As reported in The Register’s story Hatch’s Induce Act comes under fire, Congressman Rick Boucher (D – Virginia) is fighting the INDUCE Act, saying that the legislation “is very poorly defined” and that its broad language “could target just about anyone. Even a university giving its students broadband access, could, under the current wording, be construed as inducing a copyright breach.” Representative Boucher is responsible for the creation of the House Internet Caucus in 1996, and several technology initiatives.
While his Web site could use a serious redesign, Representative Boucher keeps Internet and technology legislation high on his agenda. He has recently introduced the Digital Millennium Consumers’ Rights Act, a bill that would make substantial changes to the DMCA, repealing many of its threats to fair use, and the rights of the consumer. In the hearing held on Boucher’s Bill (H.R. 107), he explained:
The fair use doctrine is threatened today as never before. Historically, the nation’s copyright laws have reflected a carefully calibrated balanced between the rights of copyright owners and the rights of the users of copyrighted material. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act dramatically tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the Fair Use rights of the users of copyrighted material,” Boucher said. “H.R. 107 will assure that consumers who purchase digital media can enjoy a broad range of uses of the media for their own convenience in a manner which does not infringe the copyright in the work,
I highly recommend you learn more about his Internet initiatives, as he appears to be one of the few in our government to truly understand the nature of technology, and the importance of balancing the rights of corporations and consumers.
Update
The Importance of… has picked up the story as well, towards the end of the post Opposition to INDUCE Act (IICA) Getting Mainstream Press – Bill Still Moving Through Senate Quickly, pointing to one of the few articles from a major media organization (USA Today): Copyright bill poses threat to iPod’s future