[opendtv] Re: The Piracy Deterrance and Education Act was: Re: News: The Induce Act

  • From: Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 20:03:04 -0400

Kon Wilms wrote:
 > Only in America are the jail sentences for file sharing kids a magnitude
 > greater than those for rapists, child molesters, and second degree
 > murder convictions.

Interesting thought.  Anyone know the actual (typical) penalties for 
these offenses relative to file sharing?  Is the penalty for file 
sharing really greater than rape for instance?  It would be nice to have 
a table of all of them to compare.

- Tom

> The same flavor of bill is making its way around with added application 
> to file-sharing networks.
> 
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/09/28/HNusfiletrading_1.html
> 
> "On a voice vote, the measure passed the House and will now be sent to 
> the U.S. Senate. The bill expands the definition of file traders 
> eligible for criminal penalties from individuals who "willingly" 
> distribute copyright files to those who "knowingly" do so, an escalation 
> that could result in jail time for file swappers, according to Adam 
> Eisgrau, executive director of the P2P United lobbying group, which 
> represents peer-to-peer companies and organizations. The Piracy 
> Deterrence and Education Act of 2004 was sponsored by Representative 
> Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas. "My legislation will close a 
> loophole that has made it impossible for prosecutors to bring charges 
> against counterfeiters. It empowers federal authorities to prosecute 
> counterfeiting activity on a greater scale with better results," Smith 
> said in a statement posted to his Web site Tuesday."
> 
> Both these measures are this industry's equivalent of the 'war on 
> drugs', albeit with an added level of pure stupidity. Don't nail the 
> filesharing networks, nail the users. However if we look at the 'war on 
> drugs', most distribution and manufacturing locations are in unknown 
> locations in South America -- but -- we know where all the filesharing 
> hubs are (down to physical location).
> 
> This makes it the equivalent of bringing all the drug manufacturing and 
> distribution cartels into the USA, giving them each a business and a 
> large sign outside saying 'crack/smack/dope/meth/speed distribution 
> warehouse', and then sending the cops on their merry way to imprison as 
> many users as they can to stop said problem. Insanity.
> 
> Only in America are the jail sentences for file sharing kids a magnitude 
> greater than those for rapists, child molesters, and second degree 
> murder convictions. What is wrong with this picture, and why won't 
> people stand up to this insanity (I hesitate to call it that - stupidity 
> would be a better word, as I seriously question the intelligence of 
> those people drafting and passing these bills) -- are we all just too 
> complacent? Who voted these clowns into office?
> 
> Cheers
> Kon
> 
> Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> 
>>Here we go again...
>>
>>I have been told by friends in Washington that this legislation may 
>>be the biggest attack on fair use to date. Some say that this 
>>legislation could make products like Apple's iPOD illegal...
>>
>>Regards
>>Craig
>>
>>
>>September 30, 2004
>>
>>Panel Considers Copyright Bill
>>By TOM ZELLER Jr.
> 
>  
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