Back in May, the Justice Department issued some proposed legislation to tighten US intellectual property laws and to [1] criminalize some forms of “attempted infringement.” Now, legislation based on the proposals has been introduced in Congress by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), complete with stiffer jail terms for violators and the controversial “attempted infringement” clause. H.R. 3155, the [2] Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act of 2007, aims widely. Everything gets a section: unauthorized recording of films in theaters, circumventing copy protection, trafficking in counterfeit goods. The bill even directs the Attorney General to send federal prosecutors to take up permanent residence in Hong Kong and Budapest and specifies the number and makeup of FBI investigative teams.In most cases, the bill appears to simply double existing penalties. Section 12 alone, for instance, makes a 10-year prison term into a 20-year term, three years into six, five into 10, and six into 12. Poof! More prison time!

The worse part about this would be the fact that people could then be charged with criminal copyright infringement even if no infringement actually happened. “Any person who attempts to commit an offense under paragraph (1) shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt”.

Source: [3] arstechnica.com