No, not the obsolete Sony also-ran, but the Supreme Court decision that made owning a Betamax legal. The MPAA whined and whined — and sued — over the whole notion of time-shifting and home taping, insisting (famously) that the Betamax was some sort of technological equivalent of the Boston Strangler (thanks, Valenti), and that home taping in and of itself was infringment on their copyright (and never mind Fair Use), and further wanted Sony held liable for contributory infringement for making the VTR available in the first place. The Supremes saw it differently, and thereby allowed the market for home video to explode — which, of course, is now part of the bread and butter revenue stream for that very same MPAA that sought to ban the Betamax and its ilk in the first place.

Now we have something called the INDUCE Act before Congress; this law would essentially undo the Betamax ruling, conceivably making Apple liable for the infringment of iPod owners, for example. (Read it, or some analysis, yourself; it’s not pretty.)

In response, some concerned folks have created SaveBetamax.org, and online grassroots organization whose first task is a coordinated day of phone calls to targetted Congresspeople. Go sign up and make a call if you like the idea of deciding when to watch the Sopranos, or on what format you wish to listen to your newest CD. It’s that kind of fair use that the RIAA and MPAA would dearly love to eliminate, and that’s what the INDUCE Act is about. It won’t take much time — hell, some of you spend more time than this will take on this site alone, if the access logs are to be believed. (Heh.)