I wrote about part of this last week, but publicknowledge.org has a summary up of various bills affecting the internet and digital media.
H.R. 4077 Piracy Deterrence in Education
Establishes “offering for distribution” as basis for criminal copyright violation and “making available” for civil violation, regardless of whether there is any distribution or copying, let alone infringement. While traditional infringement employs a higher, “willful” infringement standard, this new cause of action lowers the standard of infringement to “knowing with reckless disregard.” Passed the House Sept. 28, 2004 on voice vote.
S. 2237 The Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation (PIRATE) Act
The bill would authorize the Justice Dept. to file civil actions against copyright infringers.[...]
H.R. 4586 The Family Movie Act
[...]Now, the affirmative right to watch and skip parts of the content that a consumer has legally obtained only exists if certain conditions are met: no commercial or promotional ads may be skipped. Additionally, technology manufacturers must provide a notice at the beginning each showing stating that “the motion picture is altered from the performance intended by the director or copyright holder of the motion picture.” This sets the functionality of the everyday VCR and TiVo on its head.