According to the National Journal:
The Obama Administration is calling for greater law enforcement authority and tougher penalties, including prison in some cases, for people convicted of copyright infringement.
The White House’s Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel, submitted 20 recommendations to Congress on Tuesday aimed at cracking down on copyright infringement on items ranging from drugs to music and military equipment.
Espinel urged Congress to make illegally streaming copyrighted content online a felony offense in some instances.
Online piracy and counterfeiting, her report notes, are “significant concerns” for the White House. Such infringement causes “economic harm and threaten the health and safety of American consumers,” Espine report reads.
“Foreign-based and foreign-controlled websites and web services raise particular concerns for U.S. enforcement efforts. We are aware that members of Congress share our goal of reducing online infringement and are considering measures to increase law enforcement authority to combat websites that are used to distribute or provide access to infringing products.”
More info in the article.
Very laudable, of course. Unfortunately, much of the infringing content they’d like to stop comes to the U.S. from foreign websites and servers, which the U.S. has no direct power over. So I’m not sure how this is any more than a paper tiger. The most it could result in would be driving more illegal activities out of the country, where it’s safe to operate.
Now, when the U.S. states its intention to wall itself off from all foreign servers and review/edit/censor all incoming data traffic, it will be time to sit up and take serious notice.
“The Obama Administration is calling for greater law enforcement authority and tougher penalties, including prison in some cases, for people convicted of copyright infringement.”
Yes because that’s exactly what we need in the United States more people in prison costing tax payers 33k a year to house them.
This is hilariously stupid and is the result of lobbying. Lobbyists run the US, not the people.
If I was homeless in the US, I would go to the library and start downloading all the infringing content that I could. Then, after being convicted of copyright shit, I would have a nice warm place to sleep with a mattress, health care, and free food.