Hack the planet!

A friend of mine brought my attention to the following article posted on the Tech News Blog.

It’s yet again a cunning plan designed to spank them evil pirates by… well. Hell. I don’t know what to say, I’m that irked. Read this exerpt for yourself and go see the full article.

* Criminalize “attempting” to infringe copyright. Federal law currently punishes not-for-profit copyright infringement with between 1 and 10 years in prison, but there has to be actual infringement that takes place. The IPPA would eliminate that requirement. (The Justice Department’s summary of the legislation says: “It is a general tenet of the criminal law that those who attempt to commit a crime but do not complete it are as morally culpable as those who succeed in doing so.”)

* Create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software. Anyone using counterfeit products who “recklessly causes or attempts to cause death” can be imprisoned for life. During a conference call, Justice Department officials gave the example of a hospital using pirated software instead of paying for it.

* Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations. Wiretaps would be authorized for investigations of Americans who are “attempting” to infringe copyrights.

* Allow computers to be seized more readily. Specifically, property such as a PC “intended to be used in any manner” to commit a copyright crime would be subject to forfeiture, including civil asset forfeiture. Civil asset forfeiture has become popular among police agencies in drug cases as a way to gain additional revenue, and is problematic and controversial.

etc etc etc. I’m glad I’m not an American if this goes through. Hell, I’m glad I’m not one anyway (no offense to you guys, I just like my screwed up “globalized” background too much) but this is just getting crazy. Good luck to you guys. I’m sure they’ll find a way to screw the rest of the world over with their laws too.