Congress May Outlaw 'Attempted Piracy'

cnet-declan writes "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is asking Congress to make 'attempted' copyright infringement a federal crime. The text of the legislation as well as the official press-release is available online. Rep. Lamar Smith, a key House Republican, said he 'applauds' the idea, and his Democratic counterpart is probably on board too. In addition, the so-called Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007 would create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software in some circumstances, expand the DMCA with civil asset forfeiture, and authorize wiretaps in investigations of Americans who are 'attempting' to infringe copyrights. Does this go too far?"

Why does the law punish attempts at all?

[Anonymous Coward]

By definition "attempts" are unsuccessful acts. Why should the law punish attempts at all? Why punish people for things that never happened?

Yes.

[Concern]

Does this go too far?

Yes, this goes too far.

I promise vehement grass roots activism to defeat any elected official, Republican, Democrat, or Independent, who gets anywhere near voting for this. Full stop.

This will not sneak by in the dead of night. We are watching. You are either against this violent insanity, or you are against the voters.

I think it's fair

[Anonymous Coward]

"Does this go too far?"

No, I don't think so. Piracy is become rampant in today's world, and the government stepping up to make harsher penalties is fine by me. Piracy costs businesses money, as well as making it unfair to people who actually purchase legitimate goods.

But feel free to mod me down for a "wrong" opinion on slashdot, even though it's clear moderation abuse.

Minority Report anyone?

[LoaTao]

Attempted copyright infringement? When we can't get our elected officials charged with real, already committed and documented crimes? What is going on in this country!?!

Re:Lifetime Crime

[morgan_greywolf]

"would create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software in some circumstances"

I dont know what circunstances are those, but yeah right any judge would sentence that.

RTFA

The proposal increases the maximum penalties for 5 2320 offenses from 10 to 20 years imprisonment where the defendant knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts to cause serious bodily injury, and increases the maximum penalty to life imprisonment where the defendant knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts to cause death.

And exactly how is someone going to cause death while committing criminal copyright infringement?

Homeland secuirty to be arm of RIAA !!!

[RichMan]

FTA: Require Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America.

Sure that is what everyone intended the anti-terrorism money to go to.

Re:This is brilliant!

[CastrTroy]

This is more true than most people think. Do you keep receipts for all the software you buy? Can you prove you have a license? The only safe software will be Open Source and Free. Anything else could land you in jail, because you can't prove that you actuallly have a license. This is why I think more businesses should be using open source software. It makes it a lot easier to keep track of licenses.

Re:Life in prison?

[tomstdenis]

They didn't say life in prison, so much as they said that they want to trigger repeat offender status [e.g. three strikes]. I'm sure if you were convicted of murder a third time you'd definitely get life.

That said, I agree that it's absurd that we can even think of locking people up for life for copying bits. There are easier and more humane ways to go about this. For example, probation, being forbidden to own/operate a computer, etc.

You can still be a totally productive member of society without a computer. Being locked up in a cell is hardly productive.

Tom

What I think is going to happen....

[arkham6]

If this law passes, I see the following.

(mp/ri)aa will flood the various file sharing networks with dummy files, aka 'master_of_puppets.mp3' that are actualy null files of a certain size.

Random user tries to download file from *aa over the network.

*aa records IP address of user

*aa submits IP information to DoJ

Random user goes to jail for attempted piracy and *aa also files a civil suit.

PROFIT!

Re:Yes.

[NeoPaladin394]

Why is this guy still in office? Is he trying to pass as much law for his puppet masters as he can before the angry mobs get to him? This is ridiculous! I'm not surprised at all that the President backs this.

FTA:

"Currently certain copyright crimes require someone to commit the "distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of at least 10 copies" valued at over $2,500. The [Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007] would insert a new prohibition: actions that were 'intended to consist of' distribution."

So not only are we going to punish thought crime and what big brother thinks you're going to do, but this bill would even require Homeland Security to inform the RIAA and associated companies if one of us imports discs with "unauthorized fixations of the sounds or sounds and images of a live musical performance." Why don't we just reorganize the RIAA as another extension of the federal government? They're practically there anyway, and they'd be able to add an RIAA Piracy tax to our paychecks.

This does not bode well. This does not bode well at all. It would be interesting to see how current presidential candidates handle this proposition, but am I too jaded if I think it will never reach any debate podiums?

Re:Several reasons.

[Fordiman]

Of course, attempted murder *doesn't* have a life sentence in most instances.

Mod parent up: But does the RIAA have Dem support?

[jesup]

The administration being behind it will help, and it will get more notice. The real question is whether the RIAA has bought off enough democrats to get this on the docket for a vote.

