North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis is trying to pass legislation that would make streaming of copyrighted material a felony, rather than a misdemeanor, alongside a major government funding bill. The funding bill is considered a "must-pass" piece of legislation--the government will shut down if it doesn't get approved.
The legislation would turn unauthorized commercial streaming of copyrighted material, which has been a major issue on platforms like Twitch recently, into a felony offense that could come with prison time. Twitch streamers have been getting waves of copyright strikes throughout 2020. Some streamers have had to go back and delete a number of their clips if they included any copyright-protected music.
Twitch apologized for its poor response to the wave of DMCA takedowns last month, but reiterated that the best defense to copyright strikes is to not stream copyrighted material.
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