The Senate Judiciary Comittee's hearing on the Induce Act is currently being webcast. It's good news that the Committee is holding hearings, and even better news that it has requested testimony from technology leaders who have expressed concern that the broad "inducement" standard could chill American innovation. If you're tuning in, listen for the Consumer Electronics Association's defense of the Sony Betamax "substantial noninfringing use" standard. Les Vadasz previewed that position yesterday in the Wall Street Journal.

Updated: MP3 and OGG recordings available via bIPlog; running commentary on Freedom to Tinker. We had a duet between Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters and RIAA head Mitch Bainwol, but the remaining panelists raised serious questions about the bill's basic approach. It was good to hear them speak out against copyright infringement, without concluding that we need to impose risky new legal uncertainty on all technology innovators.

Update 2 Video of the hearing now available, so you can watch Gary Shapiro raise a bottle of water as he talks about competing with free. Thanks Tom.