Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004

PIRACY DETERRENCE AND EDUCATION ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - September 28, 2004)

Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4077) to enhance criminal enforcement of the copyright laws, to educate the public about the application of copyright law to the Internet, and for other purposes, as amended.

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GENERAL LEAVE

Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4077, the bill currently under consideration.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Wisconsin?

There was no objection.

Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation addresses the growing piracy problem facing our Nation's creative community. New technologies have made copyright piracy an even easier activity to undertake than before. The number of pirating files continues to increase. Although the technology is not the problem, our Nation's laws need to be updated to reflect the impact of this new technology.

In response to the increase in piracy, the copyright community has been investing time and money in campaigns to educate America about the need to respect copyrights. The Attorney General and other senior administration officials have spoken publicly about the piracy problem and their efforts to fight it in our court system. Schools and universities have begun requiring incoming freshmen to attend copyright education programs before granting them access to the university computer networks.

Yet there seems to be a belief among America's youth, and even some of their parents, that copyright piracy is either an acceptable activity or one that carries low risk of penalties. This needs to change.

Under existing legal authority, the Department of Justice has identified problems that prevent it from pursuing high-volume file sharers. Section 10 of this legislation provides new legal authority to pursue those making available 1,000 or more files. The content community sees government-run public service campaigns as an important counterpart to their education effort. Section 5 provides for such a government-run campaign.

Parents want to be able to learn of illegal activity by their children before they are sued by a copyright owner or the Department of Justice. Section 3 of this legislation creates a voluntary warning system that will allow parents to receive a warning like the kind that still occurs in small towns today. When a child is doing something wrong, the local cop on the beat tells his or her parents about it. Once alerted to their child's behavior by a friendly warning from the local cop, the parents can put a stop to behavior then and there. I believe that a DOJ warning letter sent to the parents will have the same impact on them and their child's behavior as the policeman's friendly warning.

Finally, H.R. 4077 contains the Family Movie Act that clarifies that existing copyright and trademark law cannot be used to prevent a parent from deciding what their children see in the privacy of their own home. I do not take kindly to those who would presume to tell parents how they decide what is best for their children.

In addition, because of the limited floor time at this time of year, the bill also includes the text of H.R. 1775. This bill designates the oak tree as the national tree.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), the Chair of the subcommittee and the principal author of the bill.

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Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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