The covid-19 stimulus bill includes a measure that makes illegal streaming a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison but targets only large-scale entities.
Getty The COVID-19 stimulus bill includes a measure to make illegal streaming a felony. The new COVID-19 relief bill includes a provision that would make online piracy a felony crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. But it’s important to look past the headlines on this issue. Individual internet users would not be impacted by this bill, which as of this writing had not yet been signed into law. The measure, which was co-sponsored by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), instead specifically targets larger entities that make money from illegally streaming copyrighted materials. Tillis addressed any confusion about who the legislation targets in a Twitter post. He wrote on December 21, “Bipartisan legislation I led with @SenatorLeahy to fight illegal streaming by criminal organizations will be signed into law this week. It will end commercial piracy by criminal organizations and will not apply to internet users.” Here’s what you need to know: Las Vegas men plead guilty in illegal streaming operationTwo Las Vegas men pleaded guilty in a massive illegal streaming operation. STORY: https://bit.ly/2PtD51a2019-12-17T06:17:49Z If you have ever downloaded a pirated version of a television episode, you don’t have anything to worry about with the new law. The Protecting Lawful Streaming Act was written to go after large-scale operations like iStreamItAll & Jetflicks. According to the Justice Department, the iStreamItAll streaming service had more content than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime. The service charged subscribers for access to shows and movies, just like legitimate companies. The difference was that all of the content on iStreamItAll had been obtained illegally.
