What is Hatch's Hit List? Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has introduced the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act (IICA, née INDUCE Act) in the Senate. The bill would make it illegal to "intentionally induce" copyright infringement, but is worded so broadly that it would have all sorts of unintended consequences, one of which is to severely limit, cripple or kill innovation in many different fields. Hatch's Hit List is a daily exploration of some of the technologies and fields that the bill would likely affect. See also, Introducing Hatch's Hit List and the Hatch's Hit List Archives. Send list suggestions to ernest.miller 8T aya.yale.edu.
Today on Hatch's Hit List: Peer-to-Peer Software Development Kits
With at tip o' the virtual hat to John Parres
The ostensible targets of the INDUCE Act are peer-to-peer filesharing systems. But, get rid of one, and another will take its place. Writing software for such networks is not particularly more difficult than other applications. Computer science college students and bright high school students can whip a basic one together over a weekend. Of course, having a peer-to-peer software development kit makes it even easier, such as this one from Microsoft (Windows XP Peer-to-Peer Software Development Kit):
Download the Microsoft Windows XP Peer-to-Peer Software Development Kit (SDK), which contains all software required to create decentralized applications that harness the collective power of edge of the network PCs....
This download includes the Microsoft Windows XP Peer-to-Peer Software Development Kit (SDK), including major components such as: Peer-to-Peer Application Programming Interface (API), Peer-to-Peer headers & libraries, sample applications, source code, and documentation for each of the Peer-to-Peer core areas, e.g., scalable and secure peer-to-peer name resolution, efficient multi-point communications, creation and management of persistent peer-to-peer groups, and distributed data management.
"Decentralized applications"? "Scalable and secure"? "Efficient multi-point communications"? This sounds like the explicit instructions for building copyright infringement machines.
Now, I'm not saying that the INDUCE Act will lead to lawsuits against Microsoft. Heck, even the government is wary of going up against Redmond. However, imagine that some non-billionaire programmers put together the Linux Peer-to-Peer Software Development Kit. How long do you think it would take before lawsuits were filed, once the INDUCE Act goes into force?
Want to know more about the INDUCE Act?
Please see LawMeme's well-organized index to everything I've written on the topic, including Hatch's Hit List: The LawMeme Reader's Guide to Ernie Miller's Guide to the INDUCE Act.
Ernest Miller pursues research and writing on cyberlaw, intellectual property, and First Amendment issues. Mr. Miller attended the U.S. Naval Academy before attending Yale Law School, where he was president and co-founder of the Law and Technology Society, and founded the technology law and policy news site LawMeme. He is a fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School.
Ernest Miller's blog postings can also be found @
