Net access-divvying up the pie [Copyright and the Internet]

Looks at efforts now under way to resolve the issue of copyright infringement liability for on-line Internet access service providers. First, the Administration's Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF) released a White Paper report recommending that present liability for copyright infringement be kept in place for Internet purposes, without change, because that would give Net access service providers an incentive to prevent and avoid infringement. Congress then introduced two bills, implementing the IITF proposals. These bills simply provided, as the IITF had recommended, that unauthorized transmission of copyrighted material between computers or over the Net was "distribution" and thus copyright infringement. The author looks at the ensuing uproar, and its resolution.