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US Justice Department ready to prosecute file-swappers<br />08:51 Wednesday 21st August 2002<br />Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com <br /><br />American federal authorities are turning their attention from terrorists to users of peer-to-peer networks, who could be jailed for up to five years<br /><br />The US Department of Justice is prepared to begin prosecuting peer-to-peer pirates, a top government official said on Tuesday.<br /><br />John Malcolm, a deputy assistant attorney general, said Americans should realise that swapping illicit copies of music and movies is a criminal offense that can result in lengthy prison terms.<br /><br />[Advertisement]<br />[Get ZDNet in print. FREE! ZDNet week.]<br />"A lot of people think these activities are legal, and they think they ought to be legal," Malcolm told an audience at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual technology and politics summit.<br /><br />Malcolm said the Internet has become "the world's largest copy machine" and that criminal prosecutions of copyright offenders are now necessary to preserve the viability of America's content industries. "There does have to be some kind of a public message that stealing is stealing is stealing," said Malcolm, who oversees the arm of the Justice Department that prosecutes copyright and computer crime cases.<br /><br />In an interview, Malcolm would not say when prosecutions would begin. The response to the 11 September terrorist attacks temporarily diverted the department's resources and prevented its attorneys from focusing on this earlier, he said.<br /><br />A few weeks ago, some of the most senior members of Congress pressured the Justice Department to invoke a little-known law, the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act, against peer-to-peer users who swap files without permission.<br /><br />Under the NET Act, signed by President Clinton in 1997, it is a federal crime to share copies of copyrighted products such as software, movies or music with anyone, even friends or family members, if the value of the work exceeds $1,000 (about £640). Violations are punishable by one year in prison, or if the value tops $2,500, "not more than five years" in prison.<br /><br />Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), said his industry would "welcome" prosecutions that send a message to song-swappers.<br /><br />"Some prosecutions that make that clear could be very helpful... I think they would think twice if they thought there was a risk of criminal prosecution," said Sherman, who was on the same conference panel.<br /><br />Christopher Cookson, executive vice president of Warner Bros. and another panelist, said there was "a need for governments to step in and maintain order in society".<br /><br />Swapping files in violation of the law has always been a civil offense, and the RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have the option of suing individual infringers and seeking damages.<br /><br />But, Malcolm said, criminal prosecutions can be much more effective in intimidating file-swappers who have little assets at risk in a civil suit. "Civil remedies are not adequate... Law enforcement in that regard does have several advantages," Malcolm said. "We have the advantage, when appropriate, of opening up and conducting multi-jurisdictional and international investigations.<br /><br />"Most parents would be horrified if they walked into a child's room and found 100 stolen CDs... However, these same parents think nothing of having their children spend time online downloading hundreds of songs without paying a dime."<br /><br />Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, said he was sceptical about the view that peer-to-peer piracy should be a criminal offense. "If we have 70 million people in the United States who are breaking the law, we have a big issue."<br /><br />The DOJ already has used the NET Act to imprison noncommercial software pirates, which software lobbyists hailed as "an important component of the overall effort to prevent software theft".<br /><br />During his confirmation hearing in June 2001, attorney general John Ashcroft told Congress that "given the fact that much of America's strength in the world economy is a result of our being the developer and promoter of most of the valuable software, we cannot allow the assets that are held electronically to be pirated or infringed. And so we will make a priority of cybercrime issues".<br /><br />The letter from Congress complains of "a staggering increase in the amount of intellectual property pirated over the Internet through peer-to-peer systems". Signed by 19 members of Congress, including Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, Representative James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, the letter urged Ashcroft "to prosecute individuals who intentionally allow mass copying from their computer over peer-to-peer networks".

