James Delahunty
8 Sep 2004 19:56
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, approved legislation that would criminalize some acts of copyright infringement over P2P networks. The Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004, is targeting the electronic distribution of copyrighted material. A person who distributes over 1000 copyrighted works in a period of 180 days could face a three year prison sentence. The bill also provides $15 million to the U.S. Department of Justice to establish and Internet use and education program. This authorizes the DoJ to send letters to ISP's notifying then about the alleged Copyright Infringement of their customers.
Whether or not the ISP decides to forward the letter to the "Infringer" is up to the ISP, it is completely voluntary and the ISP does not have to disclose any information on the subscriber. "We commend the Committee for making voluntary the program under which Internet service providers would pass on to consumers notices from the Justice Department alleging copyright infringement," Gigi B. Sohn, president of the digital rights group Public Knowledge, said in a statement. "We are still concerned that taxpayer dollars could be better spent on priorities other than notifications of possible copyright infringement."
The Internet Spyware Prevention Act of 2004 makes intentionally accessing a computer without authorization or to intentionally exceed authorized access a crime. If the unauthorized intrusion will help the act of another federal crime such as secretly accessing personal data, the person responsible could face up to five years in prison. Deliberately injuring or defrauding a person or damaging a computer through the unauthorized installation of spyware carry prison terms of up to two years.
The legislation also authorizes $10 million for the Department of Justice to combat spyware and phishing scams, although the bill does not specifically make phishing a crime.
"By imposing criminal penalties on these bad actors, this legislation will help deter the use of spyware and will thus help protect consumers from these aggressive attacks," bill sponsor Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said. "At the same time, the legislation leaves the door open for innovative technology developments to continue to combat spyware programs."
Source:
Internet News