[LINK] SOPA back in US (stop online piracy)

[Jan Whitaker]

[note: its is already illegal at a misdemeanor level, but not a 
felony -- big dif.]

Obama Administration Revives SOPA Proposal To Make Unauthorized 
Streaming A Felony
The Huffington Post  |  By Betsy Isaacson       Posted: 08/07/2013 4:53 pm EDT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/unauthorized-streaming-felony_n_3720479.html

We might never see Sophia Grace Brownlee's fantastic Nicki Minaj 
impression, or this adorable ukulele cover of Jason Mraz's "I'm 
Yours," or even a young Justin Beiber performance again if the 
Department of Commerce gets its way.

The department's Internet Policy Task Force last week proposed making 
it a felony to stream copyrighted works. According to Techdirt, such 
a provision, if interpreted broadly, could apply to people who upload 
covers of themselves performing songs to YouTube without permission.

That could be bad news for people like Bieber, who first won fame in 
part through YouTube videos of his performances of popular R&B covers.

An earlier bill to criminalize streaming died in the Senate in 2011. 
At the time, activists opposing it began a "Free Bieber" campaign, 
which emphasized how the bill would put popular YouTube artists in jeopardy.

Criminalizing streaming was then made a key component of the 
much-maligned Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which sought to stem the 
spread of copyrighted material on the Web. Opponents, with the 
support of Google, Reddit and other large websites, said the bill 
threatened free speech online and mounted a protest campaign that 
culminated with President Barack Obama announcing that he would not 
support the legislation.

Streaming copyrighted works without permission is currently a 
misdemeanor -- technically punishable by a fine or, rarely, a short 
stint in jail.

More often, it leads to civil suits. In the latest example, a group 
of music publishers on Tuesday sued Fullscreen, a multi-channel 
network on YouTube, for posting unauthorized videos of lesser-known 
artists covering popular songs.

The Internet Policy Task Force report notes that as streaming has 
become an increasingly popular means of viewing copyrighted content, 
"the lack of potential felony penalties for criminal acts of 
streaming disincentivizes prosecution and undermines deterrence."

Their solution is to make streaming -- including material that would 
fall under the "public performance" category -- the kind of crime 
that courts can punish with years of prison time.

Perhaps we should expect a Free Bieber revival, too.


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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