[DMCA-Activists] More Copyright/fairuse Outrages!

[Seth Johnson]

(Forwarded from NY Fair Use Discussion list.  Article text pasted below.  --
Seth)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [fairuse-discuss] more copyright/fairuse outrages!
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:06:42 +0000 (GMT)
From: address@hidden
Reply-To: address@hidden
To: address@hidden

ArmenTanzarian writes "The MPAA is at it again, reports CNET in a story 
from yesterday. Apparently, suing the pants off of teenagers RIAA-style 
isn't good enough, they want to go ahead and throw you in jail. To that 
end, their senators will introduce the Artists' Rights and Theft 
Prevention Act today; which carries with it a maximum sentence of 3 years 
in prison and a $250,000 fine. Here's the best part: you don't have to 
infringe on copyright to be found guilty!"

Get the rest at:

http://news.com.com/2102-1026_3-5106684.html?tag=st_util_print

-Brett



-- 
DRM is theft!  We are the stakeholders!  http://www.nyfairuse.org/

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> http://news.com.com/2102-1026_3-5106684.html?tag=st_util_print



Share 'True Crime,' do the time


By Declan McCullagh 
November 12, 2003, 4:20 PM PST 

A forthcoming copyright bill backed by key U.S. senators would place file
swappers in prison for up to three years if they have a copy of even one
prerelease movie in their shared folders. 

In addition to the prison term, the Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act
would punish making such movies available on a public "computer network" as
a federal felony with a fine of up to $250,000. It would not require that
any copyright infringement actually take place. 

Senators John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., plan to
introduce the legislation at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on
Thursday. Joining them at the event will be actress Bo Derek, Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA) President Jack Valenti, and Mitch Bainwol,
chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America. 

Hollywood studios have fretted for years about Internet distribution of
prerelease movies, meaning films that have not appeared on DVD or in
theaters. Footage of "Star Wars: Episode II," "Tomb Raider" and "The Hulk,"
has reportedly surfaced on peer-to-peer networks before their commercial
distribution. In September, the major studios responded by halting their
normal practice of sending DVD "screeners" to Academy Award judges. 

A copy of the bill seen by CNET News.com, marked "Discussion Draft,"
represents one of the fiercest attacks yet on peer-to-peer networks from
copyright holders' allies on Capitol Hill. 

The threat of a three-year prison term kicks in when anyone makes an illicit
copy of a movie "available on a computer network accessible to members of
the public," when the film "was intended for commercial distribution but had
not been so distributed at the time." Once the film is commercially
distributed, the felony penalties appear to no longer apply. 

An aide to Cornyn said it is designed to expand the 1997 No Electronic Theft
Act, which already makes many forms of copyright infringement a federal
felony. The draft bill will "help law enforcement pursue those who are
already violating the law by establishing, by presumption, that if someone
willfully puts out a pre-release file you have reached the economic harm
threshold, which is standard under the NET Act," the aide said in an e-mail
message. 

The aide said the prison terms are "already the law, and if someone
distributes a pre-release today and the Justice Department can figure out
when that person did it and how, they can (be prosecuted). This legislation
simply makes it presumptive that if someone distributes a pre-release that
it reaches that level, facilitating law enforcement. The punishment does not
change." 

Peter Jaszi, a professor at American University who teaches copyright law,
said he is "deeply troubled" by the wording of the draft legislation,
because it does not say any actual copyright infringement must take
place--only that the file be available in a shared folder, Web site or FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) site. "It says we don't care if anybody got any of
these copies," Jaszi said. "We're going to conclude that at least 10 people
did. It relieves the copyright owner of having to prove that any violation
of their rights actually happened." 

MPAA spokesman Rich Taylor said "this legislation will go a long way toward
targeting one of the most serious contributors to piracy right now, which is
the practice of camcording motion pictures. It's the first time the U.S.
Senate has had legislation that specifically addresses the threat of
camcording." 

"Piracy for too long has been high-reward and low-risk," Taylor said.
"Legislation such as that being introduced tomorrow will go a long way
toward changing that equation." 

The Cornyn-Feinstein bill also creates another federal felony, punishable by
up to five years in prison, for using "an audiovisual recording device" in a
movie theater to make a copy of a film and boosts civil penalties available
to MPAA member companies when suing over prerelease movies placed on the
Internet. 

Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Lindsey
Graham, R-S.C., are co-sponsors of the bill. 

A related proposal has been introduced in the House of Representatives. It
covers surreptitious recording in theaters but does not include the
three-year prison term for making a prerelease movie available online.