RIAA Gains Traction in The U.S. White House: Jumps on Police State Bandwagon

Filed in archive Consumer Rights , Government , Legal , Privacy & Security , RIAA, IFPI , Society & Public Policy on May 30, 2007

RIAA is taking a new tactic in its fight on pirates of all stripes - jump on the Bush administration bandwagon to create a police state. The Bush administration, fresh on the heels of its success on the War on Terror, is taking many of the same tools, such as domestic spying, and gearing up for a new War on Copyright.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pressuring Congress to pass the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007 that would affect both counterfeiters and unauthorized downloaders. The law literally would have Homeland Security working with RIAA.

In addition the Act makes it criminal not just to commit copyright infringement, but also to attempt it, and so would likely affect any P2P users sharing a copyrighted file or searching for or initiating download of an unauthorized download.

The Act expands wiretapping for piracy investigations, requires Homeland Security to alert RIAA, increases penalties for copyright infringement, and allows computers to be easily be seized, similar to drug cases.