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By CNET Networks, 21 August 2002 09:40

NEWS By Declan McCullagh The US Department of Justice is prepared to begin prosecuting peer-to-peer pirates, a top government official said on Tuesday. John Malcolm, a deputy assistant attorney general, said Americans should realise that swapping illicit copies of music and movies is a criminal offence that can result in lengthy prison terms. "A lot of people think these activities are legal, and they think they ought to be legal," Malcolm told an audience at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual technology and politics summit. Malcolm said the internet has become "the world's largest copy machine" and that criminal prosecutions of copyright offenders are now necessary to preserve the viability of America's content industries. "There does have to be some kind of a public message that stealing is stealing is stealing," said Malcolm, who oversees the arm of the Justice Department that prosecutes copyright and computer crime cases. Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), said his industry would "welcome" prosecutions that send a message to song-swappers. "Some prosecutions that make that clear could be very helpful... I think they would think twice if they thought there was a risk of criminal prosecution," said Sherman, who was on the same conference panel. Christopher Cookson, executive vice president of Warner Bros. and another panellist, said there was "a need for governments to step in and maintain order in society". Swapping files in violation of the law has always been a civil offence, and the RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have the option of suing individual infringers and seeking damages. But, Malcolm said, criminal prosecutions can be much more effective in intimidating file-swappers who have little assets at risk in a civil suit. "Civil remedies are not adequate... Law enforcement in that regard does have several advantages. We have the advantage, when appropriate, of opening up and conducting multi-jurisdictional and international investigations. "Most parents would be horrified if they walked into a child's room and found 100 stolen CDs... However, these same parents think nothing of having their children spend time online downloading hundreds of songs without paying a dime." Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, said he was sceptical about the view that peer-to-peer piracy should be a criminal offence. "If we have seventy million people in the United States who are breaking the law, we have a big issue."