Feds crank up heat on P2P, new House bill promises prison for "pirates"

I just filed a story for Wired News on a new House bill that proposes prison time for file-swappers -- and on today's Justice Department announcement of a new intellectual-property task force to analyze how the department addresses issues like the unauthorized sharing of digital software, music and movies.

Justice spokesman John Nowacki declined to disclose further details on the membership of the [Intellectual Property Task Force], or what specific activities it will pursue.

The task force was created in the wake of criticism by some members of Congress that the Justice Department has not done enough to crack down on digital piracy. The announcement took place on the same day that a House judiciary subcommittee unanimously approved a bill that would punish file swappers with up to three years in jail for first offenses, and up to six for repeat offenses.

Sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman (D-California) and Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the bill targets heavy users of peer-to-peer networks and those who pirate copies of feature films. The bill outlines a new piracy deterrence program for the FBI, and calls for the Justice Department to create an antipiracy "Internet Use Education Program." If signed into law, Justice would receive $15 million for investigation and prosecution of copyright-related crimes in 2005.

If signed into law, H.R. 4077 -- the "Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004" -- would be the first to punish file sharing with jail time. The bill also takes aim at camcorder copiers who sneak into film screenings. Anyone who "knowingly uses or attempts to use an audiovisual recording device in a motion picture theater" to copy a movie could face up to six years in jail.

Link to Wired News story.
Text version of PDEA should be available through Thomas shortly, here: Link. Update: PDF version (63Kb) of the PDEA is now available here: Link.