Congress Covets Copyright Cops

A draft of next year's budget includes plans to hire far more Justice Department attorneys and FBI agents who are charged with placing more pirates in prison. This comes one week after Attorney General John Ashcroft spoke in Mountain View, California, about the threat of online piracy. In the same week, geek protesters demanded the release of Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian programmer arrested on felony copyright charges. That's exactly what should be happening, according to a Senate committee report. In an apparent reference to the prosecution, it says: "The committee is aware that the FBI has launched an initiative to investigate violations of federal copyright laws protecting certain marketed software applications. The committee supports FBI efforts..." The Senate has earmarked $10 million for copyright prosecutions, enough money for 155 agents and attorneys in the fiscal year starting in October. That's up from a current $4 million allocated for 75 positions. Copyright holders, who applauded the prosecution of Sklyarov on charges of violating the controversial DMCA, said they hoped the additional cash will put more DMCA pirates and copyright thieves behind bars.