For those of you not familiar the Induce Act is a new law that's being proposed on capital hill. This law would make consumer electronic manufactures responsible for copyright piracy. Such devices as MP3 players (iPod), DVD recorders, and so on. I personally don't see this actually getting passed, but they must be getting pretty desperate to sink this low in my opinion.
In a move that's alarming technology firms, the U.S. Copyright Office is about to endorse new legislation that would outlaw peer-to-peer networks and possibly some consumer electronics devices that could be used for copyright piracy.
Marybeth Peters, the U.S. Register of Copyrights, is planning to announce her support for the measure at a Senate hearing on Thursday. The Induce Act, which critics warn could imperil products like Apple Computer's iPod, is an "important improvement over existing law," according to a copy of her statement seen by CNET News.com.
Peters goes even further than the politicians supporting the Induce Act, saying a 1984 Supreme Court decision "should be replaced by a more flexible rule that is more meaningful in the technological age." That 5-4 ruling said that VCRs were legal to sell because they were "capable of substantial noninfringing uses"--a legal shield that one federal court has extended to cover the Grokster and Morpheus file-swapping networks.
News source: C|Net News.com
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