Luckily they don't write good legislation

[andy314159pi]

It's important to remember that courts, most often, have the right to bring common sense into the process. If your congressman writes legislation that oppress his constituents, then the process will chuck him out of congress and the courts will throw out the law. Our forefathers had more sense than you think they did!

Well, if it will bring life imprisonment

[vivaoporto]

Well, if the penalty becomes life in prison, it is better to put an eye patch, sail to the high seas and become a real murderous pirate, as, according with the U.S. Code, Title 18, Chapter 81 [cornell.edu], the penalty for being a real pirate is life imprisonment, but the profits can be way higher.

Re:Absurd

[Anonymous Coward]

bullshit bill [...] Gimmie a break. This won't pass.[/blockquote]You [wikipedia.org] must [wikipedia.org] be [wikipedia.org] new. [wikipedia.org]

Re:Absurd

[Dog-Cow]

So using a counterfeit copy of an OS in a situation that allows the OS to kill someone (let them die) will get me life in prison, but using a legitimate copy of the same OS not getting the publisher of the OS fined, much less any jail time, is somehow OK?

We do not need a new law to cover negligence with respect to death. Such an act is called manslaughter and is already legal. This part of the bill is nothing more than an attempt to make copyright violation literally worse than killing someone.

There is no longer a value placed on human life. Only your potential to increase profits has any meaning. You don't see anything wrong with this?

Re:Several reasons.

[superbus1929]

But how do you define "attempted" piracy? Is downloading a honeypotted torrent the only thing? Or is just logging into the Pirate Bay or ISO Hunt enough?

Oh big brother

[jav1231]

I am a Republican and stand by a lot of what this administration does. However, Republicans are shooting themselves in the foot by getting behind stupid proposals that do little but preserve outdated business models. We've let Democrats appear to be the forward-thinking party by taking bass-ackwards positions on things like IP law. While I'll stand behind the war in Iraq, I'll march against stupidity like this. Expanding the DMCA is a joke.

Re:This is brilliant!

[TobascoKid]

But how do you proove that you have a licence to run Free Software?

I know it sounds absurd, but a few years back we had an auditor who had real trouble with free software, as she felt that without a paper trail (ie, receipts) you couldn't proove that you really had a licence (though she wouldn't accept the counter claim that a receipt or a paper licence doesn't proove anything either). In order to pass audit, we had to print out the licences used, for every piece of software and for each install. So we had several dozen copies of the GPL, several dozen copies of the Apace licence, several dozen copies of <insert FOSS Licence>, etc. Fortunately, that was just for free software running on Windows - the auditing people decided to just ignore the existence of Linux.

Re:Yes.

[AKAImBatman]

[I]f you read the linked article, you will find one interesting comment from Mr. Lamar Smith:

"As we have gone forward, the list of accusations has grown, but the evidence of genuine wrongdoing has not." Mr. Smith added, "If there are no fish in this lake, we should reel in our lines of questions, dock our empty boat and turn to more pressing issues."

Oh, that is interesting. Sounds a lot like like a "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" deal, doesn't it?

life imprisonment for this will lead to dead cops

[Joe The Dragon]

as some people will go down shooting to stay of prison for the rest of there life.

Nice way to miss the obvious

[paladinwannabe2]

Nowhere am I saying that copyright infringement=theft. As DoohickeyJones pointed out, I'm merely showing that punishing people for attempted crimes is reasonable. I even had a car example, hoping that would be simple enough that even the idiots who put piracy in quotes could understand it.

Free psychoanalysis

[benhocking]

He says: "Attempted Murder?"
The first thing that comes to your mind: "Alberto Gonzales"

Hmmm. I don't think you need any more help connecting the dots to your subconscious...

/Assuming it was subconscious.

For want of mod points, a reply

[NeutronCowboy]

I'm impressed by three things in your voting record: that you owned up to voting for Bush, that you voted for Bush because of a plausible assumption that had nothing to do with his rethoric, and that you didn't vote for him again.

I also agree that while your vision of the future is a little extreme, it isn't because Congress and the IP industry isn't trying to achieve it. I'm guessing that the population will wake up before that and put a stop to this insanity. Primarily, I believe that the IP barons (a nice reference to the robber barons - I'll keep using that one) will price information so that most people can afford most of it. They do intend to maximize their revenue, and they can't price everyone out of it. But I do think that this IP gold rush will ultimately lead to exactly the situation that you describe: IP is owned by corporations instead of individuals, and individuals will be forced to buy back their culture and essential information from said corporations.

Now someone go and mod this guy up.

Re:Why does the law punish attempts at all?

[rainman_bc]

And as one person said, attempted crimes are often persecuted, with murder as a clear example. Robbery is another.

When was copyright infringement a criminal, and not civil matter?

IANAL ( but I play one on /. ), but it would be reasonable to say that you cannot sue over attempted civil matters.

