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Bill Would Criminalize Attempted IP Infringement

Posted by kdawson on from the intellectual-property-precrime dept.

ianare writes "H.R. 3155, the Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act of 2007, has been introduced in Congress by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH). In most cases, the bill appears to simply double existing penalties. One big change however, is that people could now be charged with criminal copyright infringement even if such infringement has not actually taken place. Not surprisingly, the EFF has condemned the legislation."

30 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. FP? by dosius · · Score: 4, Informative

    Whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty" ? Oh wait, that went out the door back in the 50s with McCarthyism.

    -uso.

    --
    What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
    1. Re:FP? by srmalloy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But after all, isn't stopping file sharing an integral part of the War On Terror? If we cease our eternal vigilance against these evil people, our American way of life will be destroyed by the flood of shoddy knockoffs of CDs and DVDs. And after all, isn't a little bit of presumed guilt worth knowing that your next purchase of a music CD is, as it should, going straight into the coffers of a legitimate recording studio, rather than to some pirate or -- *gasp* -- the musician.

      --
      And remember, boys and girls -- "We had to destroy your freedom in order to save it."

    2. Re:FP? by TheVelvetFlamebait · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's different. You are still innocent until proven guilty, it's just that now you can be found guilty of intent to pirate. They still have to prove that before they can dish out any punishment.

      --
      You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
    3. Re:FP? by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "You did know that an attempt to commit a crime is itself a crime? Try forcing a lock the charge will be attempted burglary."

      In other words, you're charged with a different crime - "attempted burglary, not borglary. If you read the article, the charges, penalties, etc., are the same for an attempt as for the actual crime.

      Attempted burglary can include a spur-of-the-moment going up to a closed door and seeing if its locked - the actual damages of an unsuccessful attempt are none, and its certainly not in the same league as successfully attacking the door with a crowbar which you brought along (premeditated) for that express purpose.

      Instead of doubling jail terms for this, why not double them for white collar crime, perjury, and rape? Oh, right ... the perps of white collar crime own the politicians, the politicians and their friends want to be able to continue perjuring themselves, and they're too busy raping over the electorate to give a sh*t.

    4. Re:FP? by pyrrhonist · · Score: 5, Funny

      you're charged with a different crime - "attempted burglary, not borglary

      Borglary - the act of assimilating all of someone's stuff into your own collective.

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    5. Re:FP? by DJCacophony · · Score: 4, Funny

      Another week or two later:

      "Asshole ruins joke, completely missing the point"

      --
      Slow Down, Cowboy! It's been 60 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment.
    6. Re:FP? by Evilest+Doer · · Score: 5, Funny

      But after all, isn't stopping file sharing an integral part of the War On Terror?
      No, it's more of a derivative of the War on Terror.
      --
      I feel like death on a soda cracker.
  2. Really now... by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do they give the Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?

    --
    "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
    1. Re:Really now... by Remusti · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, but they'll lock you up for attempted suicide.

    2. Re:Really now... by Anonymous+Cowpat · · Score: 4, Funny

      damned liberals - they should have maintained execution for attempted suicide - serious crimes like that need a proper deterrent!

      --
      FGD 135
    3. Re:Really now... by false_cause · · Score: 5, Funny

      I hope so. I attempted chemistry twice in college.

    4. Re:Really now... by DeVilla · · Score: 4, Funny

      Do they give the Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?

      I could have sworn people have been award prizes for attempted peace in the middle east or attempted peace with the IRA.

  3. open secrets by ArchieBunker · · Score: 3, Informative

    Heres the open secrets link to his finances:

    http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/allindus.as p?CID=N00003689&Cycle=2002

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  4. Freudian slip? by Vexler · · Score: 4, Funny

    Read the title again: "Bill Would Criminalize Attempted IP Infringement".

    That wouldn't be "Gates", would it?

  5. Fear by Joebert · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every time I read somthing like this, I'm driven further away from wanting to participate in the exchange of ideas outside of a physical conversation with someone.

    I'm afraid of being locked up & not being able to understand why I'm locked up.

    --
    Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
  6. My IP is 127.0.0.1 so don't infringe on it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I call "dibs" on IP 127.0.0.1
    Any IP infringers out there...be warned...that's MY IP you're infringing upon

    1. Re:My IP is 127.0.0.1 so don't infringe on it by pyrrhonist · · Score: 4, Funny

      I call "dibs" on IP 127.0.0.1 Any IP infringers out there...be warned...that's MY IP you're infringing upon

      I just hacked into your box! Now I'm deleting your root disk! You are so f^^#

      %(^%#**(((


      NO CARRIER

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
  7. Not law yet by ianare · · Score: 5, Informative

    Keep in mind this bill is not passed into law (yet ??). So there is still time to try to stop it!

    Ya I know, online petition is not the best way. Write to your representatives if you can.

    1. Re:Not law yet by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Keep in mind this bill is not passed into law (yet ??)

      Not only not passed into law, not out of Committee. Barely into Committee, as it happens, since it was submitted just six days ago.

      In other words, completely ignorable. It won't be an issue until next year, most likely, or never, quite possibly.

      There isn't yet a companion Bill in the Senate, so it might as well have been submitted to /. as to the House Judiciary Committee for all that it's going to matter this year. And next year, people will be too busy playing at making the other Party look like the spawn of Satan to bother with it this side of 2009.

