While two bills working their way into federal law do not specifically address the common practice of illegal sharing of music and movie files, they represent a greater effort to crack down on widespread illegal use of today's technology.
One bill, the Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement Act, known as CREATE, currently awaits President George W. Bush's signature.
CREATE's main purpose is to fix an unintended consequence of a previous bill, the Bayh-Dole Act, which made it difficult for collaborative teams to receive patents for their works, said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in a statement.
CREATE is also meant to allocate funding to prosecute those who use Internet technology illegally. It would form a program to educate the general public about copyrights, illegal use of them and the consequences of obtaining illegal copyrighted materials, the bill states.
A similar bill, the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, passed Nov. 20 in the Senate and is waiting to be voted on in the House of Representatives. This legislation, known as FECA, deals with recording movies in theaters and distributing films or music before they are released commercially.
FECA would enact criminal penalties, including prison time up to 10 years for repeat offenders, and fines.
Hatch is sponsoring both bills.
"Senator Hatch believes that as technology improves, Congress must also improve the laws to reflect its duty of protecting intellectual property," said Margarita Tapia, a member of his judiciary committee. "This is the result of a careful bipartisan effort."
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) co-sponsored both bills.
"The ease of duplication and nearly instantaneous communication that make these technologies so wonderful has also been used to undermine intellectual property rights," Leahy said in a statement. "As a result, many of our copyright-holders are reluctant to embrace the very tools that offer so much to consumers and, if used legally, to our innovators."
However, some groups, such as the Electronic Freedom Foundation, disagree.
"The current battles surrounding peer-to-peer file sharing are a losing proposition for everyone," the foundation said in a press release. "The record labels continue to face lackluster sales, while tens of millions of American file sharers - American music fans - are made to feel like criminals."
As an alternative, the foundation proposes that the music industry form a collective from which people could share files in exchange for a small payment, such as $5 each month.
Some AU students who share files said they can also see the other side of the argument.
"It's hypocritical to say, because I like file sharing, but I can see why it's unfair," said Elyse Franko, a freshman in the School of International Service.
AU received a subpoena about two weeks ago for the names of three network users whom the Recording Industry Association of America plans to sue for sharing music files, The Eagle previously reported.
Justin Perillo, of AU's Office of General Counsel said that his office, along with e-operations, received and responded to more than 150 complaints about illegal activity on AU's network from the music, computer and film industries.
