Save Betamax...

[otomo]

Why Save Betamax?
The short version: We're organizing a call-in day to Congress on September 14 to oppose new legislation that would undermine the Betamax decision (INDUCE Act). Sign up on the right.

Here's why: The Betamax VCR died more than 15 years ago, but the Supreme Court decision that made the Betamax and all other VCRs legal lived on. 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.

Hollywood is Trying to Kill Betamax
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.




http://www.savebetamax.org/

[Eagle]

OK, the supreme court would never approve a law that would force millions of people to throw away their computer hardware. There is no need to bother with www.savebetamax.org because surprisingly enough our SC justices are really smarter than that.

[Hexidecimal]

They can have my DVD Burner when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.

[AlphaWolf]

Try as you might, you can never enforce copyrights (however you want to interpret them) through legislation. The DMCA never did anything, and this wont do anything. When people really want something, they'll get it. Thats pretty much all there is to it.

[ScottJC]

Haha, the only way they could stop copying is to make hard drives illegal as well as the rest, make cd-r's illegal people would buy removable hard drives instead. I would.

Next thing we'll hear: "we want hard drives illegalised!!! OR ELSE!!!"

its just a totally unacceptable thing to come out with, isn't it?

To kill hard drives makes computers all but useless.

RIAA: BAN PC's!!!

[sheik124]

if i had a nice vaporizer, and was told i could mass-murder any group of people, i wouldn't say nazis, i wouldn't say jews, i wouldn't say al-qaeda, i'd say the RIAA! the day i am happy is when those fuckers are gone and are burning in hell! and if i die and they ain't gone, i'm using my 10 mil to get all of them, oh crap, i forgot the word you use when you get a hitman to kill people, damn it