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New Felony Streaming Bill
There's been some concern going around about the streaming bill that was attached to the Covid 19 Relief package.
Here is the real scoop.
U.S. lawmakers recently introduced a bill that will criminalize illegal streaming. It should be noted that this new streaming bill does not impact the general public who legally stream content from the Internet on a daily basis.
We all know that streaming copyrighted content without consent by the general public is considered a misdemeanor punishable by law so nothing has changed in that regard. However, this new bill targets the developers, services, and websites who create these tools (without consent) to deliver media that is protected by copyright. Those who violate this new law may be fined or imprisoned for not more than 3 years, or both. MySite legally consults in the public domain.
A brief synopsis of the bill’s intended effect is included below:
Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, released text of bipartisan legislation that would punish large-scale criminal streaming services that willfully and for commercial advantage or private financial gain offer to the public illicit services dedicated to illegally streaming copyrighted material.
The Protecting Lawful Streaming Act would apply only to commercial, for-profit streaming piracy services. The law will not sweep in normal practices by online service providers, good faith business disputes, noncommercial activities, or in any way impact individuals who access pirated streams or unwittingly stream unauthorized copies of copyrighted works. Individuals who might use pirate streaming services will not be affected.
“The shift toward streaming content online has resulted in criminal streaming services illegally distributing copyrighted material that costs the U.S. economy nearly $30 billion every year, and discourages the production of creative content that Americans enjoy,” said Senator Tillis. “This commonsense legislation was drafted with the input of creators, user groups, and technology companies and is narrowly targeted so that only criminal organizations are punished and that no individual streamer has to worry about the fear of prosecution. That’s why groups as diverse as CCIA and Public Knowledge are neutral on this proposal.”