16
2004
This week's eWeek column is a little bit of inside baseball for tech folks.
If you care about copyright legislation – and, really, who doesn't? – you're probably going to spend this Congressional which starts Jan. 4th, twiddling your thumbs and waiting to tell us if Sony V. Betamax, the case on which most videotaping, Tivoing and iTuning rests, was a one-shot wonder.
If the court says it was – that producers of machines that can easily duplicate songs, TV shows and movies are liable for those actions when the break the law – we're all going to become overnight copyright experts. In the meantime, however, tech folks can concentrate on weightier issues beause Social Security and tax reform are going to suck most of the air out of Capitol Hill for a while.