File-Trading Bill Stokes Fury

[PfcHammer]

File-Trading Bill Stokes Fury
By Joanna Glasner
Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,63969,00.html

02:00 AM Jun. 24, 2004 PT

A new Senate bill aimed at punishing companies that encourage people to steal copyright materials met with a deluge of criticism from file-trading companies and tech industry groups that believe it could hamper development of new technologies.

Sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Inducing of Copyright Infringement Act of 2004 would, in the senator's words, "simply confirm that existing law would allow artists to bring civil actions against parties who intend to induce others to infringe copyrights."

In a prepared statement, Hatch compared peer-to-peer networks, which allow people to exchange any digital content over their computers, to villains of literature and film, including a character in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang who lured youngsters into danger with false promises of free lollipops. He said the networks should be held liable for creating technologies that enable often unwitting consumers to house pirated materials on their computers.

The Induce Act is the latest in a series of bills favorable to the music and motion picture industries introduced by Hatch, who co-authored the controversial 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act and introduced legislation in March that would allow the Justice Department to pursue civil cases against file sharers. In the past five years, Hatch has also received $158,000 in campaign contributions from the television, movie and music industries, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.