A group of protestors are fightng back against Music and Movie industry plans to ban the sale and use of CD/DVD-RW, VCRs, Ipods, Tivo and even tape recorders. Savebetamax.org is organizing a call-in day to Congress on September 14 to oppose new legislation that would undermine the Betamax decision (INDUCE Act). They are accepting registrations now.
Regular MegaGames readers will be familiar with the, music and movie industry-backed, efforts to overturn a court decision which over 15 years ago made it possible for people to own VCRs. The so-called Betamax decision was a Supreme Court decision that made the Betamax and all other VCRs legal. In Sony vs. Universal (known as the Betamax decision) the Court ruled that because VCRs have legitimate uses, the technology is legal, even if some people use it to copy movies. Of course, the movie industry was lucky it lost the case against VCRs, because home video soon became Hollywood's largest source of revenue. And the freedom to use and develop new technology that was protected by the Betamax decision set the stage for the incredible growth in computer technology we've seen in the last few decades.
The Betamax ruling is the only thing that protects your right to own a VCR, tape recorder, CD-burner, DVD-burner, iPod, or TiVo. It's that important. But new legislation that's being pushed through the Senate by lobbyists for the music and movie industries would override the Betamax decision and create a huge liability for any business that makes products which can copy sound or video. This legislation (formerly known as the INDUCE Act) would essentially give Hollywood veto power over a huge range of new technologies. And if they get this power, they'll definitely use it: just as they tried to stomp out the VCR in the 70's and 80's, the music and movie industries want to force all content to go through their own restricted channels.
Please follow the download tab above for further information and the savebetamax registration page.
