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Controversial Section of PRO-IP Act Cut

Posted by Soulskill on from the now-just-cut-the-other-sections dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Rep. Berman (D-CA) has removed the controversial section 104 from his PRO-IP Act. That section would have multiplied the already excessive statutory damages for infringement in the case of compilations, making the damages for infringing upon the copyrights of a single average CD rise into the millions of dollars. This change came after proponents of the amendment were unable to cite even one case where the statutory damages recovered were insufficient. But don't let the article fool you into thinking that the PRO-IP Act is no longer controversial now that this one section is gone, the act still creates copyright cops who are authorized to seize people's computers."

2 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Time for the old Dead Man's Switch by hedwards · · Score: 5, Informative

    Passwords, pass phrases and keys are, for better or worse, considered to be protected by the 5th amendment.

    Unless law enforcement or the copyright holder can crack the security on it, there is no way that they can compel a person to hand over the files at this point.

  2. Re:Time for the old Dead Man's Switch by Cairnarvon · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9834495-38.html

    So yes, case law does back it up.