A part of the defeated SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) legislation has been recommended to make a return to Congress to become law.

The Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force issued a report last week recommending the implementation a part of SOPA that would make the illegal streaming of copyrighted works a felony.

Under current American laws, the illegal streaming of copyrighted content is only considered a misdemeanor offense, though anecdotal evidence suggests that it is a seldom enforced law.

The report by the Internet Task Force report recommended increasing the penalty for illegal streaming by ” adopting the same range of penalties for criminal streaming of copyrighted works to the public as now exists for criminal reproduction and distribution… since the most recent updates to the criminal copyright provisions, streaming (both audio and video) has become a significant if not dominant means for consumers to enjoy content online.”

The  United States Register of Copyrights, Maria Pallante, made a similar suggestion back in March. In addition to the inclusion of this sort of recommendation in SOPA suggests that the push to make just about every possible type of piracy a felony offense is one that Washington isn’t likely to let go of anytime soon.

Remember when everyone went around with those Obama “hope” posters? Whatever happened to that guy on those posters? He seemed like such a good fellow. Definitely not like the lot in charge now.

Don’t take that as me being part of the #Nobama gang or just hating people who hold copyrights. If someone was poaching my work for their gain, I’d be pretty damn pissed. However, there’s already a law on the books that anecdotal evidence would indicate is not being enforced. Rather than ramping up to a felony level charge for streaming works, what if they actually enforced the current law and saw if that had the desired effect. Besides, felony charges tend to screw up lives. Does someone streaming a show make them a dangerous offender?

Also, I’d like to know how this affects everyone else in the world. I don’t believe any other country currently punishes piracy this harshly but some countries like to play follow the leader. I’d hate to see what changes to the Criminal Code are made in Canada if America pushes this one through since Prime Minister Harper appears to want to make Canada into America Lite.

Sources: BGR, The Washington Post

P.S. Keep the comments civil. Shutting them down is as easy as a click of a button.