Paul, Uh OH! I think the Justice Department found out about us posting articles on SI :-)
Article...
Wednesday December 17 3:11 PM EST
Clinton Signs Internet Copyright Legislation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton has signed into law a controversial bill imposing criminal penalties on copyright violators who do not profit from their actions, the White House executive clerk's office said today.
The No Electronic Theft Act, passed by Congress last month, was strongly backed by the software and entertainment industries but opposed by science and academic groups.
Under the law, a person who "willfully" infringes on copyrighted material worth at least $1,000 could be subject to criminal prosecution even if he does not profit thereby.
Under current law, copyright violators cannot be charged with criminal misconduct unless they profit from the violations.
Software and entertainment groups, including the Business Software Alliance, the Motion Picture Association and the Association of American Publishers, said the change was essential to protect software, music recordings and other creative products easily pirated over the Internet. They cited a 1994 court case dismissing criminal copyright charges against an Massachusetts Institute of Technology student who posted on the Internet for free downloading copies of popular software programs.
But last month a leading group of scientists, the Association for Computing, wrote to Clinton asking him to veto the bill because it might inadvertently criminalize many scientific publications available over the Internet, and might limit the "fair use" doctrine.
The new law includes a sliding scale of penalties depending on the severity of the copyright infringement.
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Michael
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