[TriLUG] DMCA II - Electric Boogaloo

[Chuck Mead]

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On Mon, 10 Sep 2001, Jonathan Magid posted the following:

JM>On Sat, 8 Sep 2001, Paul Jones wrote:
JM>
JM>> you can and should write your senators and tell them what you think.
JM>> http://edwards.senate.gov/mailform.html
JM>> http://helms.senate.gov/Constituent/Contact/webform2/webform2.html
JM>
JM>Here's a sample letter. 

Here's my own sample:

Senator John Edwards 
United States Senate 
225 Dirksen Office Bldg. 
Washington, DC 20510 
 
Senator Edwards, 
 
I am one of your constituents. I live in Morrisville, NC. I hope you will 
take a moment to read this letter as I want to share my opinion on a piece 
of seriously wrong-headed legislation. 
 
The media reported this past week that the Hon. Senator Hollings of South 
Carolina plans to introduce a piece of legislation called the Security 
Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA). The SSSCA is a 
monumentally bad idea which simply tries to prevent acts which are already 
illegal by creating new penalties and restrictions, along with a whole new 
class of draconian regulation and bureaucracy. Existing copyright law 
already protects digital copyright holders from theft of their property so 
why don't the SSSCA's proponents simply exercise their rights under 
existing law? Clearly they have already done so quite successfully, as the 
case against Napster makes perfectly clear. I am mindful of the words of 
the Hon. Senator Orrin Hatch, "we cannot, in the name of copyright, unduly 
burden consumers and the promising technology the Internet presents to all 
of us." (http://judiciary.senate.gov/7112000_ogh.htm). I am even more 
mindful of the words of one of our founding fathers: 
 
"...a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring 
one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own 
pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of 
labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. . ." 
 
- --Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801 
 
If the SSSCA becomes law it will most definitely create an undue burden on 
consumers and the internet both and in no way can it be construed as 
leaving the private sector free to regulate their own pursuits of 
industry! In fact, the bill is likely to kill the internet for good and 
all and could also cause a revolt on the part of some of the citizenry of 
this country. 
 
I am a member of a large group of people who use an alternative operating 
system on my computers. This operating system is called Linux. I'm quite 
certain you've heard of it since, arguably, the most popular version of 
this operating system is made and sold by a company in the RTP called Red 
Hat. When I read the text of Sen. Hollings proposal I was mortified 
because it quite literally will kill Linux as there is no way that Linux 
coders will be able to afford to *buy in* to the corporate cliques that 
this law will create. Linux is based upon freedom. Freedom to innovate and 
create new software which suits your own personal needs. This legislation 
will destroy an entire community of hundreds of thousands of people as 
their ability to innovate and create will be eliminated. I'm afraid that 
someone seriously needs to give their head a shake and wake up because 
what's being proposed is so *Orwellian* that I cannot believe this bill's 
supporters can fail to see the parallels between Orwell's "1984" and what 
the SSSCA (and the DMCA if I may be so bold!) proposes. A cursory glance 
at Sec. 101a where it says: 
 
(a) In General -- It is unlawful to manufacture, import, offer to the 
public, provide or otherwise traffic in any interactive digital device 
that does not include and utilize certified security technologies that 
adhere to the security system standards adopted under section 104. 
 
Then in section 104 it says: 
 
[Summary: The private sector has 12 months to agree on a standard, or the 
Secretary of Commerce will step in. Industry groups that can participate: 
"representatives of interactive digital device manufacturers and 
representatives of copyright owners." If industry can agree, the secretary 
will turn their standard into a regulation; if not, normal government 
processes apply and NTIA takes the lead. The standard can be later 
modified. The secretary must  certify technologies that adhere to those 
standards. Also: "The secretary shall certify only those conforming 
technologies that are available for licensing on reasonable and 
nondiscriminatory terms." FACA, a federal sunshine law, does not apply, 
and an antitrust exemption is included.] 
 
So what happens is that under the proposal if I buy a music CD and I want 
to make a copy of it for my own use (an act which is not illegal under 
current law) I will surely not be allowed since the devices I use to do 
this will no longer be capable of this because of the built in security 
being mandated by the federal government. This doesn't allow fair use and 
worse, it promotes pay per use and destroys existing consumer rights. 
Where's the contitutional bargain which has always existed between 
consumers and content creators? What happens to the little guy in all of 
this? What happens to Linux and the tremendous freedoms created by the 
internet? Gone... all gone. 
 
Senator Edwards I must say that people who do not understand technology 
had best begin to leave off attempting to legislate it. Continued attempts 
like the SSSCA and the DMCA will kill the goose that laid the golden egg! 
The internet is a fabulous tool but this type of legislation will make it 
useless as it destroys the freedoms which allow it to function. The vast 
majority of the internet runs on open source technologies like Linux. If 
this legislation passes it will kill Linux. If anyone in the Senate thinks 
that's a minor issue please be advised that it is not... Linux runs the 
internet! 
 
Please do not vote for this bill! Leave it alone! The regular people have 
rights! Fair use is one of them... this law will kill fair use, as well as 
right of first purchase, technical innovation, freedom of speech, freedom 
of the press and lord knows what else. Stop the insanity! You'll just go 
through all this rigamarole to get this piece of dirt passed and then 
it'll end up in court and found unconstitutional just like portions of the 
DMCA are going to be sooner or later, thus making this a monstrous waste 
of time and effort. 
 
What Sen. Hollings proposes would be a huge step backwards out of the 21st 
century! If this bill passes it is seriously fooling around with 
constitutional rights and when you do that sort of thing folks tend to 
start thinking about throwing the tea in the harbor and their elected 
officials with it! Please do not support this bill! Existing law is good 
enough and has been proven to work in the digital arena already. 
 
Thanx for listening, 
 
		Chuck Mead 
		Voter!

- -- 
csm
Free Dmitry!
Boycott Adobe!
Repeal the DMCA!
Stop the SSSCA!
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