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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Gonzales proposes criminalizing "attempted infringement"


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.")
Link (Thanks to everyone who suggested this story!)


posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:40:16 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments


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