US feds to join the fight on file sharing

A bill introduced in the US congress on Thursday would, if approved, put federal agents in the business of investigating and prosecuting copyright violations, including online swapping of copyrighted works.

HR-2517 - or the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2003 as it is only slightly more accessibly known - instructs the FBI to develop a program to deter online traffic of copyrighted material.

The bureau would also develop a warning, with the FBI seal, that copyright holders could issue to suspected violators. And the bureau would encourage sharing of information on suspected copyright violations among law enforcement, copyright owners and ISPs.

The new bill also calls for the Department of Justice to hire agents trained to deal with computer hacking and intellectual-property issues, and it requires the Attorney General, in conjunction with the departments of Education and Commerce, to develop programs to educate the public on copyright issues.

A lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the bill includes a number of troubling aspects, particularly the blurring of distinctions between official prosecution of criminal acts and civil enforcement of copyright provisions.

Wendy Seltzer, staff attorney for the EFF, said: "It's doing a bunch of things to get the FBI more involved with private enforcement of intellectual-property rights. It gives them a chance to scare a lot of users into thinking the government is after them."

Seltzer said the provision for ISPs to cooperate with police and copyright holders is particularly troubling from a privacy standpoint. "That would probably authorise them to tell ISPs, 'You also need to give information on users to the RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America) whenever they ask,'" she said.

The RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America applauded the bill.

David Becker writes for News.com