A new antipiracy bill in the US Senate known as the 'Induce Act' is expected to be introduced next week. The Induce Act stands for "Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation Act" and aims to protect against illegal pornography. However this bill also aims to cause a significant change to copyright law by outlawing certain devices and tools that could be used to aid piracy.
Not only would this bill effectively outlaw file swapping software and P2P networks, it could also outlaw even certain household items such as VCR's, cassette recorders, ReplayTV boxes as well as prohibit websites from even hosting software than can aid with piracy. Violators can be punished with penalties ranging from civil fines to a lengthy prison term. This act would even effectively overturn the Supreme Court's 1984 decision in the 'Betamax' lawsuit that ruled VCRs as legal.
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The proposal, called the Induce Act, says "whoever intentionally induces any violation" of copyright law would be legally liable for those violations, a prohibition that would effectively ban file-swapping networks like Kazaa and Morpheus. In the draft bill seen by CNET News.com, inducement is defined as "aids, abets, induces, counsels, or procures" and can be punished with civil fines and, in some circumstances, lengthy prison terms. The bill represents the latest legislative attempt by influential copyright holders to address what they view as the growing threat of peer-to-peer networks rife with pirated music, movies and software. As file-swapping networks grow in popularity, copyright lobbyists are becoming increasingly creative in their legal responses, which include proposals for Justice Department lawsuits against infringers and action at the state level. Read the full story here. |
This bill reminds me of the TCPA bill that would out law all devices that do not incorporate anti-piracy measures. With the Induce Act, the bill appears to specifically target any device capable of assisting with piracy. From what I can see, this could even outlaw PC CD & DVD recorders and flash memory cards as these devices could assist in copying music and other copyrighted material.
Other than greed, I cannot see why the recording or movie industry needs to make significant changes to the law to protect itself and its artists while cause a major headache to the majority of the population. This includes changing the way some businesses run, for example it would affect manufacturers and resellers that are involved with recording equipment, software and so on since these would need to incorporate anti-piracy measures to legalise their products under this act.
Source: CNET News - The Net
