Ernest Miller pursues research and writing on cyberlaw, intellectual property, and First Amendment issues. Mr. Miller attended the U.S. Naval Academy before attending Yale Law School, where he was president and co-founder of the Law and Technology Society, and founded the technology law and policy news site LawMeme. He is a fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School.
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I've discussed the PIRATE Act here (PIRATE Act Reveals Sen. Hatch as Strange Ally of Pornography Industry), which Copyfight has followed up here (Larry Flynt, Poster-Child for the PIRATE Act). However, having thought about the proposed law a little more, I came to an interesting realization: you can get wiretaps for federal copyright infringement investigations.
Under 18 USC 2516(3), you can get a wiretap for any "electronic communication" (but not for wire or oral communications) as long as "the interception may provide or has provided evidence of any Federal felony." Copyright infringement under 17 USC 506 is a felony. Under the proposed PIRATE Act, the government has options with regard to people who violation 17 USC 506 (Criminal copyright infringement). The government can criminally prosecute them or bring a civil suit. Either way, the government can use a wiretap to gather evidence for their case.
Under a regular civil suit for copyright infringement by means of file sharing, the copyright holder can only observe that the infringing files are available for download. They can't really tell how many people have downloaded them, if any. Furthermore, copyright holders have no way of going after people who are only downloading files and not uploading them. Wiretaps to the rescue. The RIAA may not be permitted to wiretap file sharers, but the government certainly can. The RIAA must be salivating at the prospect.
Tracked on May 26, 2004 01:54 PM
Important information on the "PIRATE Act" from Blind Mind's Eye Senator Orin Hatch and the pornography industry working together for the PIRATE Act? *********************************************** Wiretaps for civil copyright infringement?... [Read More]Tracked on May 27, 2004 08:26 PM
Should Have Seen the INDUCE Act Coming from Copyfight Senator Orrin Hatch (R - UT) is threatening to introduce a new copyright bill that would punish anyone who "intentionally aids, abets, induces, counsels, or procures" copyright infringement (INDUCE Act is Free Speech Killer). Two months ago, the Senato... [Read More]Tracked on June 17, 2004 08:40 PM
PIRATE Act + INDUCE Act = ??? from The Importance of... On Friday, C|Net News reported that the Senate had passed the PIRATE Act (S.2237 Status) "overwhelmingly" (Senate OKs antipiracy plan). The Act would permit government to bring civil enforcement lawsuits against willful infringers. As Frank Field said ... [Read More]Tracked on June 27, 2004 05:02 PM
Sen. Hatch's Shifting Rhetoric in Favor of the INDUCE Act (IICA) from The Importance of... Last June, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) put forward the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act (IICA, née INDUCE Act). He introduced the bill with a long and somewhat strange statement, which I responded to in detail: The Obsessively Annotated Introduction... [Read More]Tracked on July 23, 2004 05:22 PM
PDEA Pushes Through the House from A Copyfighter's Musings Donna reports that the PDEA has passed through the House. [Read More]Tracked on September 29, 2004 08:16 PM
Copyright War from MaisonBisson.com Something doesn't add up. ARIA, Australia's version of our RIAA recently announced that sales continued to slide there this past year, while critics pointed out that they really had a [Read More]Tracked on October 21, 2004 05:06 PM
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