Yesterday’s “Political Diary” at the Wall Street Journal’s online OpinionJournal had a nice little piece on Sen. Hatch’s IICA (a.k.a. INDUCE Act). (Access to subscribers only, unfortunately.)
The piece, written by David Robinson, notes that Sen. Hatch, who had previously urged vigorous action against music downloaders, even suggesting “destroying their machines,” has now changed his tune.
Now he’s returned to the issue, this time with a different message: Young downloaders are not crooks, but victims. They have been “tragically” manipulated, he explained on the floor of the Senate, by adults who “exploit the innocence of children.”
The IICA doesn’t seem to be the solution:
Mr. Hatch may have a point – software businesses like Grokster and others do seem to be engaged in trying to profit from their customers’ urge to commit piracy. But his solution seems likely to open a Pandora’s box of frivolous lawsuits, ranging far beyond music downloads. As much as we enjoy Mr. Hatch’s magic similes, “back to the drawing board” would be our advice.
That’s because the Political Diary is a separate subscription from the regular WSJ.com. Go to http://www.opinionjournal.com and scroll down to the entries for July 6.
I haven’t been able to find this article on WSJ.com. Anyone have a link (yes, I have a WSJ subscription)?
I wrote an article slamming this latest attempt at legislation from Hatch on my About.com site including a quote stating that “No Republican senator has sponsored more laws later held unconstitutional than Hatch” from Let’s You And I Debate This In Public Mr. Hatch. I also particularly like The Obsessively Annotated Introduction To The INDUCE Act.