Anti-Piracy Lawmakers to Push One Bill on Hill
Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2003 1:45 am
Courtesy of Reuters...
Anti-Piracy Lawmakers to Push One Bill on Hill
Fri July 25, 2003 11:20 PM ET
By Bill Holland
WASHINGTON (Billboard) - House lawmakers pushing bills to step up anti-piracy efforts on the Internet plan to forge a single measure to give it a greater chance of passing, Billboard has learned.
The shift in focus follows complaints from Internet users and some copyright scholars. They say a provision in the most recently introduced bill is over-reaching.
If there is a hearing this fall, "there's going to be a lot of fireworks," says Peter Jaszi, a copyright law professor at American University.
Members flew home July 25 for the August recess, a four- to six-week retreat from the heat and humidity of the nation's capital. But staffers on the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property say they will hold discussions during the recess to lay the groundwork for a compromise bill. Members would begin crafting the measure after Labor Day.
Opponents have zeroed in on a section that effectively allows prosecutors to view the uploader of an unauthorized copyrighted file to a public network as a possible felon. Infringers could be fined $250,000 and face a five-year jail term.
"A criminal law doesn't come with a user's manual," Jaszi says. "It's not good public policy to write an overbroad law and then cross your fingers.
"This provision applies to activity on any publicly accessible network, like the one I use with my students, and to any copyrighted material, not just music," he adds. "There's no checks to restrain abuse of this legislation."
The authors say the reasoning behind the provision hits at the core of why peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are so lethal to the industry: One casual upload is downloaded by many thousands, if not millions, of file traders.
Thus, such an upload, they say, meets the legal threshold employed in the physical-goods world that dictates that felonious copyright infringement occurs when 10 or more copies of a work worth $2,500 or more are distributed.
The provision is viewed as the boldest legislative effort yet by an exasperated Congress to short-circuit the P2P networks that are devastating the record industry.
The authors said in a statement that the measure is not over-reaching but "a reasonable approach." A prosecutor would still have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a copyright infringement occurred and that it was willful. "This is a very high standard for a prosecutor to have to meet," the statement said.
The bill -- the Author, Consumer and Computer Owner Protection and Security Act of 2003 -- was introduced July 17 by Reps. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and Howard Berman, D-Calif.
Among other things, it would give the FBI $15 million to develop public awareness programs about the dangers of illegal file sharing and other pirate activity.
The earlier bill, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2003, was introduced June 19 by Rep. Lamar S. Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the subcommittee.
It does not contain the so-called felony provision, nor does it offer funding for new anti-piracy programs at the FBI and other federal agencies.
The Smith bill grants authority to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to seize infringing material. It also requires the U.S. Attorney General to ensure that "at least one agent" dealing with copyright infringement would be assigned to any unit at the Department of Justice responsible for investigating computer hacking or intellectual property crimes.
Berman and Conyers are co-sponsors of Smith's bill. They say they crafted their own measure to offer more enforcement muscle. Smith pulled his bill from a markup vote after the new measure was introduced.
Both bills have industry support.
"We applaud the efforts of Mr. Berman and Mr. Conyers to facilitate the enforcement of existing laws against Internet theft," says Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Assn. of America. "The provisions contained in this legislation, in addition to those contained in the Smith/Berman enforcement bill, will help serve to deter illegal activity online."
Jay Rosenthal, co-counsel for the Recording Artists' Coalition, says the RAC supports the Smith bill but has problems with the Conyers-Berman measure.
"It needs fine-tuning to minimize the possibility of abuse or misuse by authorities unfamiliar with the copyright law and this problem," he says. "No one wants to see a kid looking at jail time, especially for a first offense. Perhaps a 'three strikes and you're out' concept would work better."
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., the veteran Internet champion who also sits on the subcommittee, says the provision is fraught with possibilities of potential misapplication.
"It is not the mission of the FBI to have to learn copyright law and then inform people what they may or may not do," he asserts.
