A new bill, can put you in jail for sharing or, downloading files on p2p networks such as Kazaa. Called the Author, Consumer, and Computer Owner Protection and Security (ACCOPS) Act, you can read a copy of it at eff.org. In short, the bill provides for fines of up to $250,000 and up to 5 years in federal prison for sharing even one single file. Proof of actual file sharing would not be necessary as merely the use of such file sharing programs is sufficient for prosecutors to prove intent, which is also punishable.
Additionally, there are provisions that provide law for similar punishments for videotaping a movie with a digital camera. They will require p2p client software to warn users that their software can place users in jeopardy (right, like that’s going to happen). Finally, language exists in the bill to “crack down” on the practice of supplying false personal information to domain name registrars. Which is a common practice among many wishing to preserve their privacy, not to “hide from the law.”
Okay, here’s what I think:
1. The bill is being sponsored by John Conyers (D-MI) and Howard Berman (D-CA). Berman received $222,791 and Conyers $49,859 from the record and television industries as campaign contributions (from opensecrets.org). See any connection here?
2. To put this in perspective in the “real world”, you know the one that you and I live in? Not the world of rarified air inside the record company boardrooms and the Washington DC beltway? Anyway, in the real world, shoplifting a CD or DVD is a misdemeanor. Does this smack of internet hysteria? The mindless hoard reacts yet again, in a wholly inappropriate and draconian manner to The Big Scary Internet.
3. The bill only increases the judicial branch’s copyright enforcement and protection budget from $10 to $15 million. Meaning that in the front side, it looks very tough, very zero-tolerance, and hard as nails on “crime.” But, on the back side, it lacks the financial support needed to actually pursue to a degree beyond a few martyr cases for publicity’s sake. That is unless the record industry is willing to part with a lot more lost profits to try, convict, and jail offenders meaning that they would have to pay for the upkeep not you and me as taxpayers.
4. This poorly constructed, ham-fisted chunk of legislation opens up every single PC and network to exposure for any copyright violation if law enforcement or, prosecution decides to pursue you for that result. Giving the judicial branch yet another tool in The War on the Citizens of The United States.
5. Most importantly, this is yet another act of desperation of behalf of the music industry to try and recover lost profits. No matter how potentially damaging to their reputation among the consumers that they are trying to incriminate and punish.
To all of this I say fuck the record companies, fuck the career politicians who are their puppets, and fuck the short-sighted artists who support them. Find an independent label if you want me to buy your works. I will not support big record companies any longer. I suggest you do the same. Download the latest version of spyware free KaZaa Lite (v 2.1.0) where you can prevent RIAA and Ashcroft’s blackshirts from getting a list of your shared files but, you can still share them with people.