Congress Moves to Criminalize P2P

[bkbroil]

An article on Wired News uncovers legislation being introduced to impose jail time for sharing as little as one file, while the House may consider a bill that would lower the bar to take people to court.

If the draft becomes law, anyone sharing 2,500 or more pieces of content, such as songs or movies, could be fined or thrown in jail. In addition, anyone who distributes content that hasn't been released in wide distribution (for example, pre-release copies of an upcoming movie) also would face the penalties. Even a single file, determined by a judge to be worth more than $10,000, would land the file sharer in prison.
Congress appears to be preparing assaults against peer-to-peer technology on multiple fronts.
A draft bill recently circulated among members of the House judiciary committee would make it much easier for the Justice Department to pursue criminal prosecutions against file sharers by lowering the burden of proof. The bill, obtained Thursday by Wired News, also would seek penalties of fines and prison time of up to ten years for file sharing.
What do you think about this?

[Brad Isaac]

uncovers legislation being introduced to impose jail time for sharing as little as one file..

What are they thinking? The file MP3 itself sells for 99 cents. They honestly think a judge or jury will send someone to jail for stealing a buck? That's perhaps the most laughable move they've made yet.
Next, they'll be suggesting the death penalty for people caught singing "Happy Birthday" without paying royalties.

[bkbroil]

There was a big news story the other day about a fellow who had his laptop plugged in (I can't remember where....it was a public place) and he was arrested for stealing .05 worth of electricity....Crazy...crazy stuff....

[Brad Isaac]

File sharing has no effect on CD sales, a pair of US academics have claimed.

[jkendrick]

Originally Posted by Brad Isaac

What are they thinking? The file MP3 itself sells for 99 cents. They honestly think a judge or jury will send someone to jail for stealing a buck? That's perhaps the most laughable move they've made yet.
Next, they'll be suggesting the death penalty for people caught singing "Happy Birthday" without paying royalties.

Yes it's stupid but the idiot politicians have been led to believe by the music industry that the one file for 99 cents could be given by the individual to a million "thieves". This is the scare tactic they are using to force these ridiculous penalties.

[bkbroil]

This is the scare tactic they are using to force these ridiculous penalties.

They can use all the scare tactics they want....but the fact of the matter is that they're shooting themselves in the foot..People are fed up.