US Copyright Office drafts a slightly less severe Induce Act bill

September 4, 2004

Due to the severity of the proposed Induce Act, the
US Copyright Office has drafted yet another new proposal to substitute for the
current Induce Act proposal. Recently, a "Don't Induce Act"
proposal had been sent to Capitol Hill as a replacement to the Induce Act,
but it is likely too narrow for them to consider it.

This new Induce Act draft aims to outlaw
Peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa, Grokster and so on, while not do the same
for innocent MP3 players such as the iPod, tape recorders and so on. The
record industry (RIAA) is getting really anxious to get the Induce Act enforced
in an aim to overturn the 9th Circuit court ruling on Grokster and Morpheus file sharing
networks. Unlike the original Induce Act, the main section here
outlaws anyone that intenionally persuades or causes piracy or
copyright infringement. P2P file sharing networks is an example since
these would not be as popular if consumers could not distribute or obtain
copyright works using them.

Unfortunately like the original Induce Act, this
new draft contains several sections that may still be overly broad. One
section would make it illegal to interfere with identifying pirates that are
suspect of copyright infringement. This means that if the recording
industry demands an ISP to hand over personal details under a suspect IP
address, then refusing to cooperate will be a violation of this new Induce Act
draft. Another section mentions that companies must take all "reasonably
available corrective measures" to prevent piracy. Enforcing the infamous
DRM is just an example. GristyMcFisty submitted
in the following news quote:

The U.S. Copyright Office has drafted a new version of the Induce Act that it believes will ban networks like Kazaa and Morpheus while not putting hardware such as portable hard drives and MP3 players on the wrong side of the law.

The original Induce Act has been severely
criticized for possibly jeopardizing products such Apple Computer's iPod
that could "induce" people to commit piracy.

An Aug. 19 decision from a federal appeals
court that said the Grokster and Morpheus file-swapping networks were
legal to operate has sent shock waves around Capitol Hill. Now groups like
the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and their allies in
Congress are scrambling for legislation such as the Induce Act that would
overturn the 9th Circuit's ruling.

The Copyright Office's four-page
"discussion draft," dated Thursday and seen by CNET News.com, appears to
back away from the broad sweep of the original Induce Act by making it
more difficult for companies to be found liable for copyright violations.
It says anyone who "intentionally induces" copyright violations can be
found liable, with "induce" defined as one or more "affirmative, overt
acts that are reasonably expected to cause or persuade another person or
persons" to violate copyright law.

But the Copyright Office's proposal is
raising eyebrows among consumer groups and Internet providers, who fear
that it suffers from many of the same defects as the original. One
section, for instance, says companies that "actively interfere" with a
copyright holder's efforts to identify pirates could be
liable.

Read the full article here.

It looks like this new induce act is really not all that different from the
original, particularly on the section which requires corrective measures to be
implemented. As DRM is one corrective measure, it could mean the end of
MP3 support in portable players should this law take effect. On the other
hand, if MP3 players go back to proprietary software enforcing 'write only' for
music, they may still escape. Most other devices such as the TiVo and
VCR's however should remain ok under the new draft.

Either way even if this law passes, it will likely have more effect on
killing off modern technology that the music industry refuses to accept, hurts
consumers by enforcing unfair measures on their equipment while having little if
any effect on large scale pirates. It seems like the RIAA are just trying
to put new patches on their DMCA legislation.

Source: CNET News