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Swap a file, go to jail?<br />09:00 Tuesday 16th July 2002<br />Lisa M. Bowman, CNET News.com <br /><br />The music industry has said it will be targetting individual file-swappers with legal action, but so far the threats have not met with much response<br /><br />When the recording industry last month let slip plans to sue individuals who trade copyrighted songs on file-swapping services, Web surfers everywhere pulled down their MP3 collections in a frenzy of fear.<br /><br />OK, not really. Despite the music industry's hopes, such threats have so far been met with a collective yawn in the file-swapping community, which has yet to see much damage in spite of repeated legal wrangling with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).<br /><br />[Advertisement]<br />[Get ZDNet in print. FREE! ZDNet week.]<br />In the face of crackdowns on file-swapping services such as Napster and cease-and-desist letters to companies that allow employees to swap files, some free music junkies have become more determined than ever, turning to smaller and more obscure sites and services to grab their favorite tunes. Although it requires more effort, fans say, they can still get a song if they really want to.<br /><br />So now, it appears, the music industry is preparing to loose its legal dogs on those wily listeners themselves. Two weeks ago, sources close to the record labels said lawsuits against individuals are being seriously considered in the fight against peer-to-peer piracy -- a battle that until now has focused primarily on the companies that provide file-swapping software and services.<br /><br />"I think they're serious about it," said Siva Vaidhyanathan, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the author of "Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity". "I think they're serious about it because they're desperate, but I would predict it's going to do more alienating than scaring."<br /><br />Threats to go after individual users is just the latest in the labels' campaign to choke off a file-swapping system they fear will cause them to lose control over their music. In addition to suing peer-to-peer companies, the RIAA has threatened suits against companies that allow their employees to swap files.<br /><br />In addition, the labels have started using technical measures to flood swapping sites with bogus files. Such tactics could be further expanded if Congress approves legislation backed by the record labels that would explicitly allow them to harass file-swappers without fear of liability.<br /><br />So far, the labels and artists have only conducted isolated crackdowns on individuals, including an Oklahoma State University student and some Napster users who swapped Metallica and Dr. Dre songs.<br /><br />Just how far the record labels would go in expanding legal efforts against millions of ordinary file-swappers remains a mystery. After all, the labels risk alienating some of their best customers by suing them. Anyone with thousands of files on his or her computer is obviously a music enthusiast -- albeit one the music industry fears is taking music instead of paying for it.<br /><br />The RIAA thus far has focused its legal endeavors primarily on suing the peer-to-peer services that let people swap files. "It's easier for them to do that than sue the individual consumer because there's less fallout," said Judy Jennison, an intellectual property attorney at Perkins & Coie. But she's not surprised the record companies might decide to go after file-swappers.<br /><br />"In some cases, it makes more sense because peer-to-peer companies aren't the ones who are making copies of the files," she said.<br /><br />Picking their battles<br />The challenge, legal experts say, is finding unsympathetic defendants who stand little chance of galvanising broad public protest against the actions of the record labels -- industry giants that are facing twin revolts from consumers over the high price of CDs, and artists complaining about unfair contracts.<br /><br />Jennison thinks the RIAA will target people in their late 20s or early 30s who are making available massive numbers of files that are current and popular. The RIAA may also look for people who could otherwise afford to buy CDs but instead choose to play the free-swapping game, she speculated.<br /><br />Others suggest that the industry would pursue, as University of Wisconsin's Vaidhyanathan called them, "hacker types", or people who look like they might spell trouble to mainstream Americans. Already, similar tactics have been put in play by the movie industry, which successfully convinced several judges that the operators of hacker publication 2600 aided copyright infringement by providing links to code that could be used to crack copyright protections on DVDs.<br /><br />The record industry also could lean on law enforcement to do its dirty work for it, said P.J. McNealy, a research director at Gartner. "One of the problems with file-sharing right now is consumers aren't afraid of police knocking in doors and seizing computers," he said. However, criminal copyright charges, which usually must involve monetary losses or an intent to make money, often are hard to prove in cases involving individuals.<br /><br />Nevertheless, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a trade group that represents major software owners including Microsoft, has worked successfully with law enforcement to crack down on copyright infringement in the software arena -- including a sting operation that resulted in jail time for several members of the DrinkOrDie software piracy ring. The RIAA has said it wants to model its efforts after the BSA's.<br /><br />Record executives are split on whether individual lawsuits are a good idea, insiders say. No decision has been made one way or the other. But the idea is under consideration.<br /><br />"Music sales over the past year have slumped, and the industry is looking at a variety of tactics to tackle online piracy," one industry executive said.<br /><br />Cutting the wires<br />Typically the labels, like other copyright holders, have pursued individuals alleged to be involved in online piracy though their Internet service providers. ISPs have received hundreds of letters from labels, studios and other copyright holders over the past year, asking that subscribers offering large amounts of copyrighted material be stopped.