Nate Anderson tells us that the Intellectual Property Enforcement Act, also known more colloquially as the Pirate Act, is back under consideration in the Senate link here. At its base is the attempt to get the Feds at the Justice Department to enforce intellectual property law, taking the onus and the cost off the business owning the IP. For example, the RIAA has been having trouble identifying the culprit who transfers copyrighted material on P2P links, much less getting evidence sufficient to convict. Given the power of the FBI, the Feds will no doubt do better, particularly since the government is already reading all our email. In addition, the law gives Justice the power to pursue cases as either criminal or civil, an advantage to IP owners as civil law requires a lower level of evidence to convict.

Consider writing your Senators.