Filing a lawsuit under the Induce Act is like dropping a litigation bomb on any company that gives users products that have even the slightest potential to assist in copyright infringement.
The INDUCE Act is a piece of legislation that's kind of slid in under the radar; most people don't know anything about it. Today, I'm gonna do my part to fix that.
See, the Act has already passed in the Senate - it has only the House to go before it becomes law. Once that happens, the onslaught begins.
What onslaught, you ask?
The onslaught of lawsuits.
Under the INDUCE Act, VCRs, audiocassette recorders, TiVo, DVR, DVD- and CD- burners, MP3 players, and computer hard drives all become illegal, or at least subject to an endless flood of lawsuits, because they are devices which allow "copyright infringing use."
Until now, the standard has been that any device, software, or other product which has legitimate, non-infringing uses, is legal. Under INDUCE, that's not true anymore. Any device which can be used for piracy, and advice which can be construed as advocating piracy, will be illegal, and subject to really outlandish penalties.
The EFF is really upset; they even wrote a fake lawsuit to demonstrate the kind of thing that will be possible under it.
Now is the time to write to your Congressman. Really. Once this becomes law, the music and movie industries will have the legal right to confiscate from you any product you possess which they deem to have uses for piracy. Maybe your camcorder, or your digital camera, or your microcassette recorder. And you won't be able to stop it.
If there's one thing you can say about Orrin Hatch of Utah, it's that he's honest. Once you buy him, he stays bought.
I just worry that people won't realize what's happening until it's too late.
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