so much for the specter of an anti-bush hollywood liberal elite. The RIAA seems pretty happy with the election results...

The Senate might vote on the Intellectual Property Protection

Act, a comprehensive bill that opponents charge could make many users of

peer-to-peer networks, digital-music players and other products criminally

liable for copyright infringement. The bill would also undo centuries of "fair

use" -- the principle that gives Americans the right to use small samples of the

works of others without having to ask permission or pay... The bill lumps

together several pending copyright bills including HR4077, the Piracy Deterrence

and Education Act, which would criminally punish a person who "infringes a

copyright by ... offering for distribution to the public by electronic means,

with reckless disregard of the risk of further infringement." Critics charge the

vague language could apply to a person who uses the popular Apple iTunes

music-sharing application.



The bill would also permit people to use technology to skip

objectionable content -- like a gory or sexually explicit scene -- in films, a

right that consumers already have. However, under the proposed law, skipping any

commercials or promotional announcements would be prohibited. The proposed law

also includes language from the Pirate Act (S2237), which would permit the

Justice Department to file civil lawsuits against alleged copyright infringers.



Also under the proposed law, people who bring a video camera

into a movie theater to make a copy of the film for distribution would be

imprisoned for three years, fined or both.



The Recording Industry Association of America vigorously

defended the bill, saying it would provide a "common sense set of tools that

will help law enforcement better deter and prosecute theft."



"This legislation enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support in

Congress. Many pieces of it already have unanimously passed one house of

Congress," RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy wrote in an e-mail. "The intellectual

property industries are one of our leading national exports, and it's

appropriate for the federal government to have a role in protecting those

sectors from rampant piracy."