Techdirt reports that Senate bill 978 – a bill to amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes – may be used to prosecute people for embedding YouTube videos.
According to Mark Masnick, if a website embeds a YouTube video that is determined to have infringed on copyright and more than 10 people view it on that website, the owner or others associated with the website could face up to five years in prison.
Read Masnick’s article here. He explains how the new law would expand copyright violations from reproducing and distributing to performing – including streaming video over the internet.
As readers of Infowars.com know, many videos are removed from YouTube after copyright owners complain about infringement. This happens with thousands of news clips every year. Most people are familiar with the now common black box replacing a video that says the video has been removed for copyright reasons.
If enacted, this law will go one step further and turn people who embed a copyrighted video into criminals. It will also set the stage to criminalize linking to copyrighted information — like corporate media news sources — and shut down the alternative media.
It will also make people think twice about putting up all kinds of videos, from news reports to clips from documentaries and other educational material.
It does not take a vivid imagination to realize the political implications of this legislation.
Full text of bill below or at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s112-978
Text of S. 978: A bill to amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for...
May 12, 2011 - Introduced in Senate. This is the original text of the bill as it was written by its sponsor and submitted to the Senate for consideration. This is the latest version of the bill currently available on GovTrack.
S 978 IS
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 978
To amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 12, 2011
Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. CORNYN, and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. CRIMINAL INFRINGEMENT OF A COPYRIGHT.
(a) Amendments to Section 2319 of Title 18- Section 2319 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
‘(2) shall be imprisoned not more than 5 years, fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if--
‘(A) the offense consists of 10 or more public performances by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copyrighted works; and
‘(B)(i) the total retail value of the performances, or the total economic value of such public performances to the infringer or to the copyright owner, would exceed $2,500; or
‘(ii) the total fair market value of licenses to offer performances of those works would exceed $5,000;’; and
(2) in subsection (f), by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
‘(2) the terms ‘reproduction’, ‘distribution’, and ‘public performance’ refer to the exclusive rights of a copyright owner under clauses (1), (3), (4), and (6), respectively of section 106 (relating to exclusive rights in copyrighted works), as limited by sections 107 through 122, of title 17;’.
(b) Amendment to Section 506 of Title 17- Section 506(a) of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)(C), by inserting ‘or public performance’ after ‘distribution’ the first place it appears; and
(2) in paragraph (3)--
(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘or public performance’ after ‘unauthorized distribution’; and
(B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘or public performance’ after ‘distribution’.
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