Justice Department Promises Stronger Copyright Punishments

An anonymous reader writes "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has stated that the Justice department will be getting even harder on copyright infringement, targeting repeat offenders. The new 'Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007' is headed for Congress promising to 'hit criminals in their wallets' hoping to ensure that any 'ill-gotten gains' are forfeited.

Nobody panic

[eln]

Alberto Gonzalez will forget he ever said this in a month.

Re:Drop the hammer on them

[eln]

If you're referring to the Attorney General, I agree 100%

Re:Nobody panic

[KlomDark]

Isn't a Bush toy like a vibrating dildo?

Re:Great...

[jstomel]

They're rubbing something in glee, but it sure isn't their hands.

Re:Nobody panic

[Anonymous Coward]

That guy still hasn't resigned? Hasn't he already done enough damage?

Why? I've heard that he's doing a "heck of a job"...

Re:Drop the hammer on them

[iknownuttin]

We need some sort of "three strikes, your out" law for this.

Absolutely!

If you get caught smoking pot or drinking under age.

Then sex with a minor (even if you're one too): 17 yr old sex with 15 yr old - 10 years [go.com]

And downloading a song. Why you should die! Put to death! Because the law is the law and laws are just and true! Why, all of the lobbyists in Washington just want what's best for us and so do our legislators.

And if it's illegal then that means it's EVIL and must be banned because our politicians are infallible! It's inconceivable that they would even make a mistake and violate our liberties. Why, if you disagree with the law, you're unAmerican and HATE freedom!

Re:What about when there are NO monetary gains?

[jamstar7]

That's all well and dandy for those pirates who actually make money off of piracy- but that's a small percentage of the pirates out there. The grand majority are either making use of what used to be considered fair use: Mix CDs and tapes for friends, backups of media purchased legally, copies for educational use, etc. If you're going to crack down on piracy and hit them in the wallets so to speak, what do you do when the wallet is empty and has never had any cash in it?

Significant percentages of their paychecks signed over to the *IAA every month, of course, via garnishments. Likely collected by the government on behalf of the plaintiffs to avoid it getting cancelled out by bankruptcy. A Chapter 7 will wipe out a lotta stuff, but not things like child support, student loans turned over for government collection, and Infernal Revenue garnishments for repayment of taxes. And no, IANAL, but I've had personal experience in this area.

Is it too late for me to start my own record/movie company and get in on this payday????

What a schmoe!

[Trailer Trash]

Doesn't Gonzalez realize that this sort of corporate pandering won't happen now that we have Democrats in charge of congress?

Re:ill-gotten gains???

[fotbr]

Just to play devils advocate -- What if its a really crappy movie? One that you, say, value at $5, not the $29.99 the MPAA wants for a new release? For that matter, is the value of a movie higher if its not out on DVD yet? Whats its value if the movie isn't even in the theaters yet? Do they get to bill you for the entire production cost?

I don't watch many movies, and the ones I do watch, I already own, or I happen to catch them on TV. I'm sure the MPAA will blame it on piracy, but I simply don't buy movies anymore because they're not worth it. Someone starts talking about $CelebrityOfTheWeek I'd have to go google them to figure out who the hell it is, but I don't care enough to.

Oh, and get off my lawn.
Young whippersnappers, always causing problems.
Uphill, snow, both ways...

Re:Look over there! Pirates! and Ninjas!

[Anonymous Coward]

American politics: Don't download that pr0n movie illegally! Go rape that girl instead! You'll suffer less for it...

Re:it's a good thing ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sheesh, you're overplaying this whole "house seizing" thing. The drug laws let police seize anything that is a house or is inside or near a house on the suspicion that they might get away with seizing it.