As Part Of Covid-19 Relief Bill, US Bans Illegal Streaming With 10 Years In Jail

United States House and Senate Democratic leaders on Monday released a 5,000-page long Covid-19 stimulus bill that announces a $900 billion Covid-19 relief package.

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Among the many benefits to the US citizens, the bill mentions a new law to punish streamers that pirate copyrighted content with up to 10 years in prison.

Titled "Protecting Lawful Streaming Act," the new law will target "commercial, for-profit streaming piracy services" that tend to generate income from copyrighted material through illegal streaming. As per the law, anyone found to be a violator will be prosecuted with up to 10 years for multiple offenses as well as a monetary fine.

The law exempts individuals who access such pirated streaming services and instead, only targets the perpetrators. A statement by U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, who introduced the act last month, reads ¡°The law will not sweep in normal practices by online service providers, good faith business disputes, noncommercial activities, or in any way impact individuals who access pirated streams or unwittingly stream unauthorized copies of copyrighted works.¡±

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"This commonsense legislation was drafted with the input of creators, user groups, and technology companies and is narrowly targeted so that only criminal organizations are punished and that no individual streamer has to worry about the fear of prosecution," the statement reaffirms.

Need for a strict check

The statement cites a study conducted last year that reported a loss of $29.2 billion to the U.S. economy a year, due to digital video piracy. This loss was mapped across ¡°major motion pictures, television programs, music, audiobooks, live sports, and pay-per-view programming.¡±

The statement highlights a ¡°Streaming Loophole¡± that exists under the current laws. The loophole is that any criminal infringement via streaming can only be charged as a misdemeanor. In comparison, any violation conducted regarding the reproduction and distribution rights of copyright owners can be charged as felonies.

The new act addresses this loophole, as it understands that ¡°streaming has become the most common form of criminal copyright infringement.¡± The legislation will hence enable the Department of Justice to bring felony charges against a digital transmission service.

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The statement specifies three types of violations in this regard. It bans services primarily designed or that have no other use than to stream copyrighted works without the authority of the copyright owner or the law. Digital streaming services that are ¡°intentionally marketed by or at the direction of that person to promote its use in streaming copyrighted works¡± without proper authority will also be banned.

Other than the Protecting Lawful Streaming Act, the new bill proposes ¡°direct payments of up to $600 per adult, enhanced jobless benefits of $300 per week, roughly $284 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans, $25 billion in rental assistance, an extension of the eviction moratorium and $82 billion for schools and colleges,¡± as mentioned in a summary of the bill. You can read the full text of the bill here.