<br /><br />Similar tactics were used against individuals who used different types of technology, such as FTP sites or Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to trade files. The RIAA has sued individuals operating pirate FTP sites in the past, the organisation said.<br /><br />Most industry watchers think entertainment companies are going to go after just a few defendants in an effort to show they're serious about stopping unauthorised trading of music files and trumpet the cases very publicly. The effort could be more than just a publicity stunt, however.<br /><br />A study of Gnutella users by Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center found that about 10 percent of network users provide 90 percent of the material available on some peer-to-peer networks. What's more, the Motion Picture Association of America said it's seen a 45 percent drop-off in the number of sites offering pirated music since the DrinkOrDie operation began.<br /><br />In a sense, the sue-the-user tactic is one that supporters of Napster and other file-swapping services have pointed to as an alternative to suing companies all along. During cases filed against Napster, Scour, Morpheus and others, supporters of those services have argued that the technology itself is neutral -- after all, you wouldn't expect a copyright holder to go after Xerox for providing the copying machine on which documents were illegally duplicated.<br /><br />Judges, however, have disagreed, saying, for example in the Napster case, that the company intended to profit from the file-swapping and was designed primarily to allow swapping of copyrighted works.<br /><br />Even Fred von Lohmann, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has aided in the defense of many tech companies accused of copyright infringement, said he's hard-pressed to come up with a defense under current law for someone who copies millions of files and then makes them available, without permission, to the world via the Internet. However, he's hoping cases involving individuals could spark debate over the laws themselves.<br /><br />"Then I think we can really start having a national discussion about whether copyright law has gotten out of sync with people's expectations," he said.<br /><br />News.com's John Borland contributed to this report.

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Record labels sue ISPs<br />11:01 Monday 19th August 2002<br />Reuters <br />[Source: Reuters]<br /><br />Unable to get to the people who own a Chinese Web site that distributes MP3s, the recording industry is going after ISPs instread<br /><br />The world's largest record companies sued a number of major Internet service and network providers on Friday, alleging their routing systems allow users to access a China-based Web site and unlawfully copy musical recordings.<br /><br />The copyright-infringement suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks a court order requiring the defendants to block Internet communications that travel through their systems to and from the Listen4ever site. The suit says the plaintiffs have not been able to determine who owns the Web site.<br /><br />Plaintiffs in the suit include such major labels as UMG Recordings, a unit of Vivendi Universal; Sony Music Entertainment, a unit of Sony; the RCA Records Label, a unit of Bertelsmann's BMG; and Warner Bros. Records, a unit of AOL Time Warner.<br /><br />Defendants in the suit are AT&T Broadband, a unit of AT&T; Cable & Wireless, a unit of Cable & Wireless; Sprint; Advanced Network Services; and UUNet Technologies, a unit of WorldCom.<br /><br />The suit alleges that the Listen4ever site enables Internet users to download music from a centralized location containing thousands of files. This allows them to make unlawful copies of as many recordings as they choose.<br /><br />The plaintiffs also say that Listen4ever uses offshore servers located in the People's Republic of China to host the Web site through which the illegal copying occurs. They claim that Listen4ever provides its services to Internet users in the United States through backbone routers owned and operated by the defendants.<br /><br />According to the suit, the artists whose works are being unlawfully copied and distributed through Listen4ever are: Christina Aguilera, Bruce Springsteen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eric Clapton, Barbara Streisand, Lenny Kravitz and Whitney Houston.<br /><br />The Listen4ever site also features albums that have not yet been commercially released, say the plaintiffs. For instance, they claim that the most recent album by artist Mary J. Blige, 'Dance for Me', was available on the site before it was released to stores on 13 August.<br /><br />The suit states that the Listen4ever operators seem to be based in China. However, the plaintiffs said that "strikingly absent" from the site is any indication of the persons or entity who owns it.<br /><br />The recording companies said the only information they have been able to find is that the domain name appears to have been registered to an individual in Tianjin in China. Even the site's links for contacting operators sends email to an anonymous Yahoo email account.<br /><br />The suit states that despite Listen4ever's connections to China the site uses a US domain name, is written entirely in English, appears to target an American audience by focusing on US artists and does not appear to feature Chinese music.<br /><br />"Listen4ever has clearly located itself in China to avoid the reach of United States copyright law," the suit said.<br /><br />The suit is the latest in a long-term attack by record labels on Web sites and services that allow trading of digital music files. Such offerings, like Napster and Scour, have been hit with massive lawsuits claiming billions of dollars in damages for copyright violation.<br /><br />The labels have blamed weak sales and lower profits on file-sharing, and the music business has, over the last year, started making its own heavy forays into digital music as a way to try and capture some of the cost savings of online distribution while still generating revenue for its products.

