Ashcroft: Busting P2P Pirates "Top Priority"

[Roundabout]

From Wired:

Ashcroft Vows Piracy Assault

While the entertainment industry has had some recent setbacks in its fight against piracy in the courts and in Congress, it has a new ally in John Ashcroft, who recently pledged to make cracking down on copyright violators a top priority.

On Tuesday, the attorney general released a report from the Department of Justice's Intellectual Property Task Force that outlines plans to beef up enforcement of copyright violations.

"With the recommendations put forward by the task force, the department is prepared to build the strongest, most aggressive legal assault against intellectual property crime in our nation's history," Ashcroft said in a statement.

Those recommendations include increasing the number of FBI agents to sniff out copyright violators, better training programs for prosecutors and law enforcement officers who investigate such offenses, and increasing cooperation between businesses and individuals affected by such theft.

The report - which covers copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks and patents - also says that those who benefit most from this theft "are criminals, and alarmingly, criminal organizations with possible ties to terrorism."

Calling it "music to our ears," Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, praised the Justice Department for making the prosecution of copyright violators a priority. "No administration has ever mounted such a comprehensive approach to defending America's gift to the world -- our creativity," Bainwol said in a statement. The Motion Picture Association of America also applauded the recommendations.

The task force also lends its support to several pieces of copyright legislation. The Justice Department supports the Induce Act (SB2560), which would hold businesses liable for encouraging people to infringe copyright. It also supports the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act (HR4077), which would amend copyright law "to clarify that it may be a violation merely to offer copyright works in a digital format for others to copy," according to the report. The task force also endorsed the ART Act (SB1932), which makes it a felony to use a video recording device in a movie theater.

The task force opposes the Boucher Bill (HR107), however, when it states that "the circumvention of technological safeguards protecting copyright works should be subject to prosecution." The Boucher Bill would permit the sale of devices for fair-use purposes.

Extra enforcement help from the Justice Department is unnecessary, and should such recommendations be implemented, privacy will suffer, according to Jason Schultz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

In the report, the task force suggests expanding wiretap capabilities for authorities investigating intellectual property crimes that could affect public health or safety.

"This is the opening of the door," Schultz said. "This report shows that they want to use copyright infringement as a mechanism for them to expand the scope of who they can snoop on. That's obviously something that we're very concerned with."

"This is a clear example of getting taxpayers to fund the RIAA's private war," Schultz said.

Entire Story HERE

[lordsmurf]

Hopefully he'll be gone come January anyway. Kerry won't be keeping him. These are all YAWN stories for now.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Hopefully he'll be gone come January anyway. Kerry won't be keeping him. These are all YAWN stories for now.

It won't matter who's in office,the RIAA/MPAA is in everybody's pocket.

[JohnnyCNote]

It's the smart move on Ashcroft's part. After all, most software pirates don't pack AK-47's, live in caves in hard to reach places and speak English, so they won't have to find an interpreter....

[BJ_M]

top priority sure has shifted -- JohnnyCNote is exactly right -- and they figure kids dont vote either

[JohnnyCNote]

Or has the priority really shifted at all? Actions speak louder than words. How many "terrorists" have they caught, and how many "pirates" have been taken to court, particularly in the past couple of years?

[BJ_M]

no one knows how many "terrorists" have been caught because no one is telling and any court cases ussually are secret ....

as for "pirates" - a few 100 i know of , maybe world wide 1000-2000 (in china some were executed) .. i am not really sure ...

p2p users in USA 30-40 million it was estimated i believe.

[ViRaL1]

It's P2P pirates that keep me from sleeping at night. Nobody gives a rat's ass about terrorists. Viva Valenti!!!

[adam]

(in china some were executed)

Please tell me you are referring to the terrorists and not the pirates. Are you serious? That is ridiculous.

[JohnnyCNote]

I imagine it was the pirates who were executed, given China's rather abysmal record on human rights....

[oceanview]

Go Ashcroft!. Yep....P2P pirates are planning to terrorize us all. You go girl. Yep...this is definetly a Home Land security issue; it's major. Forget Osama, forget Iraq; forget the one beheading any and everybody; forget the real issues....put all your resources behind this; it's way more important.

Oops...better be careful about what I say...who knows...I may be a "person of interest" now.

Seriously, Ridge...find the 911 culprits. Every one you have and or have had other countries detain are being released for lack of information. Gazillion of dollars, the best tech equipment and resources and you're no further ahead.

