US Senate OKs New PIRATE Act For Justice Dept. To Nail Illegal Net Downloaders
 

WASHINGTON -- The Senate agreed to legislation Friday that would allow the Justice Department to use civil penalties to go after people who illegally share and download computer files over the Internet.

Under the legislation -- called the Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation or PIRATE Act -- the Justice Department would be able to file civil copyright infringement cases against people who wrongfully download or share computer files.

Under current law, the attorney general can only file criminal copyright infringement cases, which are more difficult to prove because prosecutors must show the defendant knew the filesharing and downloading were illegal but did them anyway. Under the legislation, the Justice Department would be able to go after damages and restitution without bringing criminal charges.

The bill passed on a voice vote without debate. It now goes to the House.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in April the difficulty of proving criminal cases has kept the Justice Department from prosecuting people who download and share files using peer-to-peer filesharing software.

"The PIRATE Act will ensure the Department of Justice will have the option to impose civil penalties against users of filesharing software who are breaking federal laws but may not warrant criminal prosecution," Hatch said.

The Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, co-sponsored the legislation. He said in March the bill would "allow the government to bring its resources to bear on this immense problem, and to ensure that more creative works are made available online, that these works are more affordable and the people who work to bring them to us are paid for their efforts."

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The bill number is S. 2237. For information on the bill: http://thomas.loc.gov

I have no issues with them going after pirate sites and so on.. But the govt is just slowly creaping in on regulating everything on the internet. They won't stop untill they have full control of it.

The days of the Wild Wild West are comming to an end. Some of it is good but a lot of it is bad.

More monitoring of what we do is what I see in the years ahead.

Pretty soon from the moment you step outside your house your every move, purchase, visit, is going to be recorded.

KA - NA - DA :Graucho

There was a time in my 20s that I believed we should take them over, but now with each day goes by I am thinking that Kanukistan might soon be the only option to get away from this madness :(

TIPS 4 Life

Winston has arrived :(

You mean that isn't happening yet? Dang I've been a little presumptous :)

It's very Foucaultian -- expansion of the social control umbrella -- and more then a little frightening...

Thanks for the info, KRL :)

There are some cities in Florida that I have a feeling are already using that face recognition software in there video surveillance cams.

Go to the intersection of Military Trail and Yamato in Boca Raton and look up on the traffic light bars. They have camera's focused on every single lane when you approach and when you cross the intersection so they can grab your license plate pic.

Why would they need multiple cameras like that if they aren't zooming in on the car occupants.

Very very suspicious setup and I'd love to see the control room for those cams.

How 'bout this...there are security cameras all over the streets of London, England...and I'm not sure they ever took those down in Atlanta after the Olympics.

They've started to implement the traffic cameras in various cities in Canada, however haven't reached Quebec yet. Although given the way people drive here you'd think that would have been the logical first choice :)

If you can get access to that damn control room, we're wiring you up with every mini-cam available :)

I was told that one of the main reasons these cams are all over London is to help track down the IRA people.

I must say I am greatly greatly disappointed in the way all of this is turning out. But I really don't understand why the Justice Department is allowed to play in civil matters where they have no damages.

And I have to say that Orrin Hatch is the Goebels of America.

So just wear a fullface helmet and they cant see your face. there is no law against wearing a helmet in a car

Actually some towns have laws against wearing masks.

And if your intent is to prevent the police from monitoring you, you are interfering with police business - which is a crime.