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US lawmakers urge peer-to-peer crackdown<br />09:10 Monday 12th August 2002<br />Reuters <br />[Source: Reuters]<br /><br />Government representatives in the US are urging federal authorities to prosecute those who swap digital files without copyright permission<br /><br />US lawmakers have asked attorney general John Ashcroft to go after Internet users who download unauthorised songs and other copyrighted material, raising the possibility of jail time for digital-music fans.<br /><br />In a 25 July letter released late on Thursday, 19 lawmakers from both sides of the aisle asked Ashcroft to prosecute "peer-to-peer" networks like Kazaa and Morpheus and the users who swap digital songs, video clips and other files without permission from artists or their record labels.<br /><br />The Justice Department should also devote more resources to policing online copyrights, the lawmakers said in their letter.<br /><br />"Such an effort is increasingly important as online theft of our nation's creative works is a growing threat to our culture and economy," the letter said.<br /><br />A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.<br /><br />The recording industry says peer-to-peer services cut into CD sales. It has been battling them in court since 1999, when the five major labels sued pioneer file-swapping service Napster.<br /><br />A US federal judge ordered Napster to shut down its service in July 2001, but upstarts like Kazaa and Morpheus soon took its place. Kazaa, which allows users to swap movies and other media files in addition to music, said this week that its free software had been downloaded 100 million times.<br /><br />Music labels have not ruled out suing individual users and have pushed for the right to flood peer-to-peer networks with bogus files, or to disrupt them by other means.<br /><br />While a debate has raged on Capitol Hill over the proper balance between copyright protection and technological innovation, US law-enforcement authorities have taken a minimal role.<br /><br />The Justice Department filed a supporting motion siding with the record labels in the Napster case, but has brought no cases of its own.<br /><br />Rubber-stamped by labels<br />The move by lawmakers was welcomed by the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the five major labels--Bertelsmann, Vivendi Universal, Sony, AOL Time Warner and EMI Group.<br /><br />"There is no doubt, mass copying off the Internet is illegal and deserves to be a high priority for the Department of Justice," said RIAA chairman Hilary Rosen in a statement.<br /><br />An analyst for a digital civil liberties group said the Justice Department probably had better things to do with its time.<br /><br />The letter "implies that Justice should be going after relatively innocent behaviors that I suspect most Americans don't think warrant the time", said Alan Davidson, an associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology.<br /><br />On the other hand, "we would much rather see current authorities be used before Congress goes and creates brand new laws", Davidson said.<br /><br />A spokesperson for Republican representative Lamar Smith of Texas, who signed the letter, said that lawmakers did not want FBI agents to arrest casual users; they'd rather go after operators of network "nodes" that handle much of the traffic.<br /><br />Among those signing the letter were: Democratic Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware; Republican Representative James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin; Democratic Representative Bobby Scott of Virginia; Democratic Representative John Conyers of Michigan; Republican Representative Howard Coble of North Carolina; and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California.

