Technology doesn't commit infringement, people do!

Another addition to Hatch's hit list: the pencil. Dave Webb explains in this op-ed piece in IT Business Canada.

Suppose someone in the marketing department at Dixon Ticonderoga slipped off the rails one morning, and thought he might increase sales by adding a flash to the front of the box: "Can be used to copy out Tom Stoppard plays - longhand!" The law drops on the good Ticonderoga people like a ton of Staedtler Mars Plastic erasers (white, product No. 2630), and they're sued out of existence by Tom Stoppard - and, naturally, the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Absurd, yes? [it certainly is - meaning both the reality of the situation and this very absurd example, but anyway, moving on] ... The Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004 could ban technologies that encourage copyright violation. But of course, as sponsor Orrin Hatch ... would tell you, it's All About The Children.

"It is illegal and immoral to induce or encourage children to commit crimes," Hatch said in a prepared statement, no doubt marked up with cues for weepy violin swells. "Some think they can legally lure children into breaking the law with false promises of 'free music.'"
...
It is wrong - counterproductive, dangerous and assinine - to punish technology for crimes committed by people. As a Republican, I'm sure Mr. Hatch would agree, having given it a second thought. After all, didn't he introduce legislation in March 2000 to protect firearms manufacturers from lawsuits arising from crimes committed with their guns?
After all, technology doesn't pirate copyright material. People do.

Op-ed here.

I really like this soundbite/theme here: why punish the tech industry, an entire sector of the US economy, and law abiding citizens when it is only certain people who are misusing these technologies to commit crimes?

When convenient, a basic tenet of conservativism in the US is that people should take responsibility for themselves and not rely on the government or business (ex: "guns don't kill people, people do," cutting taxes and social programs, etc.). It seems like in the case of IICA, Orrin Hatch feels like everyone should be punished.