Leahy & Hatch want to punish ISPs if their tech "induces" copyright violations!

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com>
Date: September 28, 2004 2:58:50 PM EDT
To: "Dave Farber: ;Declan McCullagh" <declan () well com>
Subject: Leahy & Hatch want to punish ISPs if their tech "induces" 
copyright violations!

One wonders about Leahy -- who was once considered a staunch defender 
of civil liberties.  But he's co-authored some of the worst 
police-enforcement and government-surveillance legislation of the last 
decade, and now he's apparently co-leading the charge to choke 
technology to protect the interests of some of the largest and most 
abusive and predatory of conglomerates and cartels.

With "liberals" like this, who needs conservatives?!

--jim

At 2:05 PM -0400 9/28/04, ALAWASH E-MAIL wrote:
> ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
> Volume 13, Number 68
> September 28, 2004
>
> In This Issue: Stop INDUCE--Mark-up Sept. 30th
>
>
> The following has been re-printed from the American Association of Law
> Libraries (AALL), Courtesy of Mary Alice Baish.
>
>
> Stop INDUCE--Mark-up Sept. 30th
> Calls/Emails Urgently Needed NOW to Members of the Senate Judiciary
> Committee
>
> BACKGROUND:
> Library groups have opposed S. 2560, the "Inducing Infringement of
> Copyrights Act" (INDUCE Act) since it was introduced by Senate 
> Judiciary
> Chairman Orrin Hatch  and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy in June. The 
> bill
> is strongly supported by Hollywood and the recording industry because 
> of
> their concerns about peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks which 
> they
> say are used mainly by consumers to illegally share copyrighted
> materials.
>
> If enacted, S. 2560 would make companies and other Internet service
> providers (ISPs) liable if their software or technology "induces" users
> to violate copyright laws. ALA is a member of a large, diverse 
> coalition
> that opposes this bill because we believe strongly that the solution is
> not to ban technology simply because it can be used to "induce"
> consumers to make illegal copies.  S. 2560 outlaws technology, not bad
> conduct, and P2P technology is in fact used for many important legal
> purposes. The bill is so broadly drafted that it has many unintended
> consequences far beyond targeting those who infringe copyright.
>
> ACTION NEEDED:
> S. 2560 has undergone many revisions, and a substitute bill will be
> marked-up this Thursday, Sept. 30th. Please contact your Senator
> immediately, by phone or email, if he's listed below as a member of the
> Judiciary Committee.
>
> Express your grave concerns about:
>
> 1.  THE PROCESS.  There have been no hearings on what is now the fourth
> version of the INDUCE Act. Rushing a bill that implies a fundamental
> realignment of our intellectual property system through mark-up and to
> the Senate floor with no hearings is wrong.
>
> 2. THE SUBSTANCE.  If enacted, this bill could constitute the greatest
> threat to date to the innovation processes that the copyright and 
> patent
> laws were intended to promote.
>            The proposed legislation defines "induces" as simply 
> manufacturing a
> product or offering a service; therefore it wrongly targets commerce
> rather than conduct.
>
> The narrow exceptions it provides to this extremely broad definition of
> inducement are full of loopholes; therefore it will not provide
> meaningful protection to legitimate businesses and services.
>        MEMBERS OF THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
>       Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman (R-UT)
> Charles E. Grassley (R-IA)
> Arlen Specter (R-PA)
> Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
> Mike DeWine (R-OH)
> Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
> Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
> Larry Craig (R-ID)
> Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
> John Cornyn (R-TX)
>
> Patrick J. Leahy, Ranking Democratic Member (D-VT)
> Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)
> Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
> Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
> Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
> Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
> Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
> Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
> John Edwards (D-NC
>
> If your Senator is listed as a member of the Judiciary Committee,
> you'll find a link to his email
> address at:
> http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
>
> If you prefer to call your Senator's office, the U.S. Capitol
> Switchboard is: 202-224-3121
>
>
> ******
> ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the
> American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject 
> to
> copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or
> redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits.
>
> To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo
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>
> ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403,
> Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478
> toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash () alawash org; Web site:
> http://www.ala.org/washoff.  Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff.
> Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Carol 
> Ashworth,
> Don Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and 
> Miriam
> Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten,
> Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor:
> Bernadette Murphy.

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