The FBI is giving piracy its stamp of disapproval.
Agency revealed a new anti-piracy seal Thursday that will soon be displayed on DVDs, CDs, videogames and software warning users that copyright infringement can lead to up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
FBI warnings have always run on VHS tapes, of course, but the new seal is explicitly "anti-piracy," addressing the most common form of copyright infringement in the digital age. It's also the first such government warning to run on other home entertainment products.
Seal was revealed at a news conference at the federal building in Los Angeles Thursday with reps from the FBI, Motion Picture Assn. of America, Recording Industry Assn. of America and the vidgame and software industries.
Besides introducing the new seal, event served to demonstrate the FBI's growing commitment to the anti-piracy effort. It comes just a week after a news conference announcing the FBI's arrest of three former employees from post-production company Lightning Media for pirating films on which they were working. Jana Monroe, assistant director for the FBI's cyber division, which conducts anti-piracy investigations, said her 18-month-old unit now reflects the FBI's third-highest priority after terrorism and counterintelligence.
The FBI-designed seal can be used voluntarily at a business's discretion. Reps from the film, music, vidgame and software industries said their members are likely to use it on boxes and, in the case of DVDs and games, onscreen as well.
All present admitted a new warning is unlikely to deter profligate pirates, especially those involved in for-profit rings that the FBI targets, but they said a stepped-up public education campaign would help make their message more accepted and prosecutions more justified.
"With the warnings on tapes, people were at least subliminally on notice about the copyright rules for movies," said Brad Buckles, the recently installed VP of anti-piracy for the RIAA. "Now they'll know that exactly the same rules apply for music."
Chris Dowd, a supervisory special agent in the FBI's cyber division, added, "Now when we're prosecuting criminals, it's much easier for us to say, 'How could you not know this was illegal?' "
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