For US citizens - bill to restrict rights with legally owned material

[Charean]

http://www.digitalconsumer.org/cbdtpa/cbdtpa-inf.html

Info on the postition:

In 2001, Senator Hollings introduced a draft bill called the "Security Systems Standards and Certification Act" (SSSCA). Many people thought that the bill was so biased towards the media companies that it would never pass the draft stage. But on March 21st, the SSSCA became an official bill under the new name of the "Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act" (CBDTPA). This is bad news because it means that there's a real chance that this bill could become a law.

We need to act now to prevent the passage of the CBDTPA. Let us fax your letter to the Congress members who can make a difference.

Why the CBDTPA is bad for us.

Historically, our country has enjoyed a balance between the rights of copyright holders and the rights of citizens who legally acquire copyrighted works. Recent copyright legislation has eroded that balance to the detriment of consumers. The CBDTPA promises to shift the balance even further by placing more power in the hands of a small number of media companies. We see four major problems with the CBDTPA.

The CBDTPA does not protect fair use.

The CBDTPA will do almost nothing to safeguard consumers. Although section 3(e)(2) discusses personal use copies, it narrowly defines personal use as just one copy "at the time [the program] is lawfully performed". This exemption for personal use is substantially more narrow than the legal rights that consumers have had in the past.

Previous laws such as the DMCA also contained very narrow exemptions for personal use, and the consequence has been that media companies have defined personal use as exactly those exemptions and no more. Without a clear, positive assertion of personal use through the Consumer Technology Bill of Rights, consumers are left to the whims of media company lawyers when questions arise. Using history as a guide, this is a losing proposition for citizens and their ability to use legally acquired media in legitimate and expected noncommercial ways.

Before even more power is given to media companies, consumers need their rights defined and safeguarded.

Plain and simple, it just won't work.

"A standard for copy protection is as premature as a standard for teleportation."

and still more info at this link:
http://www.digitalconsumer.org/cbdtpa/

*The link at the top is to send this fax to your representative. The CDs you save could be your own.*

I am writing to urge you to reject the Hollings copy protection bill, also known as the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA). I strongly oppose the bill for the following reasons:

1. The Hollings bill will restrict my personal use rights. Congress and the courts have traditionally upheld my right to freely use content that I have legally acquired. But the Hollings bill takes away most of those rights and leaves me with virtually none. Until my fair use rights are ensured, any further encroachment on them must not occur.

2. The Hollings bill will inevitably prevent innovation because it is the most sweeping regulation of the information technology sector in its history. The bill will give content companies the ability to veto devices like the VCR and the digital Walkman.

3. The Hollings bill is the wrong approach to solving the problem of piracy. A government-mandated standard will never be able to adapt to the rapidly changing digital world. The new "anti-piracy" measures will only harm law-abiding consumers. Every copy protection measure will be defeated by dedicated foreign pirates who sell the stolen goods illicitly. Copy protection will only defeat fair use.

4. The content companies said that the DMCA would allow them to deliver great broadband content. Yet four years later, the only outcome of the DMCA has been lawsuits against innovative companies and threats against consumers. We have no reason to believe that the Hollings bill will be any different.

I urge you to protect my fair use rights by opposing the Hollings bill.

Im with you on this. Again we see the federal government getting involved when they should not.

[RudeDawg]

When Charaen posted this, I wanted to start looking up links that have shown the progress up to this, but the bill's history is HUGE and confusing.
One thing is certain, the bill is unfairly biased towards the media companies.
Apparently, it may be retroactive going back to include some of the media you already own.
This is the bill that Sony is pointing to when addressing questions regarding their technology that disables CD/DVD RW drives... [img]graemlins/1pissed.gif[/img]

[Rimjaw]

I heard about this one months ago. Also:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/tech/2...-01-piracy.htm
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/business/2764054.htm
http://forums.anandtech.com/message....TPAGE=1

So basically, the SSSCA, among other things, will make the following illegal:
* Assembling a home-built PC.
* Using a non-secure computer (ie, a computer built before the would-be implementation of the SSSCA) on a network.
* Widespread development of open-sourced, non-copyrighted and “digitally unsigned" software.
* Use of open-sourced software (essentially the entire software platform for the UNIX and Linux operating systems, on which Computer Science research relies).
* University and corporate research on systems, debugging, security, and watermarking.

Damn, this pisses me off.

[/)eathKiller]

we must rid bills like this one from the face of the earth...

[Larry_OHF]

I sent my fax in. I hope the rest of you will as well, if you are a U.S. resident.

[Earthdog]

BIG bump

[img]graemlins/shooter03.gif[/img]

[Staralfur]

Originally posted by Rimjaw: So basically, the SSSCA, among other things, will make the following illegal: * Assembling a home-built PC.

WHAT?!?!? - that's like saying I can't build my own car/house etc.. Although, things like that need to be licensed/certified in some way, which cost money - maybe that's where this is heading.

* Using a non-secure computer (ie, a computer built before the would-be implementation of the SSSCA) on a network.

So every company is going to have to replace all of it's computers? Or get them 'upgraded' and checked out - again creating revenue for whoever has to do it.

* Widespread development of open-sourced, non-copyrighted and “digitally unsigned" software. * Use of open-sourced software (essentially the entire software platform for the UNIX and Linux operating systems, on which Computer Science research relies).

*hmmmm* I wonder if M$ has anything to do with this. *Looks at points above* Hmmmmmmm indeed....

* University and corporate research on systems, debugging, security, and watermarking.

So how arepeople that research these things for their own illegal use going to be stopped?

The whole thing is ridiculous; it makes the whole anti-trust case against Microsoft seem slightly hypocritical and pointless if there is support for this.

EDIT - I'm not a US citizen myself, but I suspect any bill like this passed in the US will effect many other countries.

[ 05-29-2002, 10:24 AM: Message edited by: Staralfur ]

[Charean]

I echo the sentiments...

On a conspiracy theory... couldn't you just imagine lobbyists from Microsoft going after this bill?!?

I know there are a lot of people who taped television and radio for thier own use when it was illegal for a while... till they modified the law. I can't help but wonder how this will shake down.

I hope it gets publicity, that will be the only way it would be stopped.