iPod to become illegal?
Now that we've got your attention, let us reassure you that your beloved iPod will probably not be relegated to the black market anytime soon. However, we felt it prudent to mention the Inducing Infringement of Copyright Act of 2004 (formerly the INDUCE act), currently going through Congress, which has quite a few civil libertarians worried. While ostensibly to protect against further "piracy," the wording of this act is vague enough so as to possibly threaten electronics makers, P2P software developers, tech websites and a whole host of others (some of the content on Engadget would probably qualify as sue-worthy). While the whole argument is quite too long to get into here, we figured we should try to point people towards some sources, namely a mock
suit filed by the EFF against Apple, CNet, and Toshiba with regards to the iPod, an annotated (and hilarious) introduction to the act, an
article on possible outcomes and a
Google search for more info.
Do with it what you will, but know what's going on out there.