Not to bum you out with any of my tacky “activism”, but this INDUCE Act is a steaming shit train headed towards a mountain of rotting carcasses. In other words, it’s stinks, and it’s coming on fast.
Fortunately for us, the good people over at Downhill Battle is organizing a call-in day to Congress on September 14 to oppose new legislation that would undermine the Betamax decision (INDUCE Act).
Scoff if you like–the MoveOn organized call-ins have influenced Congress on issues like media deregulation, and this is WAY worse than that, so there’s no reason we can’t talk some sense into these Congressional mongrels.
Here’s the story that should help you understand why I’m so amped up about this one, and why you should be too:
The Betamax VCR died more than 15 years ago, but the Supreme Court decision that made the Betamax and all other VCRs legal lived on. In Sony vs. Universal (known as the Betamax decision) the Court ruled that because VCRs have legitimate uses, the technology is legal—even if some people use it to copy movies. Of course, the movie industry was lucky it lost the case against VCRs, because home video soon became Hollywood’s largest source of revenue. And the freedom to use and develop new technology that was protected by the Betamax decision set the stage for the incredible growth in computer technology we’ve seen in the last few decades.
The Betamax ruling is the only thing that protects your right to own a VCR, tape recorder, CD-burner, DVD-burner, iPod, or TiVo. It’s that important. But new legislation that’s being pushed through the Senate by lobbyists for the music and movie industries would override the Betamax decision and create a huge liability for any business that makes products which can copy sound or video. This legislation (formerly known as the INDUCE Act) would essentially give Hollywood veto power over a huge range of new technologies. And if they get this power, they’ll definitely use it: just as they tried to stomp out the VCR in the 70’s and 80’s, the music and movie industries want to force all content to go through their own restricted channels.
Sign up to do your part (and call and speak with some lovely Congressional interns) by clicking on the Betamax tape above.