Wake up man! Get your act together!!!!

[bugster]

Calling it "music to our ears," Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, praised the Justice Department for making the prosecution of copyright violators a priority. "No administration has ever mounted such a comprehensive approach to defending America's gift to the world -- our creativity,"

And this means that no country other than America produces creative works, what an arrogant Ba***rd he is

[Steen4]

Hey, look at it this way: as soon as Osama tries to download Coldplay, we've got his ass!! Too bad we can't get Coldplay, as well...or can we?

[junkmalle]

Calling it "music to our ears," Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, praised the Justice Department for making the prosecution of copyright violators a priority. "No administration has ever mounted such a comprehensive approach to defending America's gift to the world -- our creativity,"

And this means that no country other than America produces creative works, what an arrogant Ba***rd he is

And aren't gifts given away for free?

[BJ_M]

(in china some were executed)

Please tell me you are referring to the terrorists and not the pirates. Are you serious? That is ridiculous.

i am serious -- it was the software pirates

[Skoorb]

You know, I've never heard a single thing I liked out of that demon (Ashcroft). He really is like the anti-Christ.

[AlienDust]

Stupid Asscroft, I mean Ashcroft lost his senate seat to a dead guy in the 2000 election, that just shows how much he sucks. Then Bush appoints the loser to be his Attorney General? That just goes to show, vote for a retard, and he will bring in his retarded friends, that he probably met in his special ed. classes, and they will try to do retarded shit like this.
(obviously, im joking about them being in special ed.)

[BJ_M]

let get away from politics - which is where this is heading ... or the thread will be closed ....

thanks

[bazooka]

I am going to leave this for Ashcroft and his flunkies.



Piracy is looting and murdering on the high seas.

P2P is not piracy.

The people who use P2P are not terrorists.

Go harass someone else.

There are more important things than p2p.

[jntaylor63]

I think that where this thread is heading:

The RIAA will play any card to keep the current business model ( High $, little content)

no one is scared of software/music/movie pirates. But people are scared of terrorists. That will get more public backing.

[bazooka]

no one knows how many "terrorists" have been caught because no one is telling and any court cases ussually are secret ....

as for "pirates" - a few 100 i know of , maybe world wide 1000-2000 (in china some were executed) .. i am not really sure ...

p2p users in USA 30-40 million it was estimated i believe.

Actually, it is 60 million+ people in USA.

[BJ_M]

more than 10 anyway :

[ROBERT BLACK]

(in china some were executed)

Please tell me you are referring to the terrorists and not the pirates. Are you serious? That is ridiculous.

i am serious -- it was the software pirates

He's correct. The rest have fled to Canada and set up shop at the Pacific mall. :P

[AlienDust]

Did you guys here about thing awhile back where police went to, I think Mexico City, to bust a piracy ring, but when they got there, the pirates had a small division of their nations military working for them as hired protection. I was looking for the article again but I can't find it. Sorry this is kinda off topic again, in the sense that its not P2P, but as others have been mentioning other nations it made me think of it.

[BJ_M]

reminds me of the American helicopter pilot (this is true) that flew a charter into Mexico and at the airport while he was in the coffee shop (watching his copter) , the Mexican military or a police force (he is not sure which but they were in uniform with a military type truck) pulled up and removed his emergency pontoons and air tank off the helicopter and drove away ..

he was told not to make a report when he contacted the airport administration .. as then the police would confiscate his copter as "evidence" during a lengthy investigation ..

[AlienDust]

mexico is corrupt, denzel needs to go back over and clean more of the nation up like he did in Man On Fire. jk. but it was funny how the movie made Mexico City seem horrible, then at the end before the credits it said something about how great or special mexico city is. That movie made me want to avoid the place.

[MOVIEGEEK]

mexico is corrupt, denzel needs to go back over and clean more of the nation up like he did in Man On Fire. jk. but it was funny how the movie made Mexico City seem horrible, then at the end before the credits it said something about how great or special mexico city is. That movie made me want to avoid the place.

I've been there...it sucks,kind of like Tijuana but bigger.Other parts of Mexico(namely the Yucatan and the central coast) are nice.
Sorry to get off topic...Ashcroft you no good son of a ?+&*%! :P

[spiderman2k1]

Great little program to hide IP address

[Paul Simmel]

The Dems must be pretty worried to be talking this crap here!

[BJ_M]

i said to keep this non political .....