[linux-audio-user] [bogiebogart at earthlink.net: [ma-linux] Political action: Save Copyright From Hollywood]

Eric Dantan Rzewnicki rzewnickie at rfa.org
Mon Sep 13 14:04:47 EDT 2004


----- Forwarded message from Tim Bogart <bogiebogart at earthlink.net> -----

Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 11:12:54 +0000
From: Tim Bogart <bogiebogart at earthlink.net>
Subject: [ma-linux] Political action: Save Copyright From Hollywood
To: Ma linux <ma-linux at tux.org>

All,

This seems to be a good item for all of us to be aware of.  It's not exactly 
fair use, but close.  It has to do with manufacturers of technologies and how 
the users use those technologies.  Please read.

Tim.

-----------------

An item you can pass around among your contacts.  Visit
www.savebetamax.org.

Congress is considering a new law, known as the INDUCE Act, which
would radically change the standards of copyright.  A national call-in
day is being organized for this coming Tuesday to fight this.

At present, a technology company which produces content copying tools
is protected from liability for what its users do with the tools.  The
only requirement is that the tool is capable of a substantial
non-infringing use.  Not that the users actually use it that way, but
just that the tool has the potential.  This standard comes from the
Supreme Court "Betamax" decision, when Hollywood tried to kill the
first VCRs.

The new proposal would change the standard, to one based on how the
users actually do use the tool.  While this seems reasonable on the
surface, it's a huge change for a potential defendant.  It is easy,
and consequently cheap, to show that a tool could be used for a
non-infringing purpose.  It is much harder to gather evidence about
how a tool is actually used in the real world.  

The result is that under present law, a technology producer is
virtually immune from the threat of Hollywood action.  That's why we
have things like iPOD, CD-RW and DVD-R, and USB thumb drives.  Under
the new standard, Hollywood could cripple any new technology that
doesn't have the money to stand up to a multi-megabuck legal assault.

Spread the word, and get people to call their congress-critters.  It's
important.  

-- 
David Hayes
david at hayes-family.org
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