Big Anti-Induce Campaign Planned

[Warsai]

Thousands of people have signed up to call their congressional representatives Tuesday to protest the Induce Act, a controversial copyright bill that many fear would undermine the legal protections that allow consumers to make personal copies of music or movies they've bought.

The Induce Act, officially known as the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act (SB2560), was introduced in June by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). It would hold technology companies liable for making products that encourage customers to infringe copyright.

Critics believe the Induce Act conflicts with the landmark 1984 Betamax Supreme Court decision, which ruled that home videotape recorders were legal because they have "substantial non-infringing uses," even though some people might use the machines to infringe copyrights. Though the entertainment industry opposed the machine at the time, the ruling paved the way for the development of the enormous home video and DVD market, and other technological innovations of the past 20 years.

"We really needed to get the attention of senators and representatives and show them that people really care about this," said Nicholas Reville, co-founder of Downhill Battle, a music activism website that is organizing the call-in campaign. "So much of the back-and-forth is between the movie and music industries on one side and the electronics industry on the other side. This isn't just about what one company wants versus what another company wants, but it's about the public good."

Downhill Battle -- which also organized a February protest against the music industry called Grey Tuesday -- created a special website, Save Betamax, to rally citizens to call their legislators. More than 2,800 people had signed up as of late Monday, according to the website.

"A lot of politicians just think this is a business issue and it's not on the public radar," Reville said. "I think it's going to be a real wake-up call for these members."

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