Senator Hollings and the SSSCA

An Anonymous Coward writes: "You probably suspected some sort of "follow the money" thing was behind Sen. Fritz Hollings' support of SSSCA, the draft bill that would make using 'any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified security technologies' illegal in the U.S. This proposed law could effectively outlaw Linux and most Open Source software, depending on how judges interpret it. A NewsForge story details where Sen. Hollings' money comes from. Guess what? His biggest contributors are entertainment industry companies, their lawyers, and their lobbyists. The story also says Hollings and his staff refused to comment on the bill, and staffers the reporter talked to refused to even give their names." Newsforge and Slashdot are both part of VA Linux.

Comments

From Senator Hollings contact info webpage

[kjj]

In addition to my office in Washington, D.C., I have three offices in South Carolina: Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville. The addresses and phone numbers for these offices are below. South Carolina residents may call, toll free, 1-800-922-8503.

If you would like to send me an e-mail, please enclose a postal address to ensure a prompt response.

Washington, D.C.
125 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202)224-6121
Web Mail

Charleston, S.C.
112 Custom House
200 East Bay Street
Charleston, SC 29401
(843) 727-4525
Lowcountry Assistant: Joe Maupin

Columbia, S.C.
1835 Assembly Street
Suite 1551
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 765-5731
State Director: Trip King

Greenville, S.C.
126 Federal Building
Greenville, SC 29603
(864) 233-5366
Upstate Assistant: John Funderburk

Re:Flood Hollings' Office

[Anonymous Coward]

Try here. That's his Seante web page. There should be contact information for his Washington and home offices.

BTW, you can find any senator's web page in the member directory from this page.

Re:Nothing to worry about really

[oliphaunt]

...if this bill *does* pass, technology that is affected will not only go over the border to Europe and Canada, but law enforcement officials in the USA will have to deal with it...

You must not have been reading the news for the last week. If you had been, you would have realized that the DoJ is asking congress to enact laws that will make national borders meaningless in US courtrooms.

thanks to memepool for this link to EFF's page:
---NO-FLAME WARNING-- I KNOW THIS HASN'T BEEN PASSED YET-- THIS IS JUST A VISION OF WHERE THINGS ARE HEADED---

SECTION 408. EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.

Section 1029 of Title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end a new paragraph (g) as follows:

"(g) Any person who, outside the jurisdiction of the United States, engages in any act that, if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States, would constitute an offense under subsections (a) or (b) of this section, shall be subject to the fines, penalties, imprisonment and forfeiture enumerated in this title if-


(1) the offense involves an access device issued, owned