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greatbearYet another senator (Orrin Hatch, R.-Utah in this case) in the back pocket of the movie/recording industry is introducing a bill with some serious implications and gigantic loopholes - the "Induce Act", a bill aimed at P2P filesharing which would render almost any service liable and "simply confirm that existing law would allow artists to bring civil actions against parties who intend to induce others to infringe copyrights".
Oh, brother.
Stated simply, If your product/service can be used to 'infringe copyright' in any way, regardless if it has a substantial non-infringing use, the provider of that product/service will be held liable for offering something that would 'induce' someone to 'infringe on a copyright'. In other words, the CD recorder in your PC which you use to make copies of various copyrighted media, the iPod you have stored material in from your own albums, the PC itself, your TiVo/Replay, your DVD recorder, VCR - all rendered ultimately illegal. This is an effort that the movie/recording industry has been creaming their jeans over to attempt to overturn the ultimate acid test case for 'fair use' of copyright, the "Sony Betamax Case". Most everyone knows that this ruling that a device could not be prohibited from sale just because it could be used to make an illegal copy of a movie, because there were so many other 'legal' uses given to it through the Home Recording Act, varios fair-use statutes, etc. Hollywood's selective hindsight seems to forget that an entire cash-rich industry was eventually launched with the release of the VCR, the rental and sale of movies.
The ingrained greed of these corporations is causing them to treat each and every one of their consumers as a potential thief, ready and willing at any moment to get some modicum of usage out of material they paid for in some way they don't like, and must be stopped at all costs. They get in with government officials and have Draconian laws passed like the DMCA and many others which ultimately treat consumers poorly at the same time designed to extract more and moe money from their pockets.
To me, the world would be a lot better place if people like Mr. Hatch would not be able to hold public office, or better yet, rotting in the ground.
Oh, brother.
Stated simply, If your product/service can be used to 'infringe copyright' in any way, regardless if it has a substantial non-infringing use, the provider of that product/service will be held liable for offering something that would 'induce' someone to 'infringe on a copyright'. In other words, the CD recorder in your PC which you use to make copies of various copyrighted media, the iPod you have stored material in from your own albums, the PC itself, your TiVo/Replay, your DVD recorder, VCR - all rendered ultimately illegal. This is an effort that the movie/recording industry has been creaming their jeans over to attempt to overturn the ultimate acid test case for 'fair use' of copyright, the "Sony Betamax Case". Most everyone knows that this ruling that a device could not be prohibited from sale just because it could be used to make an illegal copy of a movie, because there were so many other 'legal' uses given to it through the Home Recording Act, varios fair-use statutes, etc. Hollywood's selective hindsight seems to forget that an entire cash-rich industry was eventually launched with the release of the VCR, the rental and sale of movies.
The ingrained greed of these corporations is causing them to treat each and every one of their consumers as a potential thief, ready and willing at any moment to get some modicum of usage out of material they paid for in some way they don't like, and must be stopped at all costs. They get in with government officials and have Draconian laws passed like the DMCA and many others which ultimately treat consumers poorly at the same time designed to extract more and moe money from their pockets.
To me, the world would be a lot better place if people like Mr. Hatch would not be able to hold public office, or better yet, rotting in the ground.
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no subject
Date: 2004-06-24 11:20 pm (UTC)