Showing posts with label Copyright. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Copyright. Show all posts

Monday, November 19, 2012

US lawmaker asks Reddit for ideas on website seizures


A U.S. lawmaker has asked users of Reddit for their ideas about legislation to address the controversial recent practice by two U.S. agencies of seizing websites for alleged copyright infringement.
U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, said Monday she is considering legislation to address free expression and due process concerns with the website seizures by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the past two years, the two agencies have seized about 1,500 websites they accused of selling pirated digital goods or counterfeit products.
Users of Reddit, a popular social news site, showed a "strong dedication to free expression" during a debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act, Lofgren said in a statement. SOPA, defeated after millions of Internet users protested earlier this year, would have expanded the DOJ's powers to seize websites for alleged copyright infringement.
Reddit was one of the first sites to announce it would go black for a day to protest SOPA and the Protect IP Act, a similar bill. With Reddit's involvement in the SOPA debate, "I thought I would attempt an experiment: crowdsourcing a legislative proposal on Reddit," Lofgren said.
Lofgren will consider proposals from Reddit users in the drafting of legislation, she said.
Lofgren's move toward introducing legislation shouldn't be seen as an endorsement of the seizures, she said.
"Although I am considering introducing a bill on domain name seizures for infringement, that does not mean I accept the practice as legal or constitutional," she said. "Nonetheless, since these seizure actions are occurring, I thought it worthwhile to explore a legislative means providing appropriate protections for free expression and due process."
Critics of the seizures have said the DOJ and ICE give website owners no notice before seizing the sites. In some cases, the websites seized may include blog posts, discussion boards or other material protected by U.S. free speech rights, critics have said.
Supporters of the seizures, including many in the U.S. entertainment industry, have argued that the seizures are necessary to stem rampant copyright infringement online.
New legislation from Lofgren would focusing on requirements that the agencies provide notice to website owners and an opportunity for them to defend against a seizure, she said.
Four Reddit users had submitted comments as of Tuesday afternoon.
"Domain Name seizures should be made completely illegal, with no compromises or exceptions," one Reddit user wrote. "The government has taken down countless websites across the internet with absolutely no due process with only a judge's signature on a piece of paper with most of the evidence for the take down coming from the biased entertainment industry."
Representatives of the Motion Picture Association of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, both supporters of the website seizures, didn't immediately return messages seeking comment on Lofgren's proposal. A representative of the Recording Industry Association of America declined to comment.
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.

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Friday, November 9, 2012

Michigan man charged with selling counterfeit Microsoft software


A man from Michigan was arraigned in a U.S. federal court on Thursday on charges of mail fraud and selling counterfeit software worth over US$1.2 million that he purchased from China and Singapore, the U.S Department of Justice said Thursday.
Bruce Alan Edward, 48, of Atlanta, Michigan, was charged in an indictment returned on Oct. 24 and unsealed on Nov. 1 by the federal grand jury in Bay City, Michigan, DOJ said in a statement. He was arraigned on Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Edward allegedly distributed counterfeit copies of Office 2003 Professional and Windows XP Professional by selling copyrighted works on eBay and then using the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the counterfeit software, according to the indictment which charges Edward with five counts of criminal copyright infringement and one count of mail fraud.
The indictment charges Edward with making more than $140,000 between May 2008 and September 2010 by selling more than 2,500 copies of counterfeit Microsoft software that had a retail value of over $1.2 million.
If convicted of all counts in the indictment, Edward faces a maximum of 45 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines, DOJ said. He could also have to forfeit all criminal proceeds and counterfeit items and any property used to commit the alleged criminal activity, if convicted.
Software piracy has been on the decline in the U.S., but the commercial value of software piracy in the country still adds up to almost $10 billion, with 31 percent of computer users admitting to pirating software, Business Software Alliance, an antipiracy industry group, said in August. Since January, BSA settled a number of cases of unlicensed software including eight cases representing a value of more than $2.5 million, it said. 
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

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