Congress Moves to Criminalize P2P
Looks like Richard Stallman might be right. If these bills and others in the future that are equally punitive are passed, we may become a society with such heavy protectionist measures that any sharing of texts will be viewed as wrong, or, at least, so dangerous that everyone will be scared to share the wrong file. From Wired:
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.
In addition, on Thursday, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) introduced a bill that would allow the Justice Department to pursue civil cases against file sharers, again making it easier for law enforcement to punish people trading copyright music over peer-to-peer networks. They dubbed the bill "Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation Act of 2004," or the Pirate Act.


