Eliminate the used digital book market. Instead of buying a digital book, you'll find yourself licensing use of it, with no right to transfer your copy. A store that attempted to sell used copies could be put out of business with an infringement action. Without competition from the used market, prices for new digital books would rise.

Burden or even eliminate the second-hand computer and automobile markets. If the operating system of a computer or the anti-lock braking software in a car is "licensed," licensors will be able to extract a pound of flesh for the privilege of transferring the software. As more and more goods have programs in them, UCITA will have great potential for harm.

Turn product defects into a profit center. UCITA fails to promote disclosure of known defects in software. A producer can take your money and only then tell you that the product is "licensed" as is, with all faults, and that there will be a charge for "service" to tell you how to deal with flaws the producer knew about.

These and other problems with UCITA are why every major consumer organization has opposed UCITA, including the National Consumer Law Center, the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union. Twenty-four state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission senior staff have also expressed concerns.

Yet the sponsor of UCITA, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), seeks UCITA's enactment in every state, even though the law's original co-sponsor, the American Law Institute, withdrew from the project because of poor policy choices and disapproval of the law's drafting.

Business customers are waking up to UCITA's flaws. UCITA authorizes software companies to give themselves the right under artfully drawn "termination" clauses to turn off products remotely, without advance notice to the customer or recourse for files lost as a result. This right has caused leading companies such as Prudential, John Hancock, Caterpillar and Walgreens to join the opposition.

UCITA's enactment in Maryland is unfortunate, but it is not too late to contain the damage. The Virginia process--enact first, study later--is far from ideal, but at least the study allows an opportunity for second thoughts.