Editorial: Copyright punishments too harsh by comparison

An ominous warning arrived from campus administrators via e-mail
on Monday: Share music or movie files, and you will face major new
penalties as signed into law by President Bush.

Stealing is wrong, but is digital file-sharing a crime that
should be punished with hard time in federal prisons? Bush,
Congress and the Motion Picture Association of America think three
or more years sounds right for people caught sharing unreleased
DVDs and songs.

But compare the crime of file-sharing to other violent crimes
such as drunken driving, manslaughter and assault ““ all
crimes that commonly carry sentences of about six months to a few
years.

Or compare it to other “white collar” crimes ““
former Enron Treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. pled guilty to conspiracy to
commit fraud and was only sentenced to five years.

Punishments arising from the Enron scandal should carry much
more weight than those imposed on high school students with cable
modems and college students in dorms.

Current copyright laws and their punishments don’t make
sense. Individuals casually sharing files should not be treated
like hardened criminals.

UCLA’s e-mail sounded a lot like a threat ““
especially when it mentioned the possibility of dismissal for those
found “culpable.” Students can only hope UCLA makes
every effort to maintain their privacy while complying with
copyright laws.