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List:       politech
Subject:    FC: Sen. Biden wants to ban spoofing of digital rights management
From:       Declan McCullagh <declan () well ! com>
Date:       2002-07-29 14:07:06
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http://news.com.com/2010-1071-946732.html?tag=politech

   Pirate this, go to jail
   By Declan McCullagh 
   July 29, 2002, 4:00 AM PT

   WASHINGTON--Sen. Joseph Biden has become one of the newest field
   marshals in Congress' intellectual property wars.
   
   After the 59-year old Delaware Democrat took over the Foreign
   Relations committee last year, the software and entertainment
   industries enlisted him in their anti-piracy struggles. That prompted
   Biden to convene a hearing where he denounced copyright thievery in
   stentorian tones. "Windows XP was available for illegal use on the
   streets of Moscow two months before it was released in the U.S. by
   Microsoft," Biden said. "Every episode of "Seinfeld" is now available
   to download free to anyone with access to the Internet."
   
   At the hearing in February, Biden released a 52-page report written by
   his aides and titled: "Theft of American Intellectual Property:
   Fighting Crime Abroad and At Home." One section devoted to counterfeit
   products expressed the worry that "counterfeiters flood markets with
   their underpriced products and steal a great deal of revenue."
   
   A few weeks later, Biden introduced a bill titled the
   "Anticounterfeiting Amendments of 2002." It originally targeted the
   kind of large-scale pirates who manufacture fake Windows holograms,
   but in a little-noticed move this month before being sent to the
   Senate floor, the proposed legislation was rewritten to encompass
   technology used in digital rights management.
   
   Biden's new bill would make it a federal felony to try and trick
   certain types of devices into playing your music or running your
   computer program. Breaking this law--even if it's to share music by
   your own garage band--could land you in prison for up to five years.
   And that's not counting the civil penalties of up to $25,000 per
   offense.

   [...]



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