‘Pirate Act’ raises civil rights concerns

A proposal that the Senate may vote on as early as next week would let federal prosecutors file civil lawsuits against suspected copyright infringers, with fines reaching tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The so-called Pirate Act is raising alarms among copyright lawyers and lobbyists for peer-to-peer firms, who have been eyeing the recording industry’s lawsuits against thousands of peer-to-peer users with trepidation. The Justice Department, they say, could be far more ambitious.

One influential proponent of the Pirate Act is urging precisely that. “Tens of thousands of continuing civil enforcement actions might be needed to generate the necessary deterrence,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said when announcing his support for the bill. “I doubt that any nongovernmental organization has the resources or moral authority to pursue such a campaign.” 

Potential P2P prosecutions
Underlying the public jockeying over the Pirate Act is a classic political war of wills between the federal government’s legislative and executive branches.

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