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:: 9.03.2004 ::
:: P2P update ::
Copyright Office pitches anti-P2P bill
By Declan McCullagh
CNET News.com
A hotly contested wrangle in Congress over how to outlaw file-swapping networks just took a new twist.
The U.S. Copyright Office has drafted a new version of the Induce Act that it believes will ban networks like Kazaa and Morpheus while not putting hardware such as portable hard drives and MP3 players on the wrong side of the law.
The original Induce Act has been severely criticized for possibly jeopardizing products such Apple Computer's iPod that could "induce" people to commit piracy.
An Aug. 19 decision from a federal appeals court that said the Grokster and Morpheus file-swapping networks were legal to operate has sent shock waves around Capitol Hill. Now groups like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and their allies in Congress are scrambling for legislation such as the Induce Act that would overturn the 9th Circuit's ruling.
The Copyright Office's four-page "discussion draft," dated Thursday and seen by CNET News.com, appears to back away from the broad sweep of the original Induce Act by making it more difficult for companies to be found liable for copyright violations. It says anyone who "intentionally induces" copyright violations can be found liable, with "induce" defined as one or more "affirmative, overt acts that are reasonably expected to cause or persuade another person or persons" to violate copyright law.
But the Copyright Office's proposal is raising eyebrows among consumer groups and Internet providers, who fear that it suffers from many of the same defects as the original.
Read more here.
posted by me
:: 12:51:00 PM [+] ::
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