[Rumori] Congress mulls prison terms for KaZaA users

[Aaron Kruse]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/31800.html

Congress mulls prison terms for KaZaA users
By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 17/07/2003 at 12:40 GMT

Not satisfied with hacking P2P networks, or destroying the computers of 
file sharers, House Hollywood sock puppet Howard Berman (Democrat, 
California) is now sponsoring legislation that would jail people who 
trade as little as one MP3 on the Internet.

Berman has hooked up with House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John 
Conyers (Democrat, Michigan) to produce this Hobbesian proposal. "While 
existing laws have been useful in stemming this problem, they simply do 
not go far enough," Conyers is quoted as saying.

Details are sketchy but it appears that the legislation would simply 
assume that any P2P activity with a copyrighted file involves more than 
ten copies and represents a retail value of $2,500, automatically making 
it a felony and bringing in the possibility of incarceration. That's ten 
copies and a minimum of $2,500 assumed per individual file , we believe.

It's some pretty fuzzy math, the idea that a single song would cost $250 
at retail, but that's what we elect these guys to do: ignore common 
decency for the greater benefit of the cartels that own them.

Berman has proven himself to be among the most eager of the RIAA's 
toadying eunuchs on Capitol Hill. He's proposed letting the recording 
industry attack P2P networks with malicious code; he's proposed forcing 
the FBI to drop anti-terror investigations in favor of copyright 
protection; and now he's offered to put people in jail for making a 
single music file available to others. A sterling record of devoted 
service by any measure. ®