from URL there has mostly been talk thus far and little action but the department of justice says it may be ready to file criminal lawsuits against individuals NUMBER who distribute or receive unauthorized copyrighted material over the internet deputy assistant attorney general john malcolm believes that criminal prosecutions of copyright offenders are now necessary to preserve the viability of america s content industries malcolm also believes that people who trade copyrighted material think they are participating in a legal activity i certainly think people who download copyrighted works understand that such distribution barring provisions such as fair use is not authorized and it is not surprising to see businesses continue to look for means to discourage distribution of copyrighted works some prosecutions that make that clear could be very helpful i think they would think twice if they thought there was a risk of criminal prosecution said riaa president cary sherman who was on the same conference panel i m not too confident that lawsuits would have the effect sherman is hoping for although infrequent there have already been civil suits or warnings issued to private individuals and they have served as minor deterrents to the file sharing community at large criminal lawsuits carrying with them the possibility of prison sentences may generate further animosity against groups such as the riaa and may be difficult to initiate because of the schooling effect of millions of systems participating in file sharing only servers would seem to stand out from the crowd the article cites the no electronic theft net act NUMBER which defines illegal activity and maximum penalties for copyright infringement criminal infringement any person who infringes a copyright willfully for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain or by the reproduction or distribution including by electronic means during any NUMBER day period of NUMBER or more copies or phonorecords of NUMBER or more copyrighted works which have a total retail value of more than NUMBER NUMBER for purposes of this subsection evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work by itself shall not be sufficient to establish willful infringement the term financial gain includes receipt or expectation of receipt of anything of value including the receipt of other copyrighted works therefore receipt of a work of value would be defined as financial gain even if no money is involved the net act excerpt does not clarify how the value of a work is determined an album or movie could be worth only NUMBER to millions of dollars depending on whether the value is assessed from the perspective of the consumer or copyright holder the statute of limitations NUMBER limitations on actions a criminal proceedings no criminal proceeding shall be maintained under the provisions of this title unless it is commenced within five years after the cause of action arose b civil actions no civil action shall be maintained under the provisions of this title unless it is commenced within three years after the claim accrued the penalties are too extensive to list here but they can be found in section NUMBER criminal infringement of a copyright in general first time criminal offenses will carry a maximum prison sentence of NUMBER year i m still not sure where the doj would start in choosing people to prosecute because of the aforementioned schooling effect but my guess would be that just like speeding primarily the most prominent individuals who operate large servers or transfer the most data will be targeted in order to discourage more recreational file sharers thanks to monalisaoverdrive for pointing out this story NUMBER URL NUMBER URL URL 