FBI p2p prosecution bill

[Jelsoft]

HR 2517 - the FBI p2p prosecution bill

Today, bill HR 2517 which would, among other things, allow the FBI to prosecute p2p file sharers, again rears its head.

Because today is the day Lamar Smith, backed by John Conyers and Hollywood Howard Berman, plan to present changes to their Copyright Enforcement Bill as a markup statement to the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.

As it stands, HR 2517 is designed to, "To enhance criminal enforcement of the copyright laws, educate the public about the application of copyright law to the Internet, and clarify the authority to seize unauthorized copyrighted works."

Yikes, with the FBI involved wouldn't this make file sharing a federal criminal offense?

[RJ5500]

Like hell this bill will actually ever pass :mellow

It looks like it's another Berman-supported bill. That labels it crap right there.

As a general rule of thumb, if it is endorsed by Howard Berman or Orin Hatch, it's not good for P2P, technological innovation, consumer privacy, or anyone else for that matter (except for thie greedy RIAA-type companies ..er.. monopolies).

[ROMANTICGUY50]

Like hell this bill will actually ever pass :mellow

It looks like it's another Berman-supported bill. That labels it crap right there.

As a general rule of thumb, if it is endorsed by Howard Berman or Orin Hatch, it's not good for P2P, technological innovation, consumer privacy, or anyone else for that matter (except for thie greedy RIAA-type companies ..er.. monopolies).

Orin Asshole as far as I am concerned. I am sick and tired of freedoms being taken away. The politicans,many of them are having their pockets linned by the RIAA & MPAA. Howard Berman & Orin Hatch are two of them. How many more Berman Jackass that he is makes two. I sure as hell don't want the bill to pass.

:ass DOWN WITH THE RIAA & MPAA and those Other's who are against filsharing :ass

[Winphuk]

I would email your senator and let them know.

[Malicious Intent]

I would have thought that the FBI have more important things to deal with than chasing around filesharers. Its bad enough that the RIAA want to clog the courts with millions of sharers with police power being devoted as well.
As Winphuk says, e-mail your representitives.
Hopefully that Hatch guy has dropped it after being busted for having a copyright program on his webpage.

[Winphuk]

Yes, I'm from N.Y and if Hillary is even Thinking about running for president, then she needs to listen to voters.

[shawners]

My job would be in jeopardy if they make it a federal crime. =(

[Kyle06]

OK don't the FBI have more important things to worry about, National security and shit I mean dear god what a waste of money that would be and more of a headache for them

[jonnymnemonic]

Technically, file-sharing already IS a federal offense. This bill doesn't really do much except clarify. I don't even see it as necessary; seems rather a waste of time. They already have the authority to crack down, since busting copyright violations is already part of their job. (See the FBI warnings on DVDs - those aren't for show.)

It's just a matter of time before the feds start busting the bigger p2p distributors and throwing them in jail to make examples of them. Like hackers used to get a slap on the wrist, and now they get a few years in prison, that's probably the same road that distributing copyrighted works via p2p is on: ignored at first, then chided with slaps on the wrist (cease-and-desist letters, civil suitss), then moving on toward federal prison time.

It's just a fact that really harsh punishments for crimes do tend to cut down on crime. That's why Genghis Khan's empire was so safe - commit a crime, you were mostly executed, and sometimes your entire family was executed along with you. Tada, not much crime.

[tMoD]

"create a new provision requiring any person who offers 'enabling' software for download over the Internet to provide notice to users about the risks and get consent before allowing the user to download it'."

Am I reading this right? This looks like a response to the fact that they can't hold the creators of decentralized networks responsible for what the users do. This would seem to force P2P designers to create centralized networks so they can police the content; but policing the content of even a fairly small P2P network seems an unwieldy task to me. It looks like they're trying to put a stake through the heart of P2P completely.

The only type of network I could see surviving that is one in which the files could never be copyrighted.

[Jelsoft]

Like hell this bill will actually ever pass :mellow

Sorry the bill passed already.

[Winphuk]

That's a different bill Jelsoft. That was made to protect to protect the security of Government network. People shouldn't be fucking around on Governent computers anyway.Some of them don't know what their doing and they share their whole root drive.

[tackdaddy]

they worry about this when osama is still on the loose and the high crime rates is some states, they need to take care of the serious shit 1st.going to jail for providing files is bullshit plain and simple.