DevBlog

I've voted for Utah Senator Orrin Hatch in the past. Should he run for reelection in two years, I will actively campaign for his opponent. I made this decision several years ago, but it has been enforced recently with his anti-consumer legislation that strongly favors the recording and movie industries. Don't miss understand what I'm saying. I'm all for copyright protection. I own a few copyrights myself. However, Hatch's latest bill could directly affect you as a software developer.

Warren Keuffel explains why in his latest column in Software Development Magazine (free registration required):

As do most other designers, I keep my eyes open for websites with interesting or particularly functional designs. To find out how they’re constructed, I often use Web Developer, a Mozilla Firefox extension written by Chris Pederick, to reverse-engineer the site. When installed, it becomes part of the Firefox browser and allows me to not only view and edit a site’s HTML and CSS code, but also provides tools to allow me to experiment with the code by converting GETs to POSTs (and vice versa) and making disabled form fields writeable.

It’s a handy tool, and it’s most unfortunate that, if Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) has his way, my use of Web Developer may put Chris Pederick in the Big House. Why? Because if I use Web Developer to reverse-engineer a copyrighted “MegaCorp” website, MegaCorp could complain to the local U.S. Attorney that Chris Pederick “induced” me to reverse-engineer its website’s functionality, and in doing so, violate MegaCorp’s copyright. The vehicle with which Sen. Hatch could make Pederick a potential felon is the “Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004,” a controversial bill that, as of this writing, is in its fifth rewrite. Along with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), about which I wrote last month, the so-called “Induce Act” circumvents the fair use argument for copyrighted material by making it a federal offense to “intentionally induce” someone to infringe upon the rights of a copyright holder—regardless of whether the end user of the technology is legally entitled to use it.

You should read the entire article. Yesterday, I wrote to Senator Hatch to get more information on the bill. If you don't live in Utah (Mr. Keuffel does), he won't respond to any inquiries that you might make, but you can certainly contact your local Senator and express your opinion on what looks like another infringement on you fair use rights...and something that could have the potential of landing you in jail.

Update: Alex Feldstein has additional information on the Induce Act.