Bill S.978

Bill S.978 (S. 978) or the Commercial Felony Streaming Act was a bill that was introduced to the United States Senate. It was proposed by Amy Klobuchar, Chris Coons, and John Cornyn on May 12, 2011.[1] It would have been an amendment to US Code Title 18 Section 2319, that would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted material for the purpose of "commercial advantage or personal financial gain", a felony (under current law, unauthorized streaming is only a misdemeanor).[2] The penalty could include up to five years of prison-time. The bill defined illegal streaming as streaming ten or more times in a 180-day period. Furthermore, the value of the illegally streamed material would have to be greater than $2,500, or the licensing fees would have to be over $5,000.

Several articles were published, expressing concern as to whether the bill would have affected those who stream or post videos of copyrighted content (e.g. video games, TV shows, music) on public sites such as YouTube. The bill did not directly address this aspect.[3] Although the bill would never become law, there was an outcry with several negative reactions against it on YouTube and other websites during July 2011.[4] Singer Justin Bieber was notably among the list of creators in opposition to the bill, and he stated that U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, the bill's sponsor, "needs to be locked up, put away in cuffs".[5]

Both Klobuchar and Coons stated that the bill was not intended to affect the aforementioned aspects, instead it would only target websites or people who profit from illegally streaming copyrighted material.[6][7]