Bill S.978
Encyclopedia
Bill S.978 or the Commercial Felony Streaming Act is a bill
that is pending introduction to the United States Senate
floor. It was proposed by Amy Klobuchar
, Chris Coons, and John Cornyn
on May 12, 2011. It is an amendment to USC 2319, Title 18, that would make unauthorized streaming
of copyrighted material for the purpose of "commercial advantage or personal financial gain", a felony
(under current law, unauthorized streaming is only a misdemeanor
). The penalty could include up to five years of prison-time. It defines illegal streaming as streaming ten or more times in a 180 day period. Furthermore, the value of the illegally streamed material would have to be greater than $2,500, or the licensing fees would have to be over $5,000.
Several articles have been published, expressing concern as to whether the bill would affect those who stream or post videos of copyrighted content (videogames, TV shows, music) on public sites such as YouTube
. The bill does not directly address this aspect. Although it is unknown whether the law would be enforced as such, there has been an outcry with several negative reactions against the bill on YouTube, and other websites. An example of one of these websites is DemandProgress.org, a site where over 500,000 people have signed on to oppose the bill.
Both Klobuchar and Coons have stated that the bill is not intended to affect the aforementioned aspects, instead it would only target websites or people who profit from illegally streaming copyrighted material.
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
that is pending introduction to the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
floor. It was proposed by Amy Klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Jean Klobuchar is the senior United States Senator from Minnesota. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party...
, Chris Coons, and John Cornyn
John Cornyn
John Cornyn, III is the junior United States Senator for Texas, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was elected Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 111th U.S. Congress....
on May 12, 2011. It is an amendment to USC 2319, Title 18, that would make unauthorized streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
of copyrighted material for the purpose of "commercial advantage or personal financial gain", a felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
(under current law, unauthorized streaming is only a misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
). The penalty could include up to five years of prison-time. It defines illegal streaming as streaming ten or more times in a 180 day period. Furthermore, the value of the illegally streamed material would have to be greater than $2,500, or the licensing fees would have to be over $5,000.
Several articles have been published, expressing concern as to whether the bill would affect those who stream or post videos of copyrighted content (videogames, TV shows, music) on public sites such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The bill does not directly address this aspect. Although it is unknown whether the law would be enforced as such, there has been an outcry with several negative reactions against the bill on YouTube, and other websites. An example of one of these websites is DemandProgress.org, a site where over 500,000 people have signed on to oppose the bill.
Both Klobuchar and Coons have stated that the bill is not intended to affect the aforementioned aspects, instead it would only target websites or people who profit from illegally streaming copyrighted material.
External links
- The text of the bill
- Official version as received by the Senate
- Commentary on the text by David Philip Graham, a lawyer specialized in internet and video games lawLegal aspects of computingLegal aspects of computing are related to the over-lapping areas of law and computing.The first one, historically, was Information Technology Law...
development