We should keep an eye on this one. We've got Chinese factories sending us defective truck tires, poisoned tooth paste, toys, pet food, and people food, and where's the AG? Trying to buy Hollywood from the Democrats.

So, what is "attempted piracy" or "attempted copyright infringement"? Anything Congress decides it to be, or it can be left vague enough so that RIAA or MPAA lawyers can sue anyone they don't like. Like people who develop and freely release software like Myth and KM.

I don't like the smell of this at all.

This would up the ante by a LOT. You're not going to see MPAA or RIAA lawyers suing under this law -- it would be a federal procecutor with the full weight of the US Government behind him. Capricious or malicious prosecution would put victims of this law in JAIL.

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Here's a link to the story

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/10218.cfm

Remember too that "fair use" from the Betamax case isn't so much a "right" as an accommodation of reasonableness. The ruling took into account the limitations of analog tape and also left the door open to legislation to restrict recording activities.
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To your other point. The feds won't prosecute a case without the blessings or the RIAA or MPAA. That's why those organizations haven't gone after the remnants of ReplayTV. If they lose, and even if they win, it would legally establish a threshold for fair use and file sharing. Even a minimum legal threshold could then be legally exploited, and that's a risk Hollywood isn't ready for. Much safer to try to criminalize all of and have AG be Hollywood's 8it¢#.