The Obama administration is taking aim at illegal music and video streaming services and wants them to end by making such streams a felony.
Victoria Espinel, the administration’s IP Enforcement Coordinator, released a list of intellectual property law changes. Most focus on economic espionage and counterfeiting, but three changes fall squarely into the laps of the average Web user and service.
- Streaming: The government wants to kill online piracy, and Espinel is asking Congress to ”clarify that infringement by streaming, or by means of other similar new technology, is a felony in appropriate circumstances.” Currently it is only a felony to share works over P2P networks, while streams fall under ”public performance” and are lesser crimes.
- Wiretapping: Federal agencies like the FBI can tap phones and Web connections for a large array of crimes, but not copyright infringements. Espinel wants to change that, saying that extending the wiretap ability would ”assist US law enforcement agencies to effectively investigate those offenses, including targeting organized crime and the leaders and organizers of criminal enterprises.”
- Radio: The US lacks a public performance right for recorded music covering radio stations, meaning that radio stations must pay songwriters for the music they play but not the actual bands who recorded the content. Espinel wants this changed, but the broadcasting lobby is already up-in-arms over the proposal.
The document from Espinel avoided the big controversies for Web control, namely censorship of content on the Web and any type of graduated or ”three-strike” copyright policy.
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