Internet Privacy Act

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The Internet Privacy Act is a non-existent and fictitious law cited by file sharing, warez and peer-to-peer networks in order to deter anti-P2P organizations such as the RIAA. Networks which share music, films and software often display the fictitious act in an attempt to protect themselves from arrest by being able to claim entrapment in court. In the statement, websites claim that it prevents organizations whom may be associated with anti-P2P or government organizations from entering the site or network as it would breach the terms of the act.^[1]^[2]

According to the statement which many sites display, it was signed by Bill Clinton in 1995, but in reality he never signed the act as it never existed. Using this and other such "disclaimers" would actually make it easier for such a site to be found via the major search engines.

The text notice on these sites are usually as follows, but can vary:

If you are affiliated with any government, anti-piracy group or any other related group, or were formally a worker of one you CANNOT enter this web site, cannot access any of its files and you cannot view any of the HTML files. If you enter this site you are not agreeing to these terms and you are violating code 431.322.12 of the Internet Privacy Act signed by Bill Clinton in 1995 and that means that you CANNOT threaten our ISP(s) or any person(s) or company storing these files, and cannot prosecute any person(s) affiliated with this page which includes family, friends or individuals who run or enter this web site. ^[3]

[edit] History of usage

The false act first began to be displayed during the late 1990s on many sites that engaged in illegal activities, such as the promotion and distribution of "boot-legged" (counterfeit) materials. Over time, the paragraph was picked up and for the most part, copied and pasted with the exception of a few minor variations to match the content of the containing website. An example is provided below:

If you are affiliated with any government, police, anti-piracy group or other related group or working for Adidas, Manolo Blahnik, Converse, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Burberry, Hermes, Prada, Air Jordan, Nike, Timberland, Gucci, Cartier, Oakley either directly or indirectly, or any other related group, or were formally a worker, you CANNOT enter these web pages, links, nor access any of its files and you cannot view any of the HTML files. If in fact you are affiliated or were affiliated with the above said companies, by entering this site you are not agreeing to these terms and you are violating code 431.322.12 of the Internet Privacy Act signed by Bill Clinton in 1995 and that means that you CANNOT threaten our ISP(s) or any person(s) or company storing these files, and cannot prosecute any person(s) affiliated with this website.

Through the turn of the century, many a website used the statement to attempt to deter litigation and prosecution by copyright holders, especially by websites which distributed licensed anime. This was, and is, most commonly in usage by sites which hold and distribute FUNimation licensed materials including, but not limited to: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Yu Yu Hakusho, and more recently, One Piece and Naruto. The form in which these websites present the act is also, for the most part, copied and pasted, except with the change of the initial statement:

If you are affiliated with FUNimation® Productions, Ltd, any government, Cel, Anti-Piracy group or any other related group, or were formally a worker of one, you cannot enter this site, cannot access any of its files, or do anything related to this site. If you enter this site you are not agreeing to these terms and you are violating code 431.322.12 of the Internet Privacy Act signed by Bill Clinton in 1995. You cannot threaten MajinTrunks or UltimateDBZ Media or any Person(s) storing the files on this site. You cannot prosecute any person(s) affiliated with this page which includes family, friends or individuals who run or enter this web site.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Currently, the act is still used in the above manners as well, as previously mentioned, by P2P services, namely Torrent trackers.