Date: Mon, 01 Jan 1996 20:27:23 -0800 From: Felix Lee <flee@teleport.com> Sender: owner-cypherpunks@toad.com Precedence: bulk compare with software piracy. when was the last time a kid in your neighborhood was busted for unlicensed copying of software? and software is big business, lots of suits and $$$. Look for this to change if the copyright "high-protectionists" succeed in getting Congress to criminalize every act of copyright infringement, which is what the Leahy-Feingold "Criminal Copyright Improvement Act of 1995" (S.1122) will do if it becomes law. Under current copyright law infringements that are not committed wilfully and "for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain" are not criminal. Such non-profit/noncommercial infringements are still civil infringements, and copyright holders may sue for actual and/or statutory damages, but since the typical kid has net assets less than $39.95 it's not worth the effort. If S.1122 becomes law, though, the software companies (or other copyright holders) will be able to get the Feds to prosecute such cases criminally (so we, as taxpayers, get to foot the bill for those prosecutions that are not monetarily attractive to the copyright holders). --bal