WASHINGTON – If you acquire and swap a movie or music online ahead of the official release date for the film or the music, you could be going to the hoosegow for five years, if a bill introduced November 13 in the U.S. Senate goes all the way to President Bush’s signature.
Sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), the bill would make it a felony to trade a movie or music release on the Internet ahead of their scheduled retail release dates.
“There is no legitimate purpose,” said Feinstein in a prepared statement, “for a person taking copyrighted material not legally available to the public in aany form and putting on the Internet for free distribution without authorization.”
Unauthorized copies of films turn up in P2P network files and in real-world flea markets by way of people smuggling camcorders into theaters, supporters of the Feinstein-Cornyn bill said, though industry insiders are often suspected of posting films or music albums online before their official retail releases as well.
Those practices would become felonies with maximum five-year sentences for first offenders and monetary damage assessments as well, according to the Senate. Four states and the District of Columbia already make it a crime to videotape without authorization in theaters.
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