Administration Seeks To Make Unauthorized Streaming A Felony 398
wabrandsma writes "From the Washington Post: 'You probably remember the online outrage over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) copyright enforcement proposal. Last week, the Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force released a report on digital copyright policy that endorsed one piece of the controversial proposal: making the streaming of copyrighted works a felony. As it stands now, streaming a copyrighted work over the Internet is considered a violation of the public performance right. The violation is only punishable as a misdemeanor, rather than the felony charges that accompany the reproduction and distribution of copyrighted material.'"
YouTube...? (Score:5, Interesting)
Won't this effectively make the posting of YouTube clips on websites / blogs / social media a felony also?
Sheesh.
Proposal (Score:5, Interesting)
Traditionally the copyright system was to give authors the ability to impose civil liabilities on those who infringed upon their works. It was incumbent upon them to identify who was doing the infringing and file a legal action. Their lobby has shifted this burden onto the people by criminalizing copyright violations, effective turning our public law enforcement into their own private investigators on our dime.
Sine the general public won't likely accept my libertarian view that we should simply reduce the governments capacity to engage in law enforcement to the point where it /must/ focus only on seriously disruptive crimes. Let me get out of character and propose a TAX. Its only fair after all those who use the service should pay.
How about we say: Any entity that engages in the distribution, sale, or licensing of copyrighted works in the form of recorded music, finished films and movies, software, or long form narratives for a profit shall be subject to the copyright enforcement levy; with the exception of original authors engaging in a single one time transfer of all copyright associated with a work. Entities which meet this criteria shall be required to report what part of their revenues are associated with these activities. The tax rate shall be determined by the GAO estimate of costs incurred by federal law enforcement related to copyright enforcement. The tax rate shall not be less than 1% and shall not exceed 1000% of the revenues upon which it is levied. (And get broad public support) proceeds from this tax level shall be used to provide scholarships to low income college students.
Well I think the rest of the world (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why not? (Score:5, Interesting)
There are a lot of unofficial tournaments for a lot of games. So that could possibly become a felony. Let alone all those YouTube Let's Plays which are also a thing.
I'm sure they intend this for video/music, but as always our lawmakers are a decade behind everybody else.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a prime example for the overcriminalization in the US. What should be a civil case where some corp should sue a private citizen becomes a thing with a DA and a possible prison sentence.
And people wonder why prisons are overflowing...
Re:Why not? (Score:2, Interesting)
As for Swedish law, there are no provisions preventing prosecutors from interrogating suspects abroad. Doing so is, in fact, a routine matter. An example: In late 2010, at roughly the same time that Ms. Ny decided to issue a European Arrest Warrant for Assange, Swedish police officers went to Serbia to interview a well-known gangster suspected of involvement in an armed robbery.
In a radio interview last Friday, a Swedish professor emeritus of international law, Ove Bring, confirmed that there are no legal obstacles whatsoever preventing Ms. Ny from questioning Assange in London. When asked why the prosecutor would not do so, Professor Bring responded that "it's a matter of prestige not only for prosecutors, but for the Swedish legal system
If he's in the Ecuadorian Embassy, then the Swedes have no entry rights unless granted to them by the Ecuadorian ambassador. Therefore, it's not Swedish law preventing them from interrogating/questioning Assange, but the legal right of the Ecuadorian government to prevent him from being questioned on their sovereign property.
If they want to talk to him, they only need to ask and I have no doubt it would be granted.
The problem is that this would be an utter waste of time as anyone who had ever been through a police interview would tell you since the Assange would be free to terminate the interview at will by simply walking out of the room where the prosecutors could not follow.
Also, anything they mention in the interview would not help their cause one bit. Either they would make it obvious that the charges against him are utter drivel that will not stand up in court by having no worthwhile evidence to put on the table in which case he can be fairly sure that the idea of him being sent onwards to the US to be thrown in a supermax next to Mr Manning is really on the cards or they would have a tons of evidence that they put to him that makes him realise he really does stand a chance of being convicted of some sort of statutory rape charge and thrown in jail in Sweden then deported as an undesirable upon his release.
Obviously the flight back to Oz would have to stop in the US to refuel along the way :)
PS - I know he has lost his Oz citizenship but if Sweden were deporting him as a convicted criminal I reckon they would send him there anyway then just let the US intercept him enroute.
What about personal streaming? (Score:4, Interesting)
Does that make me a felon? (Not counting the number of laws I have inadvertently broken in this screwed up country).