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.”
His original proposal would apply to commercial, for-profit services and would not 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 release stated at the time. “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 cr… (Read more)
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