FC: Congress is more than doubling number of federal copyright cops

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Sat Jul 28 2001 - 13:38:45 PDT

  • Next message: Declan McCullagh: "FC: U.K. anti-terrorism law imperils hackers, privacy, property"

    http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45608,00.html
    
       Congress Covets Copyright Cops
       By Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
       2:00 a.m. July 28, 2001 PDT
       
       WASHINGTON -- If you've ever contemplated violating the Digital
       Millennium Copyright Act, be warned: Congress is set to more than
       double the number of federal copyright cops.
       
       A draft of next year's budget includes plans to hire far more Justice
       Department attorneys and FBI agents who are charged with placing more
       pirates in prison.
       
       This comes one week after Attorney General John Ashcroft spoke in
       Mountain View, California, about the threat of online piracy. In the
       same week, geek protesters demanded the release of Dmitry Sklyarov, a
       Russian programmer arrested on felony copyright charges.
       
       That's exactly what should be happening, according to a Senate
       committee report. In an apparent reference to the prosecution, it
       says: "The committee is aware that the FBI has launched an initiative
       to investigate violations of federal copyright laws protecting certain
       marketed software applications. The committee supports FBI efforts..."
       
       The Senate has earmarked $10 million for copyright prosecutions,
       enough money for 155 agents and attorneys in the fiscal year starting
       in October. That's up from a current $4 million allocated for 75
       positions.
       
       Copyright holders, who applauded the prosecution of Sklyarov on
       charges of violating the controversial DMCA, said they hoped the
       additional cash will put more DMCA pirates and copyright thieves
       behind bars.
    
       [...]
    
    
    
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
    You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
    To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
    This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Jul 28 2001 - 14:06:27 PDT