Senate approves PIRATE act

By at 11:47 pm Friday, Jun 25

Today, the U.S. Senate approved a proposal that will give federal prosecutors the power to file civil lawsuits against suspected copyright infringers -- penalties include fines up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The so-called Pirate Act has raised alarms among copyright lawyers and lobbyists for peer-to-peer companies, who have been eyeing the recording industry's lawsuits against thousands of peer-to-peer users with trepidation. They worry that the Department of Justice could be even more ambitious.

Senate leaders scheduled Friday's vote under a procedure that required the unanimous consent of all members present. Now the Pirate Act, along with a related bill that criminalizes using camcorders in movie theaters, will be forwarded to the House of Representatives for approval.

Link to Declan McCullagh's story on News.com.

Xeni Jardin

Boing Boing partner, Boing Boing Video host and executive producer. Xeni.net, Twitter, Google+. Email: xeni@xeni.net.

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