Reuters/Billboard
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jht ... ID=3163385
Anti-Piracy Lawmakers to Push One Bill on Hill
Fri July 25, 2003 11:20 PM ET
By Bill Holland
WASHINGTON (Billboard) - House lawmakers pushing bills to step up anti-piracy efforts on the Internet plan to forge a single measure to give it a greater chance of passing, Billboard has learned.
The shift in focus follows complaints from Internet users and some copyright scholars. They say a provision in the most recently introduced bill is over-reaching.
If there is a hearing this fall, "there's going to be a lot of fireworks," says Peter Jaszi, a copyright law professor at American University.
Members flew home July 25 for the August recess, a four- to six-week retreat from the heat and humidity of the nation's capital. But staffers on the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property say they will hold discussions during the recess to lay the groundwork for a compromise bill. Members would begin crafting the measure after Labor Day.
Opponents have zeroed in on a section that effectively allows prosecutors to view the uploader of an unauthorized copyrighted file to a public network as a possible felon. Infringers could be fined $250,000 and face a five-year jail term.
"A criminal law doesn't come with a user's manual," Jaszi says. "It's not good public policy to write an overbroad law and then cross your fingers.
"This provision applies to activity on any publicly accessible network, like the one I use with my students, and to any copyrighted material, not just music," he adds. "There's no checks to restrain abuse of this legislation."
The authors say the reasoning behind the provision hits at the core of why peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are so lethal to the industry: One casual upload is downloaded by many thousands, if not millions, of file traders.
Thus, such an upload, they say, meets the legal threshold employed in the physical-goods world that dictates that felonious copyright infringement occurs when 10 or more copies of a work worth $2,500 or more are distributed.
The provision is viewed as the boldest legislative effort yet by an exasperated Congress to short-circuit the P2P networks that are devastating the record industry.
The authors said in a statement that the measure is not over-reaching but "a reasonable approach." A prosecutor would still have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a copyright infringement occurred and that it was willful. "This is a very high standard for a prosecutor to have to meet," the statement said.
The bill -- the Author, Consumer and Computer Owner Protection and Security Act of 2003 -- was introduced July 17 by Reps. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and Howard Berman, D-Calif.
Among other things, it would give the FBI $15 million to develop public awareness programs about the dangers of illegal file sharing and other pirate activity.
The earlier bill, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2003, was introduced June 19 by Rep. Lamar S. Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the subcommittee.
It does not contain the so-called felony provision, nor does it offer funding for new anti-piracy programs at the FBI and other federal agencies.
The Smith bill grants authority to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to seize infringing material. It also requires the U.S. Attorney General to ensure that "at least one agent" dealing with copyright infringement would be assigned to any unit at the Department of Justice responsible for investigating computer hacking or intellectual property crimes.
Berman and Conyers are co-sponsors of Smith's bill. They say they crafted their own measure to offer more enforcement muscle. Smith pulled his bill from a markup vote after the new measure was introduced.
Both bills have industry support.
"We applaud the efforts of Mr. Berman and Mr. Conyers to facilitate the enforcement of existing laws against Internet theft," says Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Assn. of America. "The provisions contained in this legislation, in addition to those contained in the Smith/Berman enforcement bill, will help serve to deter illegal activity online."
Jay Rosenthal, co-counsel for the Recording Artists' Coalition, says the RAC supports the Smith bill but has problems with the Conyers-Berman measure.
"It needs fine-tuning to minimize the possibility of abuse or misuse by authorities unfamiliar with the copyright law and this problem," he says. "No one wants to see a kid looking at jail time, especially for a first offense. Perhaps a 'three strikes and you're out' concept would work better."
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., the veteran Internet champion who also sits on the subcommittee, says the provision is fraught with possibilities of potential misapplication.
"It is not the mission of the FBI to have to learn copyright law and then inform people what they may or may not do," he asserts.
Reuters/Billboard
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jht ... ID=3163385