Can I sue you if we have a contract, you try to breach it, but fail?

Jefferson said it best

[nickmalthus]

This is an absurd and draconian measure that is overtly plutocratic. I am a Thomas Jefferson aficionado and I believe his sentiments on intellectual property to be accurate:

"It would be singular to admit a natural and even an hereditary right to inventors... It would be curious... if an idea, the fugitive fermentation of an individual brain, could, of natural right, be claimed in exclusive and stable property. If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation. Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property. Society may give an exclusive right to the profits arising from them, as an encouragement to men to pursue ideas which may produce utility, but this may or may not be done, according to the will and convenience of the society, without claim or complaint from anybody... The exclusive right to invention [is] given not of natural right, but for the benefit of society."

--Thomas Jefferson [virginia.edu]

This has nothing to do with enhancing market competition or bettering society but is absolutely about ensuring profit for large corporations who are really the only entities that can afford the patenting process.

Re:Better question...

[SkunkPussy]

Does marking a comment as Flamebait mean it isn't true?

This is getting old...

[Cervantes]

This pattern is getting old.

1) Introduce bill with ridiculous provisions
2) Public upset over ridiculous provisions
3) Remove ridiculous provisions
4) Pass the rest of the bill, which by itself would still be ridiculous, but now everyone's happy that they "fought The Man" and won.
5) Slowly expand power and scope of existing bill until you can do really silly things with it.

Enjoy getting your computers confiscated by The Man (sorry, "Civil Asset Forfeiture") just because you have Shareaza installed. Also enjoy having Homeland Security (a government agency) notify the RIAA (a private company) when you come back home with a bootleg tape of that concert you went to. Don't forget to smile when you get sentenced to many years in prison and many tens of thousands of dollars in fines because you downloaded MP3's of an out-of-circulation album. I'm sure you all have the tens of thousands of dollars required to fight all that in court and win, right? And you can do without our assets or money or liberty while you're fighting it...

How does that line go again? "... with liberty and justice for all* "
* liberty and justice sold separately

When ya'll get sick of this crap, Canada and Mexico are both just a few hours drive away.

Re:What I think is going to happen....

[Echo5ive]

"(mp/ri)aa will flood the various file sharing networks with dummy files, aka 'master_of_puppets.mp3' that are actualy null files of a certain size."

Does that actually work in US law?

We had a case like that here in Sweden recently: someone found a backpack filled with drugs in a basement somewhere. The police replaced the drugs with flour and waited to see who was going to pick it up.

Someone picked it up and got arrested. He was quickly released, since he denied any knowledge about drugs (and the backpack didn't contain any when he took it), and "possession of flour" isn't a crime.

Hidden easter egg

[gunnarstahl]

The two paragraphs that catched my eyes were:

Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations.

and:

Allow computers to be seized more readily.

This is a fascinating, although a bit not-so-obviously coincidence with what's happening here in germany. One of our politicians, wolfgang schaeuble, currently tries to pass a new law which allows the police and secret services to secretely spy on your computers. All in the name of counter-terrorism. What he tells the german people is that there is a great deal of danger coming from islamistic fundamentals, left-wing fundamentals, right-wing fundamentals. If passed, this law enables the police to spy on literally everyones computer.

This ippa2007 tries to implement instruments which could be used to seize your computers and to wiretap you. All in the name of piracy prevention. If passed it will give the police the means to seize the computers of a majority of U.S. citizens. It can be used to criminalize each and everyone. If passed, this law enables the police to seize literally everyones computer.

Yt,

Gunnar

Re:Several reasons Horsesh*t

[Kelbear]

I've got a better analogy.

This is slashdot, it's not like the readers aren't familiar with the issue at hand.

Software copyright infringement is like........software copyright infringement.

I think that should encompass all the idiosyncratic details related to the issue at hand without blurring the issue. An imperfect analogy here only serves to derail the topic by bringing to light all the flaws in the analogy rather than the original point of discussion. An analogy is only useful when the issue isn't clear. This is slashdot and it's crystal clear. Points should stand upon their own merit rather than a reference to an imperfect analogy.

Re:Ownership Society

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe the only important division here is the "geek" and "non geek" classes. Our current society is ever more at the mercy of "technocrats" of all walks of life, encrusted in every field, and I'm afraid there only so much lordering that can be done over us, for we hold all the keys, all the usable knowledge, we are, for all intents and purposes, like the academia, privilegded a priori, unlike our current ruling classes. We are all noble scoundrels, in our godlessness divided not so much by morality but by circumstance, and as such it is unlikely leading geeks under one banner, but unwiser to exclude them from dream of class mobility and their pipe dream of a Star Trek reality. /me lays down the pipe.