----- Forwarded message from Tim Bogart <bogiebogart(a)earthlink.net> ----- Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 11:12:54 +0000 From: Tim Bogart <bogiebogart(a)earthlink.net> Subject: [ma-linux] Political action: Save Copyright From Hollywood To: Ma linux <ma-linux(a)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(a)hayes-family.org _______________________________________________ ma-linux mailing list ma-linux(a)tux.org http://www.tux.org/mailman/listinfo/ma-linux ----- End forwarded message -----