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[FYI] (Fwd) FC: Weekly column: Be a P2P pirate, go to jail? Could happen soon...



------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:53:47 -0500
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To:             	politech@politechbot.com
Subject:        	FC: Weekly column: Be a P2P pirate, go to jail? Could happen soon...
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com



http://news.com.com/2010-1071-982121.html

   Perspective: The new jailbird jinglee
   By Declan McCullagh
   January 27, 2003, 4:00 AM PT

   WASHINGTON--If you've ever used a peer-to-peer network and swapped
   copyrighted files, chances are pretty good you're guilty of a
   federal felony.

   It doesn't matter if you've forsworn Napster, uninstalled Kazaa and
   now are eagerly padding the record industry's bottom line by
   snapping up $15.99 CDs by the cartload.

   Be warned--you're what prosecutors like to think of as an
   unindicted federal felon.

   I'm not joking. A obscure law called the No Electronic Theft (NET)
   Act that former U.S. President Bill Clinton signed in 1997 makes
   peer-to-peer (P2P) pirates liable for $250,000 in fines and subject
   to prison terms of up to three years. (You may want to read it,
   since you'll likely be hearing more about it soon.)

   That's a long time to spend cooling your heels in Club Fed.

   Yet something strange is going on here. So far the Justice
   Department has made precisely zero prosecutions of peer-to-peer
   users under the NET Act.

   [rest snipped, available at 
   http://news.com.com/2010-1071-982121.html ]



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