The Induce Act

So Orrin Hatch proposed this act..

That is supposed to make it illegal to provide technology that might encourage copyright infringement.

When I first read about this thing, it meant that things as basic as cd burners, vcrs with a record function, and pretty much any other form of blank media… was something that could be considered a means to encourage copyright infringement.

Hell, if you want to get even more weird about it, this law could apply to a word processor, because some doofus could get bored one day, and type a book into his word processor and post the document file on his website for everyone. Hence infringing on the holder’s copyrights to that material.

Basically, the world as we know it would have to change as a result of this law. It could affect everything you do on a day to day basis. I’m not sure how Microsoft should feel about Word, or how Sun should feel about StarOffice given this bill.

But hey, copyright infringement is wrong. I just think it’s wrong to eliminate legitimate uses for those technologies by discouraging companies from producing products that use them.

In short, this law stifles innovation. Without innovators of the past, like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, we’d still be sitting in the dark and you wouldn’t be reading this article at all, unless I managed to print it without electricity and distribute it and you had plenty of candles.

Our nation wouldn’t be where it is without innovation and a need to find a better way. Shutting that down is like cutting off the balls of America. It’s sad that the authors of this law don’t see it.