There seems to have been a loophole in laws the pirating of movies, TV shows and other intellectual property. Well that is starting to become closed, as the US Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday has approved to make illegal streaming of video over the internet a felony charge in many cases around the US. So now the law goes to the full Senate for consideration of making it a full blown law. The Commercial Felony Streaming Act (S. 978), introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), reconciles a disparity between the current law and streaming of content and peer-to-peer (P2P) downloading. What this will do is go after illegal streaming of video for commercial purposes. The penalty is increased to up to five years in prison when it involves 10 or more instances of streaming over a 180-day period. The retail value of the streamed video must exceed $2,500, or the licenses to the material must be worth more than $5,000. So if you are running a site that streams movies and TV shows to people illegal be on your toes because they are coming after you!
