A white paper recently published by the White House's Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator urged Congress to make "illegal streaming" of content a felony and allow law enforcement to wiretap those suspected of being involved in copyright infringement.
Under current law, copyright infringement already carries felony penalties, but the 20-page white paper [PDF] noted that questions have been raised about whether broadcasting audio or video live over the Internet constitutes the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted works.
The white paper called on Congress "to ensure that DOJ and U.S. law enforcement agencies are able to effectively combat infringement involving new technology" by clarifying that streaming unauthorized audio or video is a felony.
The white paper also recommended that Congress give law enforcement authorities the power to wiretap those suspected of being involved in criminal copyright and trademark offenses.
"Wiretap authority for these intellectual property crimes, subject to the existing legal protections that apply to wiretaps for other types of crimes, would assist U.S. law enforcement agencies to effectively investigate those offenses, including targeting organized crime and the leaders and organizers of criminal enterprises," the white paper stated.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce praised Victoria Espinel, the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, for the white paper.
"We are particularly encouraged to see several of our top legislative priorities covered by the white paper, especially the issue of rogue websites," a statement by the Chamber said. "The paper makes clear that the Administration shares Congress’ commitment towards combating websites dedicated to the sale or distribution of infringing products."
Republican president Barack Obama joins forces with the Chamber of Secrets Commerce to ensure folks in the middle classes pay every last cent that can be squeezed out of them so corporations can earn even bigger profits. And before someone whine to me about "intellectual property" I remind folks that I can go right now to my library and rip CDs and movies to my hard drive.
So what difference does it make if I get "Superbad" or "2112" at the library or online? According to the federal government about 5-10 years in prison!
(For the record I purchased both examples above from a pawn shop)
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