Bill Targets Illicit File Sharing

Anyone who uses the Internet to distribute music or movies before they are officially released could face five years in prison under a bipartisan bill introduced Thursday by several U.S. senators, including Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California.

Unauthorized videotaping of movies in theaters would also be outlawed under the measure put forth by Feinstein and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

The bill takes aim at two practices that over the last several years have disrupted release schedules and cost movie makers an estimated $3 billion annually in lost sales, according to the bill’s sponsors.

Unauthorized copies of movies often turn up in flea markets and on online “peer to peer” networks such as Kazaa shortly after they are released, thanks to audience members who smuggle camcorders into theaters.

In other cases, industry insiders post movies online before they are officially released.

Both practices would become felonies under the bill, with maximum sentences of five years for first offenders in addition to monetary damages.

Unauthorized videotaping in theaters is a crime in four states and the District of Columbia but legal in other states.

Copyright infringement already is illegal, but the bill would make such activity easier to prosecute by assuming that any copyrighted work posted online before it is released has been downloaded at least 10 times, making guilty parties liable for damages of at least $2,500.

“There is no legitimate purpose for a person taking copyrighted material not legally available to the public in any form and putting [it] on the Internet for free distribution without authorization,” Feinstein said in prepared remarks.