Torturer-in-chief and selective amnesiac Alberto Gonzales has proposed a new copyright law that will increase the DMCA's penalties for circumvention and — amazingly — penalize attempted infringement.
The DMCA hasn't put a penny into an artist's pocket. It hasn't reduced copyright infringement. Of course, what America needs is more DMCA.
Criminalize "attempting" to infringe copyright. Federal law currently punishes not-for-profit copyright infringement with between 1 and 10 years in prison, but there has to be actual infringement that takes place. The IPPA would eliminate that requirement. (The Justice Department's summary of the legislation says: "It is a general tenet of the criminal law that those who attempt to commit a crime but do not complete it are as morally culpable as those who succeed in doing so.")
(Thanks to everyone who suggested this story!)