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  8. Criminalize wasting tax dollars? by HitekHobo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Between the DMCA, the BSA, the RIAA and the MPAA, we have legislation and watchdog groups to cover every imaginable form of piracy. The courts are already having to deal with lawsuits over pathetic amounts of money to make an example of people. Do we really need to have federal agencies doing the investigation as well and make room in the criminal judicial system as well?

    --
    A couple of 30-somethings embark on the ultimate roadtrip
  9. "Attempted" Infringement by hardburn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So what evidence do you need of "attempted" infringement? Will having a BitTorrent client on your system be enough? I can easily see a RIAA lawyer taking that stance in court.

    --
    Not a typewriter
  10. Criminalizing Download Too, as "Conspiracy" by twitter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the bill:

    CONSPIRACY- If two or more persons conspire to commit an offense under paragraph (1) and one or more of such persons do any act to effectuate the object of the conspiracy, each shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.'.

    This paragraph is more disturbing to me - language like that can be used to rope in just about anyone.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  11. Why does it have to be criminal? by OrangeTide · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why can't we just have a copyright system that is handle in civil courts? Why does everything have to be a crime now?

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:Why does it have to be criminal? by QCompson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why can't we just have a copyright system that is handle in civil courts? Why does everything have to be a crime now?
      "There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." -- Ayn Rand
  12. Please follow EFF Link by PaddyM · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hi,
    Please follow the EFF link in the article to send a letter opposing the bill to your senators and members of congress. It's very important that this law not be allowed. Thanks.

  13. Re:I just gave them a link from my copyright piece by misleb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You know, I only recently came upon this idea (not original, of course) of questioning copyright during a recent discussion here on slashdot. At first I was just making a logical argument like one might in a formal debate... sort of playing the devil's advocate. And it suddenly stuck me that it was more than a debate exercise. It really made sense. Copyright and patent laws as we know them are fundamentally broken. You can't own information. It is totally absurd. I mean, I still believe in giving credit where credit is due for ideas and ensuring that creators are not plagiarized, because that would be fraud (what copyright should be about), but there is absolutely no moral or logical basis for the ownership of information. People seem to think that they have a right to make money off of their ideas. And that is just absurd. They have the right *try* and make money off of their ideas, but nobody else is obligated to ensure that their business model is profitable. If you decide to make some information public, it is out there. You can't control it.

    -matthew

    --
    "THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
  14. Applies only to people (real ones) ? by LingNoi · · Score: 3, Interesting
    ... I assume this bill will only apply to people and not companies as it says..

    criminalize some forms of "attempted infringement."
    Say for example a company steals some GPL work they won't see any Jail time and/or penalties but a person who steals the companies work will get the full force of this bill. Not that the two are related but its the best analogy I could think of.

    This will work well for many companies who favour stealing and ruining peoples lives in the name of profits and just doing my job. As usual the US government will not take a balanced view on the subject and do what their corporate masters tell them to.

    For more info see today's other posting about a corrupt US official

    On the other hand..

    If I am wrong and I does apply to the GPL for companies this quote says..

    The bill allows "a judge to dole out damages for each separate piece of a derivative work or compilation, rather than treating it as one work," wrote Derek Slater, "for example, copying an entire album could translate into damages for each individual track, even if the copyrights in those tracks aren't separately registered."
    Does that mean a judge could dole out damages for each separate source code files. Say someone is infringing the Linux copyright could a judge charge them per source.c file?
  15. Re:I come from the academic tradition... by kebes · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Unfortunately, the academic world I grew up believing in no longer really exists;
    It still exists. Maybe it's "fighting to survive"... but it is not dead. In fact many academics are carrying-on with the tradition of working towards open sharing of information. For instance a large number of academics are actively pushing for Open Access to all scholarly content. It will no doubt be a long struggle, but progress is already being made, such as preprint archives (e.g. arXiv), a growing number of open-access journals (e.g. PLoS), and even some big-name traditional journals are now offering authors the option to pay for their articles to be open-access.

    The new generation of academics have grown up with the internet and are accustomed to easy online access to every journal imaginable. As this generation takes over more academic positions, I think this intellectual freedom will spread. In short, I'm hopeful that academia will undergo a mini-renaissance and re-emphasize its roots of "spreading knowledge."
  16. The US' original concepts going down the drain by sxpert · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It appears that every day the US are inching slowly but surely towards a police state, all this to help a bunch of mafioso keep a stranglehold on the entertainment market
    This last example of a "Law" appears like the first forays into the world of Minority Report for good. At the same time, it's sort of also going in the direction of Gattaca

    This is far, far away from the concepts of the "Land of the free" heralded by the forefathers...

  17. Time to start writing... by Jorgandar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If everyone on slashdot took 5 minutes to write to your local congressman/woman, this would create enough noise for them to notice, it's not OK to be doing this anymore...here is my letter:

    "Dr mr Waxman, I am writing you to urge your opposition to H.R.3155, which is still in committee. Should it go to general debate, it will double penalties for copyright infringement, and introduce new crimes in the process. I'm sick of congress making criminals out of innocent people and wasting our tax money enforcing this. This is being pushed by the RIAA no doubt.

    Copyright issues are a CIVIL case, they are not criminal offenses, and should be dealt with accordingly. I for one am fed up with the congress that looks out only for big businesses. Its time to make laws that are good for the people. This is not one of them. Furthermore, a punishment should fit a the "crime". Copying an mp3 file or a movie is not a big crime. Nobody died. Nobody was hurt. Nothing was stolen (the original is still there). No property was damaged. Lets treat it as it is. Current laws are ridiculously harsh. We need to roll back the power your friends in congress have given the big RIAA machine and give it back to the people. "