White House: Mass Illegal Streaming Should Be a Felony

LOS ANGELES—In a lengthy response to two "Stop SOPA" petitions posted to the White House website, Alex Niejelow, chief of staff to the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator and the National Security Council’s head of cyber security policy, restated the Administration's interest in strengthening U.S. criminal law in order to more effectively counter mass piracy. Specifically, the White House is arguing for felony criminal penalties to be imposed on those who engage in large-scale dissemination of infringing content. "To be clear: We are not advocating for, and do not support, Congress enacting criminal sanctions against people who upload their own, non-commercial performances of other artists' works on Tumblr, against the content creators making your favorite mashup on YouTube, or against the users of these services—like many of you who signed this petition— who watch and listen to this digital content," Niejelow clarified. "Rather," he continued, "we think the law should deter the large-scale willful reproduction, distribution, and streaming of illegal, infringing content for profit. We think it is important to combat this type of activity because of the negative impact it has in diminishing the drive and economic incentive to produce the great movies, sporting events, and music that we love and that account for millions of American jobs and billions of dollars contributed to our economy annually." Establishing a new penalty will require cooperation between Congress and the White House, he added, explaining, "In addition to establishing a felony streaming provision, Congress should consider the question of whether changes in the business model of streaming-based infringement also counsel corresponding changes in the way we set the harm thresholds—e.g., the number of infringing acts or articles, their dollar value, and/or the statutory time period in which those acts must be committed—required to establish a felony penalty for illegal streaming under the criminal copyright statute. The Administration is prepared to work with Congress on this important issue." The stakes could not be larger, added Neijelow, who argues that online piracy, "if left unchecked, runs the risk of threatening the health of the economy and American jobs."   In some industries, however, that risk has already become a reality.