Astonishing new proposals for copyright

The US Attorney General has proposed some astonishly harsh changes to the already Draconian and repressive copyright legislation in place in the United States. As described at CNET, the new laws would criminalize merely "attempting" to infringe copyrights and add additional penalities (to the existing 10 year maximum) for "intended" copyright crimes that had not taken place.

In general I think the US Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) is already too strong, with its prohibition on taking apart devices you personally own. For a person who came to like science and engineering by figuring out electro-mechanical things we had at home, this is an awful prohibition. It also inhibits the creation of devices that leverage existing technology.

Just to be balanced, I think the the DMCA does have some redeeming features. The safe habour component that stipulates how to deal with copyright material placed on public web sites is quite reasonable.

At any rate, if you're in the US this new proposal deserves comment and oppsition.