Remember that judge is a lawyer too. On the surface this might seem good, but if we only apply this new bit of legislation to the readers of Broadcast Engineering, the courts will be filled until the next millenium. Most of our readers deal with copyright material everyday. If the courts understand this new law, as several of us who have read and discussed it do, you can't even lift a clip out of a show for a promo at your local station if the material is copyrighted. What makes it even worse, the equipment you need to lift the clip for that promo or whatever, is now illegal too.
People kill people.
The pirates who are making illegal copies are the crooks who commit the crimes. Go after the crooks, but leave the equipment alone. You are invited to show me, or anyone else for that matter, a piece of equipment that knows if it is being used illegally or not. God help the person who tries to take anyone of my several VCRs away from me. Probably the biggest though, in any market, is the first broadcast ever in DTV, especially if it is in High Definition.