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Has Congress Backdoored In 'Attempted Copyright Infringement' As A Crime?
from the uh-oh... dept
Last year, when Alberto Gonzales was under pressure from Congress, he suddenly started spending a lot of time talking about stricter copyright laws. Perhaps it gave him a distraction from repeating "I do not recall" all day in front of Congress. His proposal was basically a laundry list of the entertainment industry's desired changes to copyright law, including making "attempted infringement" a crime. Despite the fact that copyright law is pretty clear that an actual violation needs to happen first, this would shift the standard so that if you just attempted to infringe, you could be found guilty of the full infringement itself. While Gonzales' efforts went nowhere, William Patry is pointing out that Congress may have backdoored in this "attempted" clause late last year through the Orwellianly-titled Criminal Code Modernization and Simplification Act. In that act, it notes that: "Unless otherwise provided by law, whoever attempts to commit an offense shall be punished as is provided for the completed offense." When it comes to copyright law in the bill, no exception is provided. Patry points to the recent story of the guy sent to jail for just clicking a link to give you a suggestion of where this new law will allow complaints to go. It's not a pretty picture.
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Reporting 101
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This is a little bigger than copyright, yes?
And since "attempt" gets at intent, this could be a real mess. The US criminal justice system just got a whole lot weirder.
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`(a) Criminal Infringement-
`(1) In general- Any person who knowingly infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 676, if the infringement was committed--
`(A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;
`(B) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000; or
`(C) by the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution.
`(2) Evidence- For purposes of this subsection, evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish knowing infringement of a copyright.
`(3) Definition- In this subsection, the term `work being prepared for commercial distribution' means--
`(A) a computer program, a musical work, a motion picture or other audiovisual work, or a sound recording, if, at the time of unauthorized distribution--
`(i) the copyright owner has a reasonable expectation of commercial distribution; and
`(ii) the copies or phonorecords of the work have not been commercially distributed; or
`(B) a motion picture, if, at the time of unauthorized distribution, the motion picture--
`(i) has been made available for viewing in a motion picture exhibition facility; and
`(ii) has not been made available in copies for sale to the general public in the United States in a format intended to permit viewing outside a motion picture exhibition facility.
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Do everyone a favor-
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pray for a over turn
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Re: pray for a over turn
> life and limb is in play (attempted murder,
> which many states don't have)
Actually, all 50 states have "attempted murder" as an offense in their respective penal codes.
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Bloody fucking hell
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Thoughtcrime?
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Re: Reporting 101
But hey, for questioning the establishment you're a commie, despite the fact it's a case of individual rights taking precedent over those of the state. Muppet.
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nice
Sweet.
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Re: Reporting 101
Er... what about that post makes me left of center?
I'm always fascinated by this. Half the time people call me right wing. Half the time people call me left wing. CNN last year had a column where they called me right wing. And here you are accusing me of being left wing. I'm confused.
The truth is I'm neither. I don't care for either political party or their "platforms". I like to think for myself.
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Re: Reporting 101
This is an OPINION and ANALYSIS site. Always has been.
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Re:
Those are two separate things. They're saying that having an infringing file isn't evidence of infringement, but also saying that attempted infringement is a crime. Those are separate. It means having an infringeing file may not be infringement, but NOT having a file could be if they think you intended to infringe.
Thus, it's all about intent, and that's where the "thought crime" question comes up.
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Anyone know a copy in this guy's district?
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thoughts on intent
whew even in writing this comment i should cc to him to make sure its context are cover under priveledge...
less laws sometimes make you safer
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Re: Crminal Infringement
Does this mean that every time I purchase a DVD or other copy written products from an overseas store, I'm breaking the law simply because it has not been released in the US?
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Because we can do so much better than 1%
In fact, perhaps we should make a three-year prison term compulsory-- that would do wonders to get those numbers up. As an added benefit, we can be sure people face punishment for crimes they commit that go unreported or not prosecuted.
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Have guns...
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Re: Because we can do so much better than 1%
1. Invest in (or own) companies that build prisons.
2. Privatize the prison system (because a private company can do it much better $$$).
3. Pass stricter prison sentences (3 strikes).
4. Make more things crimes that weren't crimes before.
5. Sit back and count yo' money!
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Re: Reporting 101
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If you dont have enough criminals...
Google says 755,186 were arrested for pot in 2003, out of a current us population of 303,714,763 or about .25%.
Thats a lot of made up criminals right there, and now you want to charge people for crimes that havent happend?
Thats it, im moving to canada...
or geting a job in law enforcement
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hang on a sec.
And how can this law be called "Criminal Code Modernization and Simplification Act" if it adds laws? Wouldn't we have to remove a few (or many) to modernize and simplify the criminal code?
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Re: Do everyone a favor-
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Re: hang on a sec.
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Re:
If the wording of a law or statute or bill makes citizens visibly uncomfortable, it should be the responsibility of lawmakers to take notice of that and either reassure the citizens or change that piece of writing. If lawmakers don't do that (as most don't) then it is absolutely the responsibility of the citizens to do something about it.
Those people in power will do just about anything to stay there, and many of the largest industries in the world make promises to those 'leaders' to keep them there if they can keep the industry leaders rich. It is a "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" relationship and everyone knows it, but very few people are willing to intervene and say that type of practice is not right and will not be tolerated.
To the guy who said he wants to move to Canada, it is definitely more free of a country for the citizens, for now, but follow some of the Canadian headlines too, as it seems there are some freedoms slowly being taken away from them also which are consequently being pushed by the same industries which have pushed the same changes in America or their Canadian counterparts.
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Back in the dark ages, the Catholic church used Latin (which was, by and large, not spoken by most of their "flock") to tell the peasants.. pretty much anything they wanted. Corruption was rampant.
Fast forward to the printing press. The papacy wanted initially to force anyone wanting a press to apply for a papal license.
Book burning, censorship etc are all more extreme ways of limiting free thought, self expression and resistance to a government who are supposed to represent us, not rule us.
Thought crime is the next logical step. They can't control the information anymore so they use you having it as proof of intent. Then they lock you up for intending to commit a crime.
Guess I better work out where all the local parks are in case walking buy one infers I intend to kidnap and rape someone. Uh oh, finding out where all the parks are could indicate I want to do that. MUST STOP THINKING!!!
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Re: Re: Reporting 101
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this is not law!
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It will get worse
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I see the sense.
I see the sense in this. For example, obtaining a handgun license is obviously the first step in one way of attempting to murder someone. Good thing we have that list, now all we have to do is go round them up.
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