A new bill being debated in Congress would combat intellectual property piracy, according to a spokesman for Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.).
The bill, which is currently being debated within the House Judiciary Committee, would order the Department of Justice to create a piracy education program to tell people about the negative effects and risks of all forms of piracy of copyrighted material, according to the text of the bill. Berman is one of its co-sponsors.
Also, law enforcement, Internet service providers and copyright owners would share necessary information in order to combat copyright infringement, according to the bill.
Alex French, a spokesman for Berman, said the issue of the bill is often misrepresented as a debate between the Recording Industry Association of America and citizens. However, he said it is not another effort to combat illegal distribution of music though, but is meant to combat all piracy of copyrighted material.
"It's a broad-based effort," French said.
Particularly, the bill attempts to fight "mass uploaders" of illegally obtained copyrighted material on the Internet, French said. He added that a threshold has been set for "mass uploaders" which would give prosecutors more options when prosecuting a copyright infringement case.
The uploaders have to do distribute copyrighted material knowingly in order to be prosecuted, French said.
Sam Garg, a staffer for Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), said, "If it's gray then the person doesn't get convicted." Conyers is co-sponsoring the bill. The bill is being created now as part of an ongoing effort to facilitate technological uses for copyright protection and to enable more uploaders to be prosecuted, Garg said.
The copyright industry is the No. 1 export of the United States, and the government wants to keep its positive trade balance regarding copyright exportation, Garg said. This issue is not always about protecting CEOs and studios, he added.
Those who would benefit from the law are strongly supporting it. "We urge its swift enactment," said Rich Taylor, a spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America.
When people are forming their online habits, they need to be educated at an early age about copyright infringement, Taylor said.
However, AU law professor Peter Jaszi said there is no need for new copyright laws, but current ones need to be better enforced. Education programs about copyright infringement are ineffective when bureaucrats deliver them, he said.
Taylor disagreed with Jaszi.
"You never know who is the best messenger," Taylor said.
Justin Perillo, a fellow in the AU Office of the General Counsel said the University currently makes a serious effort to educate students, parents and faculty on the risks of copyright infringement and file-sharing. As part of this effort, when they sign up for AU network access, new users must sign a computer-use policy that states the rules against file-sharing, he said.
New students also see a presentation about computer use during orientation, and students receive a review of the Responsible Computer Policy in the Student Handbook, said Tiffany Sanchez, director of New Student Programs.
Sanchez also said that students are instructed to turn off their file-sharing abilities in programs such as Kazaa.
