Latest Obama Administration pandering to corporate interests

[Atypical Liberal]

Not sure if this is the right forum; feel free to move if necessary.

http://www.mosesavalon.com/mosesblog/946/music-business/obama-issues-illegal-streaming-crackdown-signals-end-of-internet-piracy/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ip_white_paper.pdf

The Obama administration is now moving to make file sharing a felony with a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

A person could go steal all the CDs they could carry from a music store and get less of a sentence.

"Here’s one story you won’t see going viral on a geek blog near you: the Obama administration is going to make torrent streaming, also known as P2P (peer to peer) sharing of music, a felony. A felony. This means, according to the Administration’s White Paper, recommending an upgrade to the act of illegal streaming of music to one of “financial espionage,” carrying prison time of up to 20 years.

...

The White Paper, which makes the recommendations to Congress, includes as part of its focus, websites that “provide access to infringing products,” and would give local authorities “wiretap rights” in order to gather evidence. In other words, sites promoting the P2P lifestyle—in any way, would be investigated the same way as street gangs and the Mafia."

Gotta protect those corporations.

[Angry Dragon]

1. Bring down a country due to fraud ......... priceless

you get bailouts and they look the other way and try to blame others for your fraud..........

[Godhumor]

2. The summary of the white paper is wrong and given to dramatics

The White Paper does not just discuss file sharing, but actually hits multiple points. So here is what it actually says:

-Recommends moving from a 15 year maximum sentence to a 20 year maximum sentence for economic espionage only

-Asks for Congress to clarify when copyright infringement is a felony.

(From the paper, "Existing law provides felony penalties for willful copyright infringement, but felony penalties are predicated on the defendant either illegally reproducing or distributing the copyrighted work.2 Questions have arisen about whether streaming constitutes the distribution of copyrighted works (and thereby is a felony) and/or performance of those works (and thereby is a not a felony).")

In other words, lay out in plain speak when something is or is not a penalty.

- Asks for repeat copyright infringers to be sentenced on a tier system (In other words you do it once and get caught you're sentenced x way, if you do it again and get caught your sentence becomes more severe)

- Asks for wiretaps for criminal copyright and trademark infringement. I suppose you could say this is a gateway for wire-tapping on P2P, but it is clear they are targeting counterfeiting from the wording in the paper.

- Spends most of the rest of the paper discussing counterfeit drugs.

[LiberalEsto]

3. They have to keep those private prisons filled somehow

Heaven forbid the for-profit prison industry would lose money.

[taught_me_patience]

4. How many banker have gone to prison for "financial espionage?"