http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5182898.html

House panel approves copyright bill

Last modified: March 31, 2004, 4:55 PM PST

By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com





A House of Representatives panel has approved a sweeping new copyright bill that would boost penalties for peer-to-peer piracy and increase federal police powers against Internet copyright infringement.

The House Judiciary intellectual property subcommittee voted for the "Piracy Deterrence and Education Act" (PDEA) late Wednesday, overruling objections from a minority of members that it would unreasonably expand the FBI's powers to demand private information from Internet service providers.


The PDEA--the result of intense lobbying from large copyright holders over the past six months--has emerged as a kind of grab-bag that combines other proposals introduced in the past but not approved. One section that first surfaced last year punishes an Internet user who makes available $1,000 in copyrighted materials with prison terms of up to three years and fines of up to $250,000. If the PDEA became law, prosecutors would not have to prove that $1,000 in copyrighted materials were downloaded--they would need only to show that those files had been publicly accessible in a shared folder.


One part of the PDEA that did not appear in earlier bills would require the FBI to "facilitate the sharing" of information among Internet providers, copyright holders and police.


"I am sure (that its sponsor) does not mean to expand the powers of the FBI," Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said during the subcommittee hearing. "The concern I have is that this is very ambiguous. The language itself could lead an aggressive FBI to a different conclusion." Lofgren's attempt to amend the PDEA failed by a 4-14 vote.


Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., a PDEA supporter whose district abuts Hollywood, said that Lofgren's conclusions were unfounded. "They have been as passive as you can be," Berman said, referring to the FBI. "They have authority they don't exercise."


Although Congress has pressured the department to use the No Electronic Theft Act to jail file swappers, no such prosecutions have taken place so far. Earlier Wednesday, however, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the creation of a task force on copyright violations.


The PDEA is an improved version of last year's legislation and will assist "federal law enforcement authorities in their efforts to investigate and prosecute intellectual property crimes," Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Tex., the subcommittee's chairman, said in his opening remarks. Smith said that the reworked version "clarifies and narrows the application of criminal copyright law to the worst P2P offenders."


Other sections of the PDEA would require Ashcroft to boost the number of antipiracy cops on the Justice Department's payroll, and order the U.S. Sentencing Commission to revisit prison term guidelines to make sure they reflect "the loss attributable to people broadly distributing copyrighted works over the Internet without authorization." The PDEA also combines parts of another of last year's proposals that bans unauthorized recording in movie theaters and includes harsh penalties if pre-release movies are swapped on peer-to-peer networks.


Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge, a nonprofit group that agitates for fair use rights, said in a statement after Wednesday's vote that: "We hope the full Judiciary Committee will take a harder look at the change in the standard needed for prosecution of copyright infringement under this bill. The new standard created by the subcommittee could criminalize what is now lawful use of copyrighted materials."


At the same hearing, the House subcommittee also approved a bill that would increase criminal penalties for selling counterfeit labels that could go on CD-ROMs or software packages, and another bill to increase felony penalties for using false contact information when registering a domain name.


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This happened in march people... just look at the numbers.

There was no conversation on how this is the daily activity of 60 million people, and how the average shared folder is over 2000 songs.

Even if they assume this is a crime, how come penalties are so disproportionate. You get a lower sentence and fines for worse stuff than this. Might as well do something really bad like rape someone. The penalties are the same.

Sounds like the government is busy "preparing" for the passage of these laws. Wonder if they they have started building more prisons to house 60 million people?

Make sure they have internet access. lol

http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2920

Is where you can get more info on this and also taken action. Courtesy of EFF.

This bill, by the way, is what has been said to be merged with the PIRATE act the Senate passed.

Update: The U.S. Senate recently passed the PIRATE Act, which is similar to the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act (PDEA, HR 4077). Since there is no official House version of PIRATE, all eyes are now on PDEA. If you haven't already done so, please consider asking your friends, family, and co-workers to tell their reps to oppose this bill. Thank you for your support.

You may not agree with the recording industry's war on file sharing, but under the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act (PDEA, HR 4077), you'd still have to pay http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2 &item=2920

for it. The PDEA would create the first criminal copyright penalties for people who aren't engaged in willful criminal conduct. Under the law's murky "negligence" standard, a person with 1,000 legally obtained songs could be sent to jail for three years if she fails to lock them up tight enough - and that's only for the first offense. In addition, the PDEA would force the government to push a lopsided "education" campaign that demonizes P2P while failing to mention your rights to use copyrighted material. To top it off, all of this would be funded with your tax dollars. Tell Congress to reject the PDEA and explore solutions that pay artists rather than punish people.

y 2, 2004

Your U.S. representative


Dear Representative,

I am writing to express my opposition to the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004 (PDEA, HR 4077). HR 4077 would divert taxpayer dollars and direct federal law enforcement agencies to fight the entertainment industry's misguided war on file sharing. It would also create the first criminal copyright penalties for people who aren't engaged in willful criminal conduct. Under the law's murky "negligence" standard, a person with 1,000 legally obtained songs could be sent to jail for three years if she fails to lock them up tight enough. I believe that these measures are an egregious misuse of federal resources, and I hope you will oppose this bill.

