Is there a little devil on the way?

Thu Jul 1 16:15:18 PDT 2004

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: GIBBS & BRADNER
07/01/04

Dear freebsd-chat at freebsd.org,

In this issue:

* Net Insider columnist Scott Bradner discusses copyright 
  infringement legislation
* Links related to Gibbs & Bradner
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus:  Is there a little devil on the way?

By Scott Bradner

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) last week introduced legislation 
called the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004 ( 
<http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200406/induce.pdf> ) just before 
press time. This follows a leak two weeks ago of an earlier 
version of the bill that is quite a piece of work if you read it 
literally. But I wonder if that's what we're supposed to do.

The leaked version, which went by the name of the Inducement 
Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation Act ( 
<http://www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/004408.html> ) of 
2004, had some people active in the copyright debate going 
ballistic. It's easy to see why.

The core of the act, at least in the early version (I haven't 
had access to the actual bill yet), extends the definition of a 
copyright infringer to "whoever intentionally induces any 
violation" of copyright laws. It says: "intentionally induces 
means intentionally aids, abets, induces, counsels or procures, 
and intent may be shown by acts from which a reasonable person 
would find intent to induce infringement based upon all relevant 
information about such acts then reasonably available to the 
actor, including whether the activity relies on infringement for 
its commercial viability."

Read literally, this could mean that anyone selling a product 
that could be used to infringe copyright would be guilty of 
infringement. Hatch is from Utah and parts of Utah are quite 
stark and empty (and beautiful as I can attest), but I doubt 
that none of his constituents use the Internet or own PCs, 
copiers, scanners, cameras, VCRs, TiVo, portable music players, 
paper, pens or pencils. Since all of these could be used to make 
illegal copies of copyrighted material under the literal wording 
of this bill, anyone selling any of these could be guilty of 
copyright infringement. This could get a bit dicey for Intel, 
Microsoft and pencil makers. (By the way, there is a neat Web 
site all about pencils at <http://www.pencils.com/>.)

This is not the first time Hatch has come up with half- or 
quarter-baked anti-copyright infringement ideas ( 
<http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2003/0630bradner.html> ). It 
is entirely believable that he would introduce a bill like this 
even though at best this bill looks like it was written by the 
teenage kid of a movie studio executive who was trying to 
protect his inheritance.

But maybe the draft of the bill has served its purpose already. 
Maybe its only purpose was to be leaked just to set off a 
cacophony of outrage and scorn. Maybe Hatch thinks he can 
introduce a somewhat less wacko bill that will sail through 
because it looks so good in comparison.

Conjuring up a bogeyman then killing it off as a way to distract 
people while you sneak a little devil into the room is not a new 
concept. If that's what Hatch is doing, then we need to be on 
the lookout for the little devil. It should be showing up any 
day now.

Disclaimer: Cacophony at Harvard is hardly new, but the above 
addition to the Induce cacophony is mine, not the university's.
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Scott Bradner

Bradner is a consultant with Harvard University's University 
Information Systems. He can be reached at <mailto:sob at sobco.com> 

_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by AlterPoint, Inc. 
Free IT Business Brief on Network Change and Configuration 
Management 

Network Change and Configuration Management (NCCM) is a 
must-have for enterprises looking for full control and 
manageability over their expanding network environments.  This 
IT Business Brief, "Making the Case for NCCM" discusses the 
business value of NCCM and outlines how to create a business 
case for the deployment of NCCM. Download your copy today!  
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=65631
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ARCHIVE LINKS

Gibbs archive:
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/gibbs.html

Bradner archive:
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/bradner.html
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