[free-sklyarov] Re: Neutralizing the Stealing Meme

[Wendy Seltzer]

At 11:57 AM 1/11/02 -0800, tom poe wrote:
> >
> > My hope is that "word games" is short enough to work against
> > "filesharing is stealing".  But I think that this is a FAQ
> > entry instead, because the explanation is too complex and
> > because it's not an aggressive counterattack.
> >
> > Thoughts?
> >
> > - Lucas
> >
>
>Hi:  Is there an acknowledged threshold at which one can point to?  In other
>words, at what point does file-sharing become a criminal offense?

One place to look is the No Electronic Theft ("NET") Act of 1997, which 
removed the requirement of monetary gain from the definition of the 
criminal offense.   The NET Act was enacted specifically to reverse the 
LaMacchia case,  when prosecutors found themselves without the necessary 
laws to go after not-for-profit copying and distribution of software.

See <http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/17-18red.htm>
Specifically 17 U.S.C. § 506
<quote>
§ 506. Criminal offenses
(a) Criminal Infringement.--Any person who infringes a copyright 
willfully  either--

1.for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain, or

2.by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, 
during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more 
copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000, 
shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18. For purposes 
of this subsection, evidence of reproduction or distribution of a 
copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish willful 
infringement.
</quote>

That is, there's some leeway on whether the infringement was "willful," but 
otherwise the threshold is a $1,000 combined list price of the works copied 
or distributed.

(Sorry to retain all the cc's, but I can't tell where the message 
originated...)
--Wendy

--
Wendy Seltzer -- wendy at seltzer.com
Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html