Conservative group savages anti-P2P bill

The American Conservative Union (ACU), which holds influential Republican activists and former senators on its board of directors, is running newspaper and magazine advertisements that take a humorous jab at the so-called Induce Act--and slams some conservative politicians for supporting it.

"This is the Hollywood liberals trying to crush innovation," said ACU deputy director Stacie Rumenap. "What's sad is that they've got Republicans on their side." A Senate committee vote on the bill is scheduled for Thursday.

The original version of the Induce Act said that anyone who induces any violation of copyright law could be legally responsible, a phrase that has alarmed Silicon Valley manufacturers and led Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to say he would consider less sweeping alternatives. A version that Hatch's office privately circulated on Friday afternoon, seen by CNET News.com, clarifies that a company must engage in "conscious and deliberate affirmative acts" of inducement to be found liable.

But technology companies were skeptical that it would eliminate their concerns. "The problem is that it doesn't look like they're willing to preserve the Sony Betamax standard for the cause of action of inducement," said Markham Erickson, associate general counsel for NetCoalition, which represents companies including Google, Yahoo, and CNET Networks, publisher of News.com.

Source: ZDnet