Congress mulls prison terms for KaZaA users

The Register ^ | Posted: 17/07/2003 at 12:40 GMT | By Thomas C Greene in Washington

[vannrox]

Congress mulls prison terms for KaZaA users

By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 17/07/2003 at 12:40 GMT

Not satisfied with hacking P2P networks, or destroying the computers of file sharers, House Hollywood sock puppet Howard Berman (Democrat, California) is now sponsoring legislation that would jail people who trade as little as one MP3 on the Internet.

Berman has hooked up with House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (Democrat, Michigan) to produce this Hobbesian proposal. "While existing laws have been useful in stemming this problem, they simply do not go far enough," Conyers is quoted as saying.

Details are sketchy but it appears that the legislation would simply assume that any P2P activity with a copyrighted file involves more than ten copies and represents a retail value of $2,500, automatically making it a felony and bringing in the possibility of incarceration. That's ten copies and a minimum of $2,500 assumed per individual file, we believe.

It's some pretty fuzzy math, the idea that a single song would cost $250 at retail, but that's what we elect these guys to do: ignore common decency for the greater benefit of the cartels that own them.

Berman has proven himself to be among the most eager of the RIAA's toadying eunuchs on Capitol Hill. He's proposed letting the recording industry attack P2P networks with malicious code; he's proposed forcing the FBI to drop anti-terror investigations in favor of copyright protection; and now he's offered to put people in jail for making a single music file available to others. A sterling record of devoted service by any measure. ®

[vannrox]

Related Stories:

US Senator would destroy MP3 traders' PCs

By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 18/06/2003 at 14:57 GMT

The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Orrin Hatch (Republican, Utah), thinks it would be a fabulous idea if copyright owners could remotely destroy computers that contain pirated material, the Associated Press reports.

"I'm all for destroying their machines," Hatch said during a Committee hearing Tuesday. "'If you have a few hundred thousand of those, I think people would realize' the seriousness of their actions," the wire service quotes him as saying.

This would involve creating new legislation to exempt copyright owners from old-fashioned laws that make it a crime to destroy other people's property, and from somewhat newer computer trespass and misuse statutes as well.

Such legislation would be in line with US Representative Howard Berman (Democrat, California) and his vision of allowing copyright owners and their agents to hack computer systems where copyright violations might be going on. Hatch would simply take it a bit further, permitting copyright owners to take overtly malicious action.

While there may soon be an excuse for willful destruction of property, "there's no excuse for anyone violating copyright laws," Hatch explained.

We can't quite picture the sort of attack our visionary Utah Senator has in mind. Obviously there is little danger of actually destroying a PC remotely; in spite of great advances in malware, it remains the sort of business for which a hatchet comes in most handy. You could wipe the HDD or re-flash the BIOS remotely, but victims can recover from this sort of thing.

Benefit of the doubt

One has to wonder how much evidence of wrongdoing a copyright owner would need before their exemption from prosecution would kick in. Would they have to maintain copious records of their investigations and findings? Or would they be granted a blanket benefit of the doubt and therefor not have to justify it at all? And what happens when an innocent person is victimized? If their HDD were wiped by some malicious program, they would have an awful time seeking a legal remedy with no data to challenge the media pigopolists' evidence.

Perhaps Hatch is imagining of some sort of Mission-Impossible-style DRM self-destruct regime, possibly one mandated by a law like the one contemplated by Senator Fritz Hollings (Democrat, South Carolina) known as the CBDTPA.

A mandatory DRM scheme of this sort could monitor the copyright status of content being accessed, and after a set number of 'violations' sabotage the PC with a Hatch attack. To further inconvenience copyright miscreants, the DRM mechanism could be tied to some sort of Win-XP-style 'product activation' discipline, possibly requiring users to purchase and install a new copy of their operating system to regain full control of their computers.

Or perhaps Congress will realize that Hatch is talking utter nonsense and ignore his bizarre suggestion. It all depends on how much money the MPAA and RIAA lobbyists can slip into the pockets of their Congressional lapdogs. Citizens are welcome to e-mail Senator Hatch here to offer him their kind words of support. ®

Congressman pocketed $18,000 for RIAA 'lobbying trip'

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 17/07/2003 at 23:05 GMT
The powerful Congressman at the center of the controversy over royalty rates for small webcasters took $18,000 from the Recording Industry Association of America.

As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, James Sensenbrenner was instrumental in forcing the deal that could result in an antitrust suit against the RIAA being filed by small webcasters.

The trouble is, Congressmen are forbidden from taking private donations to lobby abroad. Sensennbrenner recorded the visit to Taiwan and Thailand back in January, as a "fact finding mission".

According to the House Ethics Committee's advisory booklet on Gifts and Travel, "Members and staff may not accept expenses from a private source for travel the primary purpose of which is to conduct official business."

"If he's dictating policy, he should be a representative of the United States, not the RIAA," Boycott-RIAA founder Bill Evans told us.

The RIAA has confirmed that the purpose of Sensenbrenner's paid-for jaunt was one of exposition: "so they understand that this is a unified message coming from all levels of the U.S. government," according to an RIAA spokesperson.

"His own description belies that it was a 'fact-finding' trip," says Gary Ruskin, of the Congressional Accountability Project watchdog.

