FC: Draft of Rep. Berman's bill authorizes anti-P2P hacking

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-945923.html?tag=politech

   Could Hollywood hack your PC?
   By Declan McCullagh 
   July 23, 2002, 4:45 PM PT

   WASHINGTON--Congress is about to consider an entertainment
   industry proposal that would authorize copyright holders to disable
   PCs used for illicit file trading.
   
   A draft bill seen by CNET News.com marks the boldest political effort
   to date by record labels and movie studios to disrupt peer-to-peer
   networks that they view as an increasingly dire threat to their bottom
   line.
   
   Sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Howard Coble, R-N.C.,
   the measure would permit copyright holders to perform nearly unchecked
   electronic hacking if they have a "reasonable basis" to believe that
   piracy is taking place. Berman and Coble plan to introduce the 10-page
   bill this week.
   
   The legislation would immunize groups such as the Motion Picture
   Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of
   America from all state and federal laws if they disable, block or
   otherwise impair a "publicly accessible peer-to-peer network."
   
   Anyone whose computer was damaged in the process must receive the
   permission of the U.S. attorney general before filing a lawsuit, and a
   suit could be filed only if the actual monetary loss was more than
   $250.
   
   According to the draft, the attorney general must be given complete
   details about the "specific technologies the copyright holder intends
   to use to impair" the normal operation of the peer-to-peer network.
   Those details would remain secret and would not be divulged to the
   public.
   
   The draft bill doesn't specify what techniques, such as viruses,
   worms, denial-of-service attacks, or domain name hijacking, would be
   permissible. It does say that a copyright-hacker should not delete
   files, but it limits the right of anyone subject to an intrusion to
   sue if files are accidentally erased.

   [...]



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