D.C. showdown over file swapping looms

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

Subject: D.C. showdown over file swapping looms
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5400128.html 

D.C. showdown over file swapping looms
By John Borland CNET News.com October 7, 2004, 4:00 AM PT��

Technology companies and the record industry are nearing a last-minute
showdown on Capitol Hill over a controversial bill aimed at quelling file
swapping.  The bill, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and dubbed the
"Induce Act," was introduced earlier this year, in large part as a
response to court rulings that have said that file-sharing software
companies were not liable for the copyright infringement of their
customers.  

A round of negotiations between the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) and technology organizations closed this week without
reaching compromise, according to people familiar with the talks. As of
late Wednesday, Hatch's Judiciary committee was scheduled to vote on a
version of the bill Thursday morning. That prospect prompted a flurry of
last-minute protest letters from technology and consumer organizations.  
"The recording industry (proposals) would effectively put at risk all
consumer electronics, information technology products, and Internet
products and services that aren't designed to the industry's liking," read
one letter sent Wednesday and signed by lobby groups representing
technology companies, including News.com publisher CNET Networks. "We urge
you not to move forward now."

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