DMCA: Copyright violation worse than manslaughter


PC Pro UK reports that whereas a person convicted of manslaughter in the US can expect a sentence of about 33 months, an extension of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act could see violators incarcerated for up to 10 years. Moreover, DMCA 2.0 proposes that possessing items that could be used to perpetrate a copyright violation be considered an offense.

The fine folks at p2p.net note that stealing a physical CD typically nets a shoplifter 8.3 months in jail and extortion is on average only worth seven years in the pokey.

The article also notes that DMCA 2.0, as it stands, could be used by virus writers to prosecute developers of anti-virus software.

Editor's note: Of course, if pressed, the proponents of DMCA 2.0 will likely say the penalties for manslaughter, extorsion and, especially, shoplifting CDs are too lenient...

What's your take?