Pirating to become a felony.

[Trandoshan]

18 U.S.C. §2319 (as referenced by 17 USC 506.)

 

"shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000."

 

At least we get 999.99$ of accident before we are incarcerated. How nice.

 

I wonder if they charge you for the current market price of something. For instance, if a game from 1995 is worth 5$ now but was worth 50$ years ago would they charge you for the theft of 5$ or 50$?

[evilneko]

They probably won't do either, instead using some other braindead method of coming up with damages. Of course, a game from '95 is not likely to land anyone in jail anyway. Abandonware sites operate openly, and the one major site closure was due to funding problems. Heck, it's even treated differently here.

[JimboUK]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/8401942/Why-anti-piracy-laws-may-never-be-used.html

 

An update on the new laws in the UK, they really are unworkable and look very likely to go unenforced.

[evilneko]

It is increasingly likely that rights holders will have to take the fight against piracy back into their own hands and not rely upon upon the Government.

 

Isn't that uh...where it belongs? :confused:

 

which will put 75 per cent of the burden on copyright holders and 25 per cent on broadband providers. It has now obtained that approval.

 

Why should the broadband providers shoulder any of the burden?

 

And put more faith into the market solving the problem through new services which are more appealing than illegal alternatives.

 

Precisely.

[Pyrosocial]

This should be how it is every where. Pirating is taking money from the creators, thus stealing. Its already a federal crime to do that with movies right?

[Keanumoreira]

Not that I know of, but I guess it's spreading.

[urbex]

Attempting to combat piracy is silly anyways, you could basically promise a death penalty for it and it would still run flagrant. Canada was trying to pass a bill that regulated the internet, but even if popular sites like TPB and Warez-BB were blacklisted by ISPs, there's still tons of private trackers, warez forums, and the scene that would remain unharmed. By the time the RIAA/MPAA got done with it half the internet would be gone.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

By the time the RIAA/MPAA got done with it half the internet would be gone.

 

Precisely. I am hoping that somehow, someway, the internet remains the free place it is and survives the clutches of the corporate world.

[evilneko]

In an interesting somewhat-related note (since it relates to streaming), the RIAA already has its panties in a bunch over Amazon's new CloudDrive service.

 

Logic, the RIAA has none.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

While I think that the "piracy" thing has blown out of proportion, I do agree in principle. IMHO, the problem is the general climate of hostility towards the larger corporations (as a socialist, I can understand that) and a tendency to overlook the consequences for the smaller groups- I only use bittorrent et al for video game soundtracks and other impossible-to-find stuff because I want to help companies that produce good games (increasingly hard to find) survive.

My concern is that, as mentioned, the US government seems to favor big business over the general populace. United Citizens vs FEC, Bush tax cuts on Capital gains, the underwhelming BP settlements, Wikileaks- and now this- all increase my suspicion. For all of our supposedly democratic ways, the US has a disturbingly large disparity between various demographics, and the greatest, as always, is class.

Just my two cents.