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The DMCA Is Just The Beginning
dr. greenthumb writes: "With the Sklyarov-case still fresh in memory, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wants to rally up against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in order to preserve privacy and freedom of speech. The FTAA is currently negotiating agreements with several countries in the Western hemisphere concerning, among other issues, intellectual property rights. According to the EEF, the FTAA organization is considering treaty language that mandates nations pass anti-circumvention provisions similar to the DMCA, except the FTAA treaty grants even greater control to publishers than the DMCA."
Civil disobedience, anyone? This kind of legislation is equivalent to the police smashing down your door because you pop open the TV set you bought labeled "Do not open, refer to authorized service center" on the back. If they're going to sell it to me, there is no one on this Earth that can say what I can and cannot do with it. Oh, I know, they're only "leasing" you the software bits. Uh-huh. I'm all for action. If it gets bad enough, I say we resort to busting crackers out of jail and straight-out open resistance. You can't step on people with laws like this forever.
The link should point to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is different that the Eisenhower Fellowships.
Cheers,
RP
It's times like this you just have to feel hopeless. We (meaning the good ol' US of A) have captured a Russian giving a speech showing that some 'industry quality' encryption was nothing more than a XOR with a constant byte, and passed laws that give harsher penalties to programmers than to some murderes! And the worst part is that nobody else seems to CARE!
(And watch as I am moderated to -1 for this comment)
:wq
"In fact, I might be stuck in another country that has no free speech, and no human rights, and a stricter DMCA. "
You might be more right than you know. The US Constitution will eventually cause the demise of the worst of the DMCA, that is, if an honest judge ever hears a case (not a MPAA shill like Kaplan). It hasn't happened yet, but it eventually will, as the fair use rights circumvention in the DMCA are contrary to years of Supreme Court precedent (such as the Betamax case).
All it should take is a smart lawyer arguing that digital is no different than analog, the only difference is that the IP cartels are LYING about it being different so as to flout the Constitution in ways they were smacked down on in cases relating to analog technology. Judges may be clueless with regard to technology, but they are DEFINATELY not clueless if informed that a "fast one" is being pulled on them.
However, those who live elsewhere may not have the advantage of having a Constitution written by men who loathed overreaching government more than any other founders.
And, even here, I'm not completely confident that the Constitution will prevail, as we've suffered under regieme after regieme, both in the white house and in congress since 1933, who have ALL subverted the Constitution for their own personal and political gain.
=== The price of freedom is eternal vigilance
" Fascism is the only way to enforce IP laws. They must have control over what you see and what you download. In other words, the government is going to be spying on you big time, not a little bit like before. The FTAA is also a way for the have nations to economically dominate (i.e., enslave) the have-nots since most IP in the western world is owned by Europe and North America."
You make an excellent point. Fascism is on the rise worldwide, though most of the world has ALWAYS been non-free, elective republics being only a recent phenomenon largely condfined to the Western world. And even there, most of the West didn't become democratic until after World War II, only 50 years ago or so.
History shows that most republics don't last more than 30 generations, the United States being in fact, the LONGEST lasting one. However, given the increasing despotic and authoritarian nature of the US government, I believe an argument can be made that we've already crossed the line into fascism. If we haven't crossed, we're percariously balanced on the edge.
As I've stated before, I believe the US has been becoming less free since 1933, when our first "king" came in to power (FDR) and single handedly removed all Constitutional restraint on the federal government. All in the name of "empowering government to do more FOR you".
Well, as you know, everything works both ways, a government that can do things FOR you, has equal power to do things TO you. Such as confiscate on average, about 50% of your income in various direct, indirect, and hidden taxes, so as to fund "bread and circuses" which both buys votes and keeps the majority cowed.
Giving our government this awesome power is what corrupted it. Who else, but the wealthy and powerful would be able to "buy" the use of this power?
The DMCA is many ways is the ultimate expression of such abuse, as it's complete narrow-special interest legislation, completely at odds with precedent, the Constitution, and morality. The kangaroo court nature of the 2600 trial exposed just how far the rot has gotten into other instutions. The corps have owned Congress and the White House for many years, but now they own the courts (judges come from lawfirms, who represent corps, who in turn pay obscene "speaking fees" to judges).
Which is why the DMCA must be fought. Believe me, it's only the BEGINNING of where things are headed, not the end. But nothing will happen so long as the majority of Americans keep looking on the government as some kind of nanny, thus empowering the government to do more for them, which in turn empowers it to do more TO them.
I'm not optimistic. The "bread and circuses" genie was let out of the bottle almost 70 years ago, and there is no sign of it being even checked, much less reversed. I find it ironic that the MOST evil of all states (Nazi Germany, the USSR, Communist China) are the ones who "take care of" their (obiedient) citizens with handouts stolen from the pockets of others. Somehow though, this gets distorted as "compassion".
=== The price of freedom is eternal vigilance
If an organization calls itself ??AA, it's gonna take away you freedom... MPAA, RIAA, FTAA... makes you wonder what comes next :-)
When you consider that AA stands for American Association in most cases, its very unfortunate that term 'American' is associated with anti-freedom efforts here.
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
Because of the censorship, they had to hide their messages, using creative images and fables. The people knew instinctively that these messages were important and they craved them.
Then Glasnost came about, and eventually the Iron Carpet came down. Suddenly the people were free. Starved of free speech, there was a short flurry of popular political activity, with large political meetings, marches and what not.
Then things settled down, and one day they woke up. All this new stuff they had been denied all these years was now available. What a disappointment it must have been to them to discover that although the political messages in the western press might be of a different color, most of the stuff was ads, tabloid reporting on celebrities, porn, worthless fiction, stupid game shows, and soap operas. We fought all these years to hear the message from the other side, and all they have to tell us is "Drink Coca Cola?"
If I was Russion, I'd drown myself in vodka, too.
And what has this to do with the DMCA? Just the fact that it will force U.S citizens to be vigilant (break the DMCA laws) in order to have their free speech. By being in opposition to the ruling regime (the megacorps), U.S citizens can enjoy the excitement of getting their free speech, in spite of the regime. Now it's worth something. Hard to come by free speech is valuable. Gratis free speech is worthless.
-- Another senseless waste of fine bytes.