$18,000 can go a long way in Thailand. Sensenbrenner's brief trip was for just five days. Three months before his five-day RIAA-sponsored trip, Sensenbrenner surprised observers by taking a close interest in the Small Webcasters Settlement Act (HR.5469) which morphed from the anticipated six-month cooling off period into a bill specifying detailed rates and conditions, which many small webcasters found unpalatable. According to participants in the negotiations, Sensenbrenner forced the webcasters to come up with a royalty settlement with the RIAA, threatening to use his staff to write the terms instead. Contacted by The Register this week, Sensenbrenner's office referered us to the House Judiciary Committee.

"It's not for us to say the rule was violated, but the House Ethics Committee should investigate, Ruskin told The Register. However, the Committee can only investigate the representative if asked to so by a fellow Congressman.

Boycott-RIAA and the Webcaster Alliance have produced an electronic form and urge music lovers to fax their Congressional representative so that an investigation can begin. You can find it here.

[Momaw Nadon]

This is insanity!

[SerpentDove]

>>"I'm all for destroying their machines," Hatch said during a Committee hearing Tuesday. "'If you have a few hundred thousand of those, I think people would realize' the seriousness of their actions," the wire service quotes him as saying.<<

Sic Semper Tyrannus

[vannrox]

5TH AMENDMENT

The 5th amendment to the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, a provision of the BILL OF RIGHTS, provides several important protections for persons accused of a crime. It requires indictment by a grand jury on a federal offense and protection against double jeopardy and self-incrimination. It also forbids deprivation of life, liberty, or property without Due Process of law and prohibits the taking of private property for public use without just compensation).

These guarantees against abuses by the federal government were extended to cover acts of state governments by various Supreme Court decisions interpreting the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.

The 5th Amendment has been widely identified with the phrase "take the 5th" used by witnesses testifying before congressional investigating committees or judicial bodies. The right to refuse to answer questions, in any government proceeding, on the grounds of possible self-incrimination reflects a judicial interpretation broader than that intended when Congress proposed the amendment in 1789. The amendment has also been extended to such issues as involuntary or coerced confessions and the treatment of private papers.

For Further Reading Levy, Leonard W., Origins of the Fifth Amendment: The Right against Self-Incrimination (1968; repr. 1986) Peltason, J. W., Corwin and Peltason's Understanding of the Constitution, 10th ed. (1985)

[Iscool]

As usual, we can see the congress creeps do not represent the average Joe who, by the way, pays their wages...It's time to vote all Democrats and Republicans out of office...

[Husker24]

Why doesnt the government just cut the middle man and just execute everyone except Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.

[EggsAckley]

In my opinion, the suckers who downloaded from KaZaa have already been punished by being hit with the klez-bug that accompanied the tunes. My friend's kid did that, and we managed to see quite a few infected computers. I still can't access Word, and my scanner just flips me off.

*Wondering if Hatch is the one who planted the virus?*

[steplock]

bump

[Dante3]

Amazing! We have the resources to go after people who have downloaded one song. Yet no one is lifting a finger in deporting the terrorists/rapist/illegal aliens.

[Paul Atreides]

I suppose that they think that getting rid of file swapping will stop people from making copies of songs from a disc and trading it offline.

[Flavius]

There is no money in that activity...

[He Rides A White Horse]

Yeah............but those Kazaa types will bring down America, I tell you..............

[Lazamataz]

Narcotics wash into our country by the ton. Murders abound in major cities. Enron-type executives illegally drain corporate recources by the billions.

And they are focusing on music traders.

Eff em.

[BILL FROM TROUT CREEK PASS]

WAKE UP AMERICA! THE US CONGRESS WANTS TO PUT YOUR CHILDREN IN JAIL!

[He Rides A White Horse]

With everything that is facing us, it's hard to believe what passes as 'priority' in Washington today. These people need to be held accountable.

[Conservateacher]

Today I heard that Hatch wants to eliminate the requirement that our President be born a US citizen.

This guy is wacked out. The R after his name means nothing. He continues to get his ass kicked by Leahy. Wake up Utah.

[chainsaw]

legislation that would jail people who trade as little as one MP3 on the Internet.

"This is insanity!"

I Agree. Where are they going to put 20 million of these criminals that are a danger to society

[eno_]

The pressure of tens of billions in contraband profits make securing the border impossible.

A porous border makes security against threats impossible to impose at the border.

Lack of security at the border means building a surveillance society.

Illegal immigrants make cutting government impossible, due to the burden on welfare and subsidized health care.

All that makes changing from an income tax to an NRST unlikely - the government wants to know everything about your money, just in case you are a terrorist, and demands to have ready access to ALL of your money.

So the only people that get to keep what they earn and have financial privacy are in the underground economy: drug runners, illegals, etc.

Ain't it grand how, because our government protects our lives incompetently and our freedom not at all, leaches and brigands enjoy the most freedom, and terrorists will find us an easy target?

Of course, some will point out that our so-far relatively untrammeled right to bitch about this and not be thrown in prison makes of better than China. YAY! We're freer than China! The Founders would be SO proud of our performance.

[Question_Assumptions]

Such a law, if enforced, would last one election cycle and the sponsors wouldn't know what hit them.