November 9th, 2007
Under PIRATE bill, Justice Dept would sue filesharers
Those representatives of the people, your U.S. senators, may not be able to block the nomination of an attorney general who is not sure that waterboarding is torture, but they are ready to fight against a true evil: P2P pirates.
Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) have introduced, for the third time, the PIRATE Act (PDF), which somehow is shorthand for the Intellectual Property Enforcement Act, Ars Technica reports.
The bill would authorize the Department of Justice to bring civil charges against file-sharing scum, limiting the penalties to those that could be imposed in criminal charges (excepting jailtime, of course.) The Attorney General could pursue civil charges only if the act would also constitute a crime.
So, why does the recording industry need the government to do its litigation dirty work? Maybe so those trying to make a buck off of consumers don’t have to come across as the same people trying to bankrupt consumers like Jammie Thomas? Or maybe Leahy has it right:
“Copyright infringement silently drains America’s economy and undermines the talent, creativity and initiative that are a great source of strength to our nation. When we protect intellectual property from copyright infringement, we protect our economy and our ideas.”