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Microsoft bans employees from music swapping<br />10:07 Monday 29th July 2002<br />Joe Wilcox, CNET News.com <br /><br />Staff at Microsoft have been warned not to swap music or files over peer-to-peer networks because of 'significant' security concerns<br /><br />Microsoft warned its employees on Thursday night that no swapping of music or other files is to occur via its PCs or networks.<br /><br />In an email sent to the company's more than 50,000 employees, three senior Microsoft executives warned that peer-to-peer (P2P) networks used for sharing files raise "significant legal, public policy, and security concerns."<br /><br />[Advertisement]<br />[Get ZDNet in print. FREE! ZDNet week.]<br />Peer-to-peer networks are popular means for sharing MP3s and other files, typically in violation of the content owner's copyright.<br /><br />"The email kind of speaks for itself," said Microsoft spokesman Jon Murchison. "Given the proliferation of the P2P network sites, we thought it was a good time to reiterate a longstanding corporate policy to our employees."<br /><br />Microsoft distributed the email the same day that the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would allow copyright owners to legally hack into peer-to-peer networks. Last week, tech executives, including Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, sent a letter to Hollywood studio chiefs expressing willingness to cooperate in the crackdown on piracy through file swapping.<br /><br />In their email to employees, the three Microsoft executives -- Will Poole, corporate vice president for the Windows Media division; Brad Smith, general counsel; and Rick Devenuti, chief information officer -- warned of the fine line the company walks with regard to peer-to-peer networks.<br /><br />"Microsoft is a leading innovator in the area of P2P technology," the executives wrote. "We also are a company that makes its living based largely on our intellectual property, just like music labels and movie studios. It is therefore incumbent upon all of us to ensure that our employees develop and use P2P technology appropriately and securely."<br /><br />They emphasised that the importance of "respecting and protecting IP (intellectual property) rights is particularly relevant now, in light of discussions in Congress the past few months regarding IP protection."<br /><br />That fits with what others have been saying on the matter, given the activitism of groups such as the Recording Industry Association of America.<br /><br />"I've been advising my clients to also ban music-sharing software in the workplace," said security consultant Richard Smith. "Companies are just sitting ducks for RIAA lawsuits."<br /><br />In the memo, the executives contrasted the peer-to-peer efforts of music-sharing distributors AudioGalaxy, Kazaa and Morpheus against the work Microsoft is doing with Groove Networks. On Monday, Groove said it would incorporate support for Microsoft's SharePoint Team Services technology into its product.<br /><br />"While there are legitimate uses for all of these and other P2P networks, using any P2P network to obtain or share copyrighted content such as music, movies or software is strictly against corporate policy," the executives warned.<br /><br />They emphasised that copying personal music CDs to a PC is acceptable -- "you just can't share them with other people, or download ones offered by others, using company PCs or networks."<br /><br />Microsoft also is concerned that some peer-to-peer networks create potential security problems for the company.<br /><br />"Running such programs on company PCs or through company servers substantially increases the risk that our network could be hacked, that viruses could be introduced into our network, and that internal corporate documents could inadvertently be shared with others outside the company," the executives wrote.<br /><br />To support their point, they referred to two CNET News.com stories regarding separate security problems raised by Kazaa: exposing personal files and unleashing a worm.<br /><br />The executives instructed employees to obtain permission before installing or running third-party peer-to-peer network software and warned that the company would occasionally monitor its internal network for file sharing activity.

