criminal penalties from individuals who 'willingly' distribute copyright files to those who 'knowingly' do so, an escalation that could result in jail time for file swappers.'" (The bill has yet to go through the Senate.)

16 of 582 comments (clear)

Well by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-29 05:13 · Score: 5, Funny

I guess Granny won't be coming to Christmas this year.

:(
how do they determine which it is by NetMagi · 2004-09-29 05:14 · Score: 5, Insightful

with boxes checked by default, and programs scanning ur hd's for stuff to share, how do they determine just where the thin line of knowingly and willingly is???
1. Re:how do they determine which it is by Nos. · 2004-09-29 05:27 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That's just it. A lot of people using this file sharing programs have no idea what they're doing... my site (see sig) is a prime example of this. People need to pay attention to the software they're installing and what it is doing.
2. Re:how do they determine which it is by timeOday · 2004-09-29 06:25 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  how do they determine just where the thin line of knowingly and willingly is??? Well, I'd say a law like this is the end of distributed content systems like Freenet. Given the percentage of content that violates copyrights, and the way data is spread out and replicated, there is no chance of running a Freenet server without hosting infringing content.
  Thus simply participating in the network constitutes "knowingly" distributing copyright material.
  Of course precisely the same could be said for telephone networks - they run their services knowing (for certain) that on any given day, many people are using the phone network to break laws, from violations of the national "do not call" list to planning terrorist attacks.
Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004 by daveschroeder · 2004-09-29 05:15 · Score: 5, Informative

The actual "Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004" itself:
Index
Summary
Text of legislation
This could be great news... by Sanity · 2004-09-29 05:16 · Score: 5, Interesting

...for countries outside the US looking for some smart software engineers. With this in mind, here is a letter I recently wrote to the UK's Home Secretary regarding another anti-innovation law, the Induce Act (the home secretary is responsible for UK immigration policy):
Dear Home Secretary,
It is well known that the United Kingdom is keen to attract skilled workers to the UK, particularly those involved in the software industry.
The United States is poised to pass legislation, known as the "Induce Act", which will dramatically increase the risk of innovation in the software industry in the United States. If passed, this legislation is likely to prompt a large number of the United States' most talented software engineers to consider relocation to another country.
The United Kingdom is well suited to provide an alternate base for these displaced software engineers, where their innovations may benefit the UK's economy, not to mention the economy of the European Union.
My question is whether the UK government has made sufficient provision for displaced American innovators to migrate here given the hostile environment they may soon face in their own country. It is my belief that the United Kingdom can only benefit from the influx of talented software engineers from the United States, and should minimise any barriers to their migration here.
I await your response with much anticipation,
Kind regards,
Ian Clarke
Coordinator, The Freenet Project
1. Re:This could be great news... by Em+Adespoton · 2004-09-29 05:39 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Well, as someone who lives just North of the US Border, I have to say that a lot of talented US innovators are already moving.
  A number of others are living in border states and are working on getting to know the Canadian technology world so that if they have to, they can emigrate quickly. In Canada, we take privacy seriously; there is a strict Federal Privacy act that all governmental institutions have to answer to, and at the beginning of this year, a new business privacy act went into place as well, protecting individuals from shoddy business handling of information.
  Slashdot has covered our copyright laws and trials enough that I won't get into that side of things. The UK probably hasn't given the US emigration possibility a huge amount of thought, but believe me, in many Canadian provinces, it has been a major item of consideration when modifying our IT-related laws.
While we're at it by ravenspear · 2004-09-29 05:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

Let's have:

people who illegally photocopy books go to jail
people who illegally perform plays and musical pieces go to jail
people who plagiarize or don't cite references go to jail

Hell let's just have anyone who says anything in a non-free speech zone go to jail.
Re:Down with this bill by jrockway · 2004-09-29 05:19 · Score: 5, Informative

Screw what the lawyers thing, we have technology to fight them. Try Freenet. It's mathematically impossible to determine what you're sharing! Try going to jail for sharing random bytes :-)

--
My other car is first.
Re:Down with this bill by the_leander · 2004-09-29 05:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

I have to be totally honest in asking WTF is going on with all this emphesis on file trading? Seriously, America has the single largest murder numbers in the western world (Larger then Canada's and Europes combined - excluding ww2) I think that there are far bigger issues that the US could do with addressing then kids getting some singles on the cheep (free)..

That said, how long until Europe decides to follow suit, well, if not Europe, England (who have their own version of the DMCA, have tried very hard to keep their copyright laws in step with the US etc etc)?

--
regards, the_leander
Re:This could be great news...a new revolution by FerretFrottage · 2004-09-29 05:24 · Score: 5, Interesting

I suspect that those software engineers will set sail east across "the pond" in search of a land were they can have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Rights that many in our government are trying to take away [if you aren't "with them"]. We tried it over here, it worked for about 224 years and at last the western empire is starting to crumble.

--
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Insightful, perhaps... but with a flaw. by mark-t · 2004-09-29 05:26 · Score: 5, Insightful

Said person supposedly operating in ignorance could be given the benefit of the doubt with exactly _ONE_ warning, and given a finite interval (perhaps 2 weeks) in which to rectify the situation. Failure to comply within that interval would leave them without any excuse for not knowing they were distributing.

--
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
1. Re:Insightful, perhaps... but with a flaw. by freshfromthevat · 2004-09-29 05:37 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Who says that the warning was received? If it is via email, what if my spam filter makes it go away?
  
  Do they have to deliver the warning with a "Process server" in order for it to count in court?
  
  --
  .. Blub falls right in the middle of the abstractness continuum. -- Paul Graham
2. Re:Insightful, perhaps... but with a flaw. by jedidiah · 2004-09-29 06:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Nevermind "progress".
  
  I don't want MY tax dollars to be wasted with this nonsense.
  I don't want that money wasted prosecuting swappers.
  I don't want that money wasted imprisoning swappers.
  I don't care to bear the social costs of ruining the lives of swappers.
  
  Time and money are both limited, and far to value to waste on this crap.
  
  Also, California has enough of it's own congressmen to push this crap without the Texas delegation contributing.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Re:The GPL is a copyright by mark-t · 2004-09-29 05:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

Clearly the wording of the bill needs to be changed so that it would only apply to distribution without the consent of the copyright holder. Otherwise, this bill would make it illegal for a coypright holder to distribute his very own material! (effectively negating the actual meaning of copyright completely.)

--
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
An Unjust Responsibility Shift by Murdock037 · 2004-09-29 05:36 · Score: 5, Insightful

This is a great example of the ways in which big business can manipulate government to its advantage.

It's perfectly within reason that copyright holders can sue, , in civil suits, to stop the unauthorized distribution of their works. Copyright violation is a matter between two parties: the copyright holder and the violator.

But with a law like this, the onus to police copyright matters falls on the government, and not the copyright holder.

What we're seeing is a push by big business, through legislation, to reduce their attorney fees. When copyright matters are criminal cases, not civil actions, the violators are punished-- justly or not-- at the expense of government, rather than at the expense of the corporation.