Commentary--Is the Senate Running Amok to Prevent Copyright Infringement, Threatening Technology Innovation?

Read for yourself these statements attributed to leading members of the Senate Judiciary Committee published by CNet,

"The Induce Act says 'whoever [sic] intentionally induces any violation' of copyright law would be legally liable for those violations." and

"We have to understand that some people use P2P technology in ways that are wrong and illegal."

The first will obviously establish a field day for lawsuits and nothing or no one will be safe from allegations. The second is just stupid--we can hardly think of anything that someone hasn't used or couldn't use wrongly or for an illegal purpose.

While these statements were published without their context, we think it might be wise for the Senate to take a deep breath, calm down and begin to think of ways to surgically make copyright law more enforceable against those actually violating it rather than setting off a monsterous bomb that will leave a wide path of destruction. Isn't the Senate our institution for wisdom? [Dana Baggett]