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Bill lets Hollywood hack your PC<br />09:12 Thursday 25th July 2002<br />Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com <br /><br />Upcoming legislation in the US would give copyright holders free rein to use hacking methods to disrupt peer-to-peer networks, and would protect them if they accidentally damage the PCs of law-abiding users<br /><br />Congress is about to consider an entertainment industry proposal that would authorise copyright holders to disable PCs used for illicit file trading.<br /><br />A draft bill seen by CNET News.com marks the boldest political effort to date by record labels and movie studios to disrupt peer-to-peer networks that they view as an increasingly dire threat to their bottom line.<br /><br />[Advertisement]<br />[Get ZDNet in print. FREE! ZDNet week.]<br />Sponsored by Representatives Howard Berman, a California Democrat, and Howard Coble, a North Carolina Republican, the measure would permit copyright holders to perform nearly unchecked electronic hacking if they have a "reasonable basis" to believe that piracy is taking place. Berman and Coble plan to introduce the 10-page bill this week.<br /><br />The legislation would immunise groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America from all state and federal laws if they disable, block or otherwise impair a "publicly accessible peer-to-peer network".<br /><br />Anyone whose computer was damaged in the process must receive the permission of the US attorney general before filing a lawsuit, and a suit could be filed only if the actual monetary loss was more than $250 (£160).<br /><br />According to the draft, the attorney general must be given complete details about the "specific technologies the copyright holder intends to use to impair" the normal operation of the peer-to-peer network. Those details would remain secret and would not be divulged to the public.<br /><br />The draft bill doesn't specify what techniques, such as viruses, worms, denial-of-service attacks, or domain name hijacking, would be permissible. It does say that a copyright-hacker should not delete files, but it limits the right of anyone subject to an intrusion to sue if files are accidentally erased.<br /><br />Because Congress only has about five work weeks left before it is scheduled to adjourn for the year, the outlook for the draft bill is uncertain.<br /><br />But because its sponsors include top Republican and Democratic committee chairmen, it could receive a warm welcome in the House of Representatives at a hearing tentatively scheduled for this autumn. Coble is the chairman of the House subcommittee on intellectual property, and Berman is the top Democrat on the panel.<br /><br />Berman wrote in an opinion article this month that "currently, copyright owners are unable to use some useful technological tools to deal with P2P piracy because they face potential, if unintended, liability under a variety of state and federal laws".<br /><br />"It's a good bill," Gene Smith, a spokeswoman for Berman, said on Monday. "It's always hard to defend theft and piracy -- this bill just puts into the hands of the copyright owners technologies that are already being used by the pirates."<br /><br />Smith said the purpose of the draft bill was to "fight fire with fire, fight technology with technology".<br /><br />Jessica Litman, a professor at Wayne State University who specializes in copyright law, said the draft bill improperly encourages "vigilante justice".<br /><br />"I think it's wildly overreaching," Litman said. "Copyright owners are in essence asking Congress to say that peer-to-peer file trading is such a scourge, is so bad, that stopping it is more important than enforcing any other laws that federal or state governments may have passed on computer security, privacy, fraud and so forth."<br /><br />Litman said that even if a copyright holder accidentally deleted a home video titled "Snow White", the owner of that PC could be out of luck. "Unless I can show economic harm, I can't even be compensated," Litman said. "Even if I want to be compensated, I have to jump through procedural hoops."<br /><br />The film and music industries already are developing tools to use against rogue file swapping, though they've remained mum on the details. The RIAA says its members have the right to use any "lawful and appropriate self-help measure".<br /><br />Fritz Attaway, the MPAA's senior vice president for government relations, endorsed Berman's approach on Monday, stressing that law-abiding Internet users should not be concerned.<br /><br />"No one in the motion picture industry has any interest in invading your computer or doing anything malicious with your files," Attaway said. "The idea is to make unauthorised file sharing sufficiently inconvenient or at least unsuccessful."<br /><br />The MPAA and RIAA did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.<br /><br />The Electronic Frontier Foundation condemned the draft bill as a sop to Hollywood and the recording industry.<br /><br />Digital lockdown?<br />"This is part of a greater strategy that's being implemented by the entertainment industry to lock up and control digital information in general," said Robin Gross, an EFF staff attorney. "The rights that we've enjoyed in the analogue space are now being taken away from us because we're entering a digital realm."<br /><br />Gross said she was concerned by the broad grant of immunity to copyright holders who become computer intruders. "When they screw up, they don't want you to be able to get some sort of retribution from them," she said.<br /><br />Other sponsors listed on the draft bill include key legislators such as Representatives John Conyers of Michigan, the top Democrat on the full Judiciary committee, Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, the chairman of a crime subcommittee, and Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat. Currently there is no companion legislation in the Senate.<br /><br />The next step for the draft bill is the House Judiciary subcommittee on intellectual property. A representative for Coble said earlier this month to expect a hearing starting in September, when Congress returns from its August recess.<br /><br />Berman announced plans for the legislation during a speech to a Washington trade association last month. He represents California's San Fernando Valley, adjacent to Los Angeles and Hollywood's cluster of entertainment companies.<br /><br />Coble and Berman have jointly written a second draft bill that could sharply limit Americans' rights relating to copying music, taping TV shows, or transferring files through the Internet. But they have said they do not necessarily endorse the plan's details.