Copyright holders already have an extraordinary array of legal tools at their disposal for fighting infringement. Copyright law that expands liability to innocents is not the answer to the conflict over P2P.

Instead of criminalizing the activity of 60 million American filesharers, we should be looking for positive solutions that compensate artists. For example, a collective licensing regime could legalize file sharing while generating revenue for artists. Here are several examples of such a plan, two of which can be found in the New York Times:

http://www.eff.org/share/collective_lic_wp.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/25/opinion/25MCLE.html?th
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/25/opinion/25FISH.html?th

I am also opposed to HR 4077's proposed "education" program. If government is to educate the public about copyright, the curriculum must be balanced. The public has a broad range of rights to use copyrighted material, and omitting them is misleading and counterproductive.

As a constituent and a taxpayer, I hope you will agree that HR 4077 is an inappropriate use of government resources. Please oppose HR 4077 and instead look for a better way forward. Thank you for your time.


Sincerely,

"You get a lower sentence and fines for worse stuff than this. Might as well do something really bad like rape someone. The penalties are the same."

Isn't that what pirates do while they steal music?

We must act now and spread the word to as many people as possible to sign the letter EFF has made opposing this FASCIST bill!!!!!!!! This is FUCKEN amazing and shameful that there's this much corruption in our Government!!!!!!!!!!!

If the worst happens, I hope a federal judge will immediately find the law unconstitutional and prevent it from taking effect, like what happened with the anti-porn COPA law.

how do you expect that carla?

With all my knowledge of the constitution, i cannot find a loophole which would allow for that.

laws such as this work around due process by not requiring proof of harm, but only a simple action... and courts are to interpret the law.

this law could affect weather or not i continue in my current path into the tech industry, for it WILL KILL THE TECH INDUSTRY if it becomes law.

to the TheSherminator
Isn't that what pirates do while they steal music?

I'm a hollywood audio music producer. Most of the records I produced for major labels, the bands get less than $ .70 for each Cd sold for $18.98. Just exactly who is raping who?

The labels pick EVERY band, approve EVERY budget, sign EVERY check. They have only themselves to blame for ruining music and it's "business". If you love music, as I do, just get up off your couch and go see bands play. Give THEM your money because I assure you not many bands see any real money from their "labels".

It is rape indeed.

"They have only themselves to blame for ruining music and it's "business"."

realsynical: as a music producer you would have a great impact writing in to congress.

You represent the "industry" they are trying to protect from the evil majority of the population.

it's important that a realistic stance come from an industry insider.

awehr: this law could affect weather or not i continue in my current path into the tech industry, for it WILL KILL THE TECH INDUSTRY if it becomes law.

I agree. This PIRATE and INDUCE acts will be a big blow to the Tech Industry. I also am in the tech industry and the company I am working for is suffering because of all this. We sell to mostly schools. They are very afraid of getting any technology product because of what could happen if these bills pass. It means they could no longer use it! So why should they risk buying it? I'm afraid by years end I probably won't have a job. They're all worried about unemployment....well, then perhaps the idiots in congress should take a good hard look at what they are about to do. If this all passes, the rest of the world will probably pass us by technology wise and we'll be buying more from foreign countries and outsourcing more jobs, because those jobs will be "illegal" here because those jobs would be "inducing". Sorry stupid greedy bastards!

that's why i wanna go to canada
..

they at least do something novel regarding this.. such as DEBATE THE LAWS.. and.. address the issue rather than attacking the people.

I have seen the transcripts of when they passed the pirate act.. not ONE PERSON debated this bill.. it was simply passed.

no hearings.. no debates on impact on the rest of the economy, on freedom of speech, on lack of burdon of proof.. nothing.

like i said our letters go ungheard
these people care nothing for us just how much they can control us
absolute power corrupts absolutely
and thast whats happened
they awill onl;y listen to a bullet
tahst my opinion
i have gone unheard
and unrecognized by the senators and conress
they care nothing for us
absolutely nothing
ill say it again
writing will not hel[p you

they will use it against you

awehr....where did you find those transcripts?

yeah awehr the same will probably happen in the house. Got a reply back from my REP today about this and he is without a doubt on the side of the big corporates. Says that piracy must be stopped and disagreed about HR107 being for the good. He says he isn't convinced that HR 107 is a good thing cause it will hurt the poor corporates and economy. Bunch of bull I think.

Canada sure is sounding mighty good. Got relatives there anyway. Sounds better and better all the time.

http://www.eff.org/share/petition/

boggieman: http://thomas.loc.gov

i searched out the pirate act and looked over transcripts of its proceedings.

it was the most shameful failure of a hundred people to protect my rights that i have read in a long time.