DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Do mp3 users belong in jail? Is your TiVo illegal? How about your DVD burner?

Should Hollywood campaign donors have their way, the answers would be “yes.”

Two great sites will tell you all you want to know — enough to make you drive to southern California (or maybe Japan) and kick some serious copyright-holding ass.

• savebetamax.org
• savethe[iPod].org

The SaveBetamax team is organizing a national call-in day on Tuesday, September 14. Sign up now and they’ll send you an email with your congressperson’s phone number. All you have to do is make one phone call.

The personal computer, the recordable CD, the TiVo, the iPod, and the Internet itself are innovations that came about because technological innovators didn’t have to ask copyright holders for permission before marketing a new product.

The Induce Act will reverse this trend. Any advertising that hints at infringing uses of a product could make the product illegal. Any device that doesn’t include crippling copy-protection measures could cost its creator millions in damages. Companies in the United States will no longer be able to produce the most innovative entertainment and information technologies, since every new development will, in practice, have to be approved by Hollywood and the RIAA.