Conservatives very unhappy about the PIRATE Act

It's hard to remember these days, but supposedly conservatives are all for small government. That's one of the reasons why the American Conservative Union (ACU) is upset about all the ridiculous new copyright legislation:

Stacie Rumenap, deputy director of the million-member ACU, joined officials from the electronics industry and public interest groups Friday to denounce an omnibus bill that combines eight different pieces of legislation that deal with copyright laws and technology.

The ACU is particularly unhappy with the PIRATE Act, which allows the Fed to go after copyright infringers civilly instead of just criminally as they do now.

Most offensive of the bills, said the ACU's Rumenap, is the Pirate Act (S. 2237), which would authorize the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file civil actions against copyright infringers, i.e., peer-to-peer (P2P) file swappers. The DOJ currently has the authority to pursue only criminal prosecutions against infringers, leaving civil actions to the private sector.

"We find it is just plain wrong to make the Department of Justice Hollywood's law firm," Rumenap said at a policy briefing in the offices of Public Knowledge, a public interest advocacy group.

If the Department of Justice is able to go after copyright infringers it essentially takes the burden of pursuing these cases off of Hollywood and the music industry, saving them a bundle.

"The Pirate Act is another masquerade by Hollywood to make taxpayers foot the bill for its misguided war on promising new technology," Rumenap said. "Right now, Hollywood is trying to ram this flawed bill -- a handout for Tinsel Town fat cats -- through Congress without hearings or debate."
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"The Pirate Act isn't just ill-conceived, it's bad public policy. It needlessly and harmfully expands the role of government," Rumenap said. "[Under this bill] Who pays the legal bills for Hollywood? The American taxpayers. And as a bonus, Hollywood companies get to collect the fines."
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According to the MPAA, the civil suits will seek damages and injunctive relief. Under the Copyright Act, statutory damages reach up to $30,000 for each separate motion picture illegally copied or distributed over the Internet and as much as $150,000 per picture if the infringement is proven to be willful.

The American Conservative Union is launching some commercials in the the next week or so in an attempt to educate people about this situation and to put the pressure on Republican lawmakers not to pass the omnibus bill containing the PIRATE Act and other overreaching and dangerous IP legislation.

Get the rest of the story here - Internetnews.com: Conservatives Aim to Sink Pirate Act.