Coronavirus Relief Bill Makes Illegal Streaming a Felony

The long-awaited coronavirus relief bill, purportedly aimed to help Americans and their small businesses as the Chinese coronavirus continues to grip the nation, would make illegal streaming a felony — a special interest gift to the entertainment industry.

The $900 billion piece, combined with a $1.4 trillion government spending bill for a total of $2.3 trillion, extends a hand to Hollywood by making streaming for commercial profit a felony, carrying a punishment of up to ten years in prison. The addition has been attributed to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who earlier this month released the text of legislation, the Protecting Lawful Streaming Act, which 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.”

It shall be unlawful for a person to willfully, and for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain, offer or provide to the public a digital transmission service that:

o is primarily designed or provided for the purpose of publicly performing works protected under title 17 by means of a digital transmission without the authority of the copyright owner or the law

o has no commercially significant purpose or use other than to publicly perform works protected under title 17 by means of a digital transmission without the authority of the copyright owner or the law; or

o is intentionally marketed by or at the direction of that person to promote its use in publicly performing works protected under title 17 by means of a digital transmission without the authority of the copyright owner or the law

Penalties include fines and imprisonment for up to ten years.

Guess I better tell my son to pull down his Plex Server. Oh!! Wait!! This law won't be enforceable ... unless you're living in America. But ... But ... it's $30B lost worldwide we're all supposed to be concerned with.

Source

So, is this going to target like, Twitch or is it strictly streaming like movies and shows?

a reply to: Snarl

From COVID-19 to Illegal Streaming. What a stretch.

Noted again also, that it's called the Chinese Coronavirus.

Red flags anyone?

But they need to disarm people somehow.
500 million to Israel in our relief package too.

lol

You forgot to mention the Climate Advisory Council and all the horse racing provisions that are in it. There are also millions for gender programs in Pakistan.

originally posted by: Nivhk
So, is this going to target like, Twitch or is it strictly streaming like movies and shows?

Movies, TV shows and live sporting events I would imagine.

Citizens need to make our own currency and move on from this bs.
The usefulness of our gov has long passed.

a reply to: RMFX1
That's what I figured, but wasn't sure if it was limited to that.

Seems kinda shady to push that through a relief bill instead of something on its own or something for the entertainment industry.

a reply to: Mandroid7
When elected officials can only be spoken to through elected journalists once every 4 years, yeah, I'd say it's time we change things.

Edit: God forbid serfs from even thinking of talking to congress or having any powers there.

So how are they going to monitor it if you download stuff?

Have you noticed that YouTube did away with their download button.

Guess we all have to go to russia now to download stuff.

Will the govt. sue now these sites ?

Ninite.
Softpedia.
MajorGeeks.
FileHippo.
DonationCoder.
Download Crew.
FileHorse.
FilePuma.

a reply to: musicismagic

Softpedia. MajorGeeks. FileHippo.

These absolutely have permission to upload files. They come directly from the developer(s)

I thought it was already a felony.

FYI , you didn't source your material.

originally posted by: Gothmog
FYI , you didn't source your material.

My bad ...

OP Source Link

Thank you!!

In Japan we can go to jail for up to 2 years. The funny thing about this was, it was meant for good intentions till the kids of the politicians got caught and not punished. Well, I kind of think that ended enforcing the 2 year jail sentences.
These politicians are really setting up a spider web trap and they are too stupid to know it. But hey, that money sure look good in my spouses charity fund. ( that is how your politicians get pay backs )

the Protecting Lawful Streaming Act, which 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.”

While I don't understand why this is part of covid releaf legislation...

I also don't understand why anyone would object to it. Copy right infringement and IP theft have always been in place for non streaming content... recall the FBI warnings at the beginning of VHS and DVD movies... the laws are now catching up to the new technology.

originally posted by: musicismagic
So how are they going to monitor it if you download stuff?

This isn't making the individual who is downloading the ilgeal stream a felon.

Its making the provider a felon. And by the wording, not just any provider ... only large-scale criminal streaming services.

So if your streaming stuff to your friends and family (like some if us do) this probably wouldn't apply to you either.

a reply to: DanDanDat

How is ten years in prison a fitting punishment for distributing movies and tv shows? That seems pretty excessive for a non-violent crime that doesn't actually cause anyone to lose any actual property, just projected future earnings.

a reply to: DanDanDat

It isn't technically part of the relief. The relief bill is wrapped up with a bunch of other legislation that they passed all at once. Still absurd that our "leaders" have time/energy to deal with streaming rather than the myriad other more pressing issues.

a reply to: Snarl

Well #. I pretty much only watch animated shows and there's a website I've been using for years to stream my favorites. I knew it wouldn't last forever, but it seems it's end may be coming up sooner than I had hoped.