IP: SENTENCING PANEL INCREASES FEDERAL PENALTIES FOR CRIMES

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

The federal government's Sentencing Commission recently voted to
stiffen punishment for various copyright and identity theft
violations.  Counterfeiting and piracy on the Internet can result
in a 10-month to 16-month prison sentence, regardless of whether
the violator is attempting to turn a profit.  The punishment for
stealing electronic property, such as songs and writing samples,
is calculated by multiplying the value of the item stolen by the
number of people who download it.  The greater the value, the
longer the prison sentence, although the maximum penalty for a
first-time offender is three years.  Identity theft violations
also carry a 10-month to 16-month sentence for first-time
offenders, but the punishment will increase if a bogus
identification is used to get other phony identification; those
who have more than five fake IDs also face stiffer penalties.
Increased penalties for copyright violations will begin on May 1,
and those for identity theft will be effective on Nov. 1.
(Washington Times, 5 April 2000)