Broadcast Voyeurism, Anti-Piracy and Privacy Tackled by House Tues.
Twenty-first Century crimes of voyeurism, software and media piracy, and online fraud were targeted on the House floor Mon., as that body approved 3 bills creating new criminal and civil penalties. One bill outlaws broadcasting or online posting of an individual’s private areas without their knowledge, a 2nd bill aims to close what sponsors call a “loophole” in anti-piracy law, and a 3rd makes it illegal to falsely identify ownership of a web site if it’s involved in criminal activity such as fraud or intellectual property theft.
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The voyeurism bill, S-1301 by Sen. DeWine (R-O.), already passed the Senate last year on a voice vote. A House version by House Financial Services Committee Chmn. Oxley (R-O.) had been amended in the House Judiciary Committee by Rep. Jackson-Lee (D-Tex.) to add Internet distribution to the bill’s definition of “broadcast.” Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said on the floor Tues. that the Senate was amenable to that change. Rep. Christensen (D-V.I.), managing the floor for the Democrats, said the Internet allows privacy violations to be “disseminated to a worldwide audience in a matter of seconds.” Oxley said the popularity of cell phones with cameras has added to the problem.
The bill would impose up to one year in jail and up to $100,000 in fines for anyone convicted of a violation on federal land, such as buildings and parks. As such, the bill doesn’t preempt state laws, but Sensenbrenner said it serves as model language for states that haven’t yet enacted their own laws. No one spoke in opposition, and the bill passed on the suspension calendar on a voice vote.
Another bill that passed on voice vote would, Sensenbrenner said, close a “loophole” that allows for the sale of certificates of authenticity (COA), such as the holographic seals on legitimate software. Christensen and the author of the bill, House Judiciary Courts, Internet & Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.), both referred to a software piracy bust last week in Cal. where the counterfeiters were found with almost 20,000 legitimate COAs. Christensen said those COAs “had an estimated street value of $1.7 million,” and are so valuable because they allow consumers to believe pirated software or other intellectual property content is legitimate. The selling of authentic COAs “is a highly profitable and largely risk-free business,” Smith said, but enables a piracy industry that’s costing the U.S. jobs in the high-tech and content industries.
Attached to HR-3632 were 3 other bills which Sensenbrenner and Christensen both described as uncontroversial; Sensenbrenner said this was necessary given the limited time left on the House calendar. Two of the bills involved fiddling with jurisdictions of district courts in Colo. and N.Y., but the 3rd was another Smith bill, HR-3754, that like HR-3632 is supported by the content industry. When one registers a domain name, they provide personal contact information in a Whois database, and a hearing held by Smith showed this information is often fraudulent. Content providers seeking civil remedies for copyright infringement have been frustrated by registrations such as Mickey Mouse on Disneyland Lane.
HR-3754 would make it illegal to provide false information to a Whois database, but only if the web site was involved in a crime, such as piracy or fraud. Privacy advocates have expressed concern that applying new laws to Whois could make it impossible for one to maintain their anonymity online, but Smith made it clear that if that web site operator isn’t involved in criminal activity, HR-3754 doesn’t apply to them.
The voyeurism bill now goes back to the Senate, and assuming Sensenbrenner is correct, that body can include the Internet language and send the bill to President Bush for his expected signature. No legislation similar to HR- 3632 or HR-3754 has cleared the Senate.