slx
2004-10-13, 05:32
the rat bastards will spend more trying to find me for downloading a shitty copy of a bad flick than they will to find osama
US launches landmark new crackdown on film, music piracy
Tue Oct 12, 5:50 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The United States announced a landmark crackdown on film and musical piracy targeting counterfeiters and their customers in an assault modelled on the wars on drugs and terror.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) launched the aggressive new offensive on what he said was an "epidemic" of criminal piracy in Los Angeles, home to the Hollywood movie business and much of the US music industry.
Unveiling recommendations from a body set up by his Department of Justice (news - web sites) to protect intellectual property rights, Ashcroft said he was planning legislative and regulatory assaults on music and film thieves.
He called the plan "a blueprint for the most aggressive, the most ambitious, the most far-reaching law enforcement effort ever undertaken to protect intellectual property and to counter the impact of intellectual theft.
"As intellectual property's value to our economy has become more important, however, the theft of this national resource has become epidemic," he said, adding that the scourge threatened the US economy.
"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," he said.
The Justice Department (news - web sites)'s Task Force on Intellectual Property issued 55 pages of recommendations aimed at protecting the recording and cinema industry from an estimated 250 billion of dollars in annual piracy losses.
The report, compiled by a dozen top Justice Department officials over the past seven months, calls for a crackdown on all offenders from solo operators to international crime rings that are cost US businesses dearly.
Among the recommendations to be implemented are a proposal to charge and prosecute intellectual property crimes under federal laws as much as possible, in the same way the US government targets organized crime, fraud and illegal importation, such as drug trafficking.
"We're going to make it much more difficult for individuals to be involved in this arena," Ashcroft told reporters.
"Right now, this part of our economy is hemorrhaging and we will stem the flow with an aggressive programme that's been recommended (by) this task force," he said.
The task force proposed a dozen changes to rules governing criminal enforcement of intellectual property law and also called for the opening of five new anti-piracy offices across the United States.
Intellectual property industries make up approximately six percent of the US gross domestic product, employ more than five million people, and contribute 626 billion to the US economy, Ashcroft said.
The growing value of intellectual property coupled with the ease and low cost of copyright infringement via means such as the Internet has significantly boosted the threat of theft in recent years.
"Well-organized criminal enterprises have recently begun to increase the scale, scope, and sophistication of international theft and counterfeiting," the Justice Department said in a statement.
The advent of new technology such as Internet downloads has significantly worsened the problem, allowing thieves to steal at the click of a button.
Dan Glickman, the new president of the Hollywood studios' influential lobbying body, the Motion Picture Association of America, applauded "the aggressive" initiatives aimed at protecting his industry.
"Piracy of intellectual property is a massive, global problem with far-reaching implications on the US economy," he said.
"In addition to hard goods piracy, which is rampant throughout the world, peer-to-peer networks that facilitate illegal file sharing are some of the most dangerous threats to copyright ownership today," he said.
US launches landmark new crackdown on film, music piracy
Tue Oct 12, 5:50 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The United States announced a landmark crackdown on film and musical piracy targeting counterfeiters and their customers in an assault modelled on the wars on drugs and terror.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) launched the aggressive new offensive on what he said was an "epidemic" of criminal piracy in Los Angeles, home to the Hollywood movie business and much of the US music industry.
Unveiling recommendations from a body set up by his Department of Justice (news - web sites) to protect intellectual property rights, Ashcroft said he was planning legislative and regulatory assaults on music and film thieves.
He called the plan "a blueprint for the most aggressive, the most ambitious, the most far-reaching law enforcement effort ever undertaken to protect intellectual property and to counter the impact of intellectual theft.
"As intellectual property's value to our economy has become more important, however, the theft of this national resource has become epidemic," he said, adding that the scourge threatened the US economy.
"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," he said.
The Justice Department (news - web sites)'s Task Force on Intellectual Property issued 55 pages of recommendations aimed at protecting the recording and cinema industry from an estimated 250 billion of dollars in annual piracy losses.
The report, compiled by a dozen top Justice Department officials over the past seven months, calls for a crackdown on all offenders from solo operators to international crime rings that are cost US businesses dearly.
Among the recommendations to be implemented are a proposal to charge and prosecute intellectual property crimes under federal laws as much as possible, in the same way the US government targets organized crime, fraud and illegal importation, such as drug trafficking.
"We're going to make it much more difficult for individuals to be involved in this arena," Ashcroft told reporters.
"Right now, this part of our economy is hemorrhaging and we will stem the flow with an aggressive programme that's been recommended (by) this task force," he said.
The task force proposed a dozen changes to rules governing criminal enforcement of intellectual property law and also called for the opening of five new anti-piracy offices across the United States.
Intellectual property industries make up approximately six percent of the US gross domestic product, employ more than five million people, and contribute 626 billion to the US economy, Ashcroft said.
The growing value of intellectual property coupled with the ease and low cost of copyright infringement via means such as the Internet has significantly boosted the threat of theft in recent years.
"Well-organized criminal enterprises have recently begun to increase the scale, scope, and sophistication of international theft and counterfeiting," the Justice Department said in a statement.
The advent of new technology such as Internet downloads has significantly worsened the problem, allowing thieves to steal at the click of a button.
Dan Glickman, the new president of the Hollywood studios' influential lobbying body, the Motion Picture Association of America, applauded "the aggressive" initiatives aimed at protecting his industry.
"Piracy of intellectual property is a massive, global problem with far-reaching implications on the US economy," he said.
"In addition to hard goods piracy, which is rampant throughout the world, peer-to-peer networks that facilitate illegal file sharing are some of the most dangerous threats to copyright ownership today," he said.