COPYCENSE

"Several of the world’s largest high-tech corporations, many who are members of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), plan to urge Congress today to force Internet service providers to crack down more aggressively on their users who swap copyrighted software, music or video files online.

"The move is a significant escalation in the campaign by the software and entertainment industries to squelch widespread file sharing by millions of users through services such as Kazaa, Grokster and Morpheus. If successful, it could reshape a long legal tradition of shielding phone, cable and other communications companies from liability for the actions of their customers.

"BSA officials want Congress to secure the cooperation of Internet service providers by amending the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was designed to address potential copyright violations in the electronic age."

Jonathan Krim. Tech Firms Aim to Change Copyright Act. WashingtonPost.com. Jan. 6, 2004.

See also:
Declan McCullagh. Software Firms Want Copyright Law Rewrite. News.com. Jan. 7, 2004.

Business Software Alliance. Intellectual Property in the 21st Century. (.pdf) Jan. 2005.

(Editor�s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper�s fee-based Archives.)

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