Expanding DMCA
Various sources are reporting/commenting that the Justice Department has drafted legislation called the "Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006," that will likely be introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) sometime in the near future. The legislation will expand the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to [from c|net]:
Make it illegal to "make, import, export, obtain control of, or possess" ... anticircumvention tools if they may be redistributed to someone else.Permit wiretaps in investigations of copyright crimes, trade secret theft and economic espionage. It would establish a new copyright unit inside the FBI and budgets $20 million on topics including creating "advanced tools of forensic science to investigate" copyright crimes.
Amend existing law to permit criminal enforcement of copyright violations even if the work was not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Boost criminal penalties for copyright infringement originally created by the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 from five years to 10 years (and 10 years to 20 years for subsequent offenses). The NET Act targets noncommercial piracy including posting copyrighted photos, videos or news articles on a Web site if the value exceeds $1,000.
Create civil asset forfeiture penalties for anything used in copyright piracy. Computers or other equipment seized must be "destroyed" or otherwise disposed of, for instance at a government auction. Criminal asset forfeiture will be done following the rules established by federal drug laws.
Say copyright holders can impound "records documenting the manufacture, sale or receipt of items involved in" infringements.