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The Conyers-Berman bill would operate under the assumption that each copyrighted work made available through a computer network was copied by others at least 10 times for a total retail value of $2,500. That would bump the activity from a misdemeanor to a felony, carrying a sentence of up to five years in jail.

It would also outlaw the practice of videotaping a movie in the theater, a favorite illicit method of copying movies.

"While existing laws have been useful in stemming this problem, they simply do not go far enough," said Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

Why do they support such a thing? Could it be campaign contributions? The public records at OpenSecrets.org have interesting information.

For the 2002 election cycle, Berman's top contributing industry was the TV/Movies/Music category - $222,791. Second was Lawyers/Law Firms at $117,450. Walt Disney was his top single contributor at $32,000, AOLTimeWarner was close behind at $29,050, Vivendi Universal contributed $27,341, Viacom $15,000, Newscorp (full disclosure - my former employer) $11,750, and DreamworksSKG contributed $11,000.

For Conyers, in the 2002 cycle, TV/Movies/Music was the second highest category - $49,859. It was behind only Lawyers/Law Firms, which contributed $50,750. Top contributors include AOLTimeWarner at $9,000, Walt Disney at $6,000, and Viacom at $5,000.

Why doesn't CNN report this stuff? It's even teasable - "If you're swapping music files, two congressmen want you in jail. Could campaign contributions play a role? We'll investigate when we come back."