Tthe Senate Judiciary committee voted on new bill with provisions to increase punishments for copyright. Part of the bill would shift some of the enforcement burden to the public (but not criminal?) prosecution, away from the private enforcement like the RIAA’s civil lawsuits. CNet reports:
A group of librarians and nonprofit groups, including the American Library Association, Public Knowledge, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sent a letter to senators on Wednesday that says copyright holders–and not government lawyers funded by tax dollars–should be the ones filing the lawsuits.
This highlights an interesting conundrum–would copyright be better enforced privately or publicly? Enforcement by the RIAA and related groups seems in some ways like the efforts of the Stationer’s Company, which were an engine of censorship for almost 300 years of England’s history. Private enforcement has brought lawsuits that are arguably more of a PR campaign than a punishment. Yet, this seems like a step towards criminal prosecutions would cost more public funds and possibly give a lot of “normal” people a mark on their record. It’s almost a double edged sword.
One of the more controversial sections of the latest version would permit the Justice Department to file a civil lawsuit against “any person” committing a copyright violation…
Considering the lack of clarity in copyright law and the fact that fair use is understood as a defense and not a right, it’s not always clear when there is a copyright violation. We should be more careful making laws that could be difficult to apply and have a large impact on the middle class.