Terminator Hatch’s Kill Bill 3
p2pnet.net News:- Hollywood stalwart senator Orrin ‘Terminator’ Hatch is behind yet another act to be introduced next week and custom-design to kill p2p file sharing – unless, of course, it’s owned and/or controlled by Hollywood.
Hatch advocated destroying file sharers’ computers and was nick-named Terminator after the killer droid in California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator series.
He came up with the PIRATE (Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation) Act, another Hollywood project aimed at file sharing, and with this latest bill – the INDUCE (Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation) Act – is again using kiddie porn as an excuse to raise legislation designed to further the ends of the entertainment industry.
“The logic is that P2P applications inevitably lead to exploitation of children,” writes law profesor Susan Crawford on her blog here.
Called the INDUCE (Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation) Act, it’s the Hollings Bill by other means, says EFF intellectual property lawyer Fred von Lohmann on Deep Links.
Hollings’ anti-piracy CBDTPA (Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act) was once described by Home Recording Rights Coalition chairman Gary Shapiro as, “a particularly dangerous delegation of broad, unfettered regulatory authority, which could have severe, adverse, long-term consequences for American consumers.”
Von Lohmann says INDUCE is, “an over-reaching new form of indirect liability that will force technology companies of all kinds to ‘ask permission’ before innovating for fear of ruinous litigation if they don’t.”
Of the ‘Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation Act,’ “I’m not even sure that’s how ‘devolves’ should be used,” Crawford says. “But the crimes here go far beyond the title. The Act … amends the copyright law to say that anyone who ‘induces’ copyright infringement is himself/itself an infringer.
” ‘Induce’ means intentionally aids, abets, counsels, or procures. So you can’t even hire a lawyer if you’re doing something risky.
“This is amazing. Now we’re waaaaaay beyond contributory and vicarious theories of liability, which are court-created and pretty darn broad on their own. See Napster 9th Circuit, Aimster 7th Circuit. It’s not even clear what the limit to this is – ‘aids’ could mean that even something that would have been fair use under the Sony Betamax decision is now an illegal inducement.
“And no one can talk to you if they think there’s the slightest risk of copyright infringement liability.
“We’re back to the CBPTDA – another hugely broad way of making sure that no unauthorized machines ever enter into our lives. If there was ever a moment to organize (see prior post) this might be it.”
The danger to innovators is clear, says von Lohmann: “you now have to worry not just about contributory and vicarious liability, but an entirely new form of liability for building tools that might be misused. It will be interesting to see whether the bill expressly precludes any Betamax-type defense.
“This may also pose First Amendment problems, to the extent a journalist or website publisher might be liable for simply posting information about where infringement tools might be found or how to use them.”
And thus, he adds, opens another front in the copyright wars, “with the aggressors waving the bloody flag of file sharing, but really aiming at a much bigger target”.
INDUCE is, “designed to have this fuzzy feel around protecting children from pornography, but it’s pretty clearly a backdoor way to eliminate and make illegal peer-to-peer services,” a CNET story here quotes Jeff Joseph, vp for communications at the Consumer Electronics Association as saying.
“Our concern is that you’re attacking the technology.”
June 19th, 2004 at 3:42 am
Common sense has really gone out the window. It’s clear that the criminals and degenerates have completely taken over the political landscape in America and in other countries as well.
Bringing up child exploitation to mask his true motives is deplorable. Hatch should be ashamed of himself.
June 19th, 2004 at 2:26 pm
HATCH IS A COMPLETE ASSHOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
June 20th, 2004 at 6:11 am
A person cannot be ashamed of their self if they have no shame. Senator Hatchet clearly has none.
July 25th, 2004 at 7:50 am
This is just further proof that our Republic does not serve us anymore, it serves corporate interests. Our elected officials, who are supposed to work for us couldn’t care less about you and I because we don’t make deposits to thier bank accounts. They never will…this is a losing proposition unless we overhaul our entire political system. Term limits are the best way, someone wont worry about getting re-elected and will serve the PUBLIC trust! Thank you Mr. Jefferson!