RIAA and MPAA show their true colors in opposing a more narrowly drawn version of IICA

The WIRED article titled Induce Act Draws Support, Venom contains a great quote from Fred von Lohmann of the EFF concerning the newly proposed, and much more narrow, Don't Induce Act:

"The act's proponents [RIAA & MPAA] have emphasized that they only want to target 'rogue' P2P companies while leaving the Sony Betamax decision intact, so the technology associations have drafted a bill that takes them at their word," said von Lohmann. "Of course, the RIAA and MPAA will predictably complain that the language is too narrow, which will then beg the question -- who else did they want to target with this legislation? How many legitimate technology companies do they want swept up in the web of legal uncertainty created by this bill?"

Fred has a good point. The "Don't Induce Act" would kill off the P2P nets and other "bad actors," which is exactly what proponents of IICA said they wanted when they testified at the IICA hearing. [Links to all the testimony here.] They have already reacted negatively to the new proposal according to Ernest:

MPAA vice-president Fritz Attaway says the alternative is much too narrowly drawn, and the proponents are "not being honest here." Of course, the MPAA is scrupulously honest in all its claims.

Mitch Glazier of the RIAA is also critical but surprisingly positive about having an alternative:

"I don't think this as written is a reasonable proposal," he said. "I don't think that as written anyone could be found liable...But I'm glad that people are trying to draw the line between the good guys and the bad guys."

How the supporters of IICA react to the narrowed proposals show their true colors. What they actually seek is the power to veto any technology capable of copying, the broader the Induce Act is written the better from their perspective. They don't actually only care about getting bad actors, they want to stifle/control technological innovation into mixed-use devices capable of copying by all actors. This is pretty short sighted considering how things turned out with the VCR. We're still waiting for a new proposal by IICA supporters, stay tuned.