As if they really need more work to keep their guys busy. What ever happened to terrorism as the top priority?


In an extensive report released Tuesday, senior department officials endorsed a pair of controversial copyright bills strongly favored by the entertainment industry that would criminalize "passive sharing" on file-swapping networks and permit lawsuits against companies that sell products that "induce" copyright infringement.

"The department is prepared to build the strongest, most aggressive legal assault against intellectual-property crime in our nation's history," Attorney General John Ashcroft, who created the task force in March, said at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon.


In an example of the Justice Department's hunger for new copyright-related police powers, the report asks Congress to introduce legislation that would permit wiretaps to be used in investigating serious intellectual-property offenses and that would create a new crime of the "importation" of pirated products. It also suggests stationing FBI agents and prosecutors in Hong Kong and Budapest, Hungary, to aid local officials and "develop training programs on intellectual-property enforcement."


Complete article at http://news.com.com/Justice+Dept.+wants+new+antipiracy+powers/2100-1028_3-5406654.html

ummmm this is not a legal way to approach this
by doing this and spying outside this country it makes any case against andy infringer invalid
how are you going to prosecute an ip
it changes regularly.. how are you gonna hold any of this in court.
this move in it self is criminal
this is treason

We need Ashcroft out of office for good. He is more dangerous to this country than Bush is.

true, but Asscroft + Dubya = many times worst then either of them alone...

Ashcroft is goebbles reincarnated. It is painfully obvious he didnt learn his lesson in his first life.

Well....you know what, I don't care if I ruffle some Republican-coddler's feathers here:
Your vote for Dubya is a vote for Ashcroft, and you've certainly been reading what he has in mind lately, haven't you?
I wonder if any of you people (and I know who some of you are) want to verbally duke it out with me on this issue. Go ahead, take the first swing, but you're gonna know you've been in a dog-fight before we're done.
(Yep, I've got lots of info ammo to defend my position, as you might guess.)

Am I a little upset?
YES!

Relevance.. i say ashcroft is a saint.. just like quadafi and crusty the clown!

Awehr, that's a pretty good one-liner!

Ahh....i can now rest without worry. My tax money is being well $pent.

"Your vote for Dubya is a vote for Ashcroft, and you've certainly been reading what he has in mind lately, haven't you?"

The number 1 reason I might be tempted to vote the lesser of 2 evils.

Should I vote for the party that turned it's back on me and has become substansively indistinguishable from the Republicans? Or should I "throw away" my vote on an alternative/3rd party candidate that I actually approve of...
(I hate this year's election!)

Hmm...

Ashcroft and 4 more years of lost freedoms/liberty on the one side...

A vote for a corrupt but "just not as bad" on the other...

(Damnit, were screwed either way.)

CODEWARRIOR/ZIEMANN IN '04
BARGER FOR SENATE!

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
Support Local and Independent Music!

Shmoo, I'm in total agreement with all that you wrote!
And probably most of the membership is, too, because your ideas make perfectly good sense.