On 9/1/07, Leo Mauler webgiant@yahoo.com wrote:
Exporting pirated material would also become a crime and the bill would grant the feds wiretapping authority, which it currently lacks. The "attempt" provision, stipulating that mere intent constitutes a crime, means that the law could conceivably be expanded to interpret a computer full of music next to a spindle of blank CDs as an act of piracy.
If it can be conceived by the mind of a politically ambitious federal attorney, it will be done. Already, criminal statutes designed to be used to fight terrorism are now being used to pile charges on to unrelated criminal cases.
Regretfully, we are approaching a point in our democracy where our leaders tend to feel the best way to resolve any social problem is to criminalize it. The rule is that if we can't medicate it, we should jail it.