Somebody isn't thinking outside the box

It looks like our elected officials are going down the wrong path again here. What a bunch of technically incompetent fools. They have no idea what they're doing and how what they're attempting to do will impact the marketplace. All they're doing is listening to the RIAA and their political contributors and legislating in their favor. They're not looking at how technology is changing daily and how this stupid law would grow into something bigger than intended (like the DCMA). Let me point some of this out for them.

The Induce Act is intended to make anyone who intentionally induces a violation of copyright law liable for those violations. It is intended to make P2P network operators and software makers liable for copyright violations using their tools. My first obvious question is whether building and providing these tools "intentionally induces" anything, or is this law assuming that merely providing them is inducement enough. Since the going interpretation is the later, let's extrapolate a bit. If I loan a CD I bought to a co-worker and he makes a copy of it, am I legally liable because I provided him the means to violate the copyright law. Is this inducement? What about if I blog about a new band and all you readers get together and pirate that band's music? Is that inducement? Are all companies that make MP3 players liable for any pirated music these devices play since having the players might induce someone to steal music to listen to on their new players? You can create your own scenario here, but the possibilities are seemingly endless.

At some point you've got to ask yourself if having elected officials in office who are technically incompetent is more of a liability than a benefit. I know we like to elect older people who are well respected, well thought, well spoken, and who have valid opinions on the World Trade association, the International Bank, and farm policy in the mid-west, and that's all well and good. But if these same people can't program their VCR, and aren't Internet savvy, they'll end up proposing laws like the above without the foresight necessary to understand their impact. Yes, the prevalent stealing of copyrighted material is something that needs to be dealt with, but the resolution needs to come from the business, not the politicians. I'm convinced that there is a valid business model that allows all players in the music industry to profit handsomely while allowing consumers the convenience that technology provides, but Hollywood and Nashville haven't figured it out, yet. Until they do, legislating against technology providers isn't the answer. It's putting the cart before the horse. Someone wake up here and pay attention. My future children are concerned. Please!