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To all of us:<br /><br />Since moving to Brisbane from Sydney, I have met 4 American families that have migrated to Brisbane, Australia, some before September 11, some after. These 4 that I met were all through this forum. In all my years on this planet, I have never seen any nationality that hates their country of origin like these 4. I have mixed with all nationalities, eg Arabic, Italian, Maltese, German and so on. Although some of these people left their country because of turmoil, but they still love their country till today. But when it comes to the 4 yanks, one of which is a very close friend of mine, they despise their own country of origin. As they explained to me its becoming unbearable to live there and when you read things as what Dave put above you wonder why. Us in Australia here are a bit luckier, we haven't gone that mad yet!!! And myself, I am over 50 and will probably be dead in another 20-25 years time and won't be around to see this shit introduced into Australia.<br />This is what going to happen, I saw this on an independent channel: In England, they have perfected the face recognition software that they say recognises criminals in suspect areas. The problem is the same company is taking on new clients like the company you might work for and it just happens to be that you take a sickie and tell your boss you are too sick to go to work but the camera spots you in a shopping centre, looking very well and definitely not sick. This is an invasion of privacy and to hell with the boss.<br />Last week, on A Current Affair, they showed these latest cameras in Western Australian shopping centres, everywhere, in and out, car parks, along the side of the road and they say they are only used to catch thieves but what they don't tell you but was exposed, is these were used to catch you not stopping at the stop sign, speeding between pole 17 and pole 18, calculated speeds between two poles, so you are speeding. What next, honestly, in years to come, the best place to live will be in the middle of Australia, away from everyone. Thats if they don't stick a spy satellite above you. Thumbs down to all this pathetic technology.<br /><br />Phil <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="images/icons/default/mad.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="images/icons/default/mad.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="images/icons/default/mad.gif" />

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 52
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 52
imagine a bad Nazi accent...<br /><br />Vello, Sector 4.. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/default/cool.gif" /> <br /><br />do you receive ??<br /><br />Ve are having a disturbance in sector 4..<br /><br />come in,<br /><br />track down this dissadent, Vhilmhein DerBono..<br /><br />expadite him to the reeducation unit ASAP, and vhile ve are at it, inplant zee global detection microchip in his head, for his own saftey of coarse, so ve know where he is at all times...<br /><br />Seriously though, the worst part is that Australia has the time to see the errors of the world but it still follows down the same wrong road..<br /><br />No wonder immagrants laugh at our laws, rort our systems and call us the dumbest race on earth, <br /><br />" i'll do my drivers license in Mandarin, or else you racist...!"<br /><br />Don't worry about the fact that trafic signs are not in Mandarin in Aust....!!<br /><br />Actually some people have told me that SUE MAD USA actually makes people accountable for their own actions instead of trying to blame someone else...? not a bad thing.<br /><br />This is starting to sound like a Phils contraversy forum posting..<br /><br />PS on a good note, the Australian courts have just upheld the right of Australians to chip their playstations for all region games and make back up copies...<br /><br />Screw you Sony, the phoney.... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/default/grin.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/default/grin.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/default/grin.gif" />

Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 381,903
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Joined: Feb 2001
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Frank,<br /><br />Did you hear in paper that Microsoft was considering pulling the xbox from Australia (was Friday fortnight ago)?<br /><br />Then the next Tuesday (US Monday) Microsoft released a statement saying that this was not true!<br /><br />Bet they got screamed at by lots of angry people.

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 52
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 52
Hi all,<br /><br />I think we all know what Microsoft is really pulling !!!<br /><br />The chips have been widely available in the US for ages anyway, try gamegizmo.com etc...<br /><br />I personally imported my now "old" sega saturn directly from the US a few years ago anyway.. and I can always do that again if need be...<br /><br />you can't have new technology and contol it as well...!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/default/wink.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/default/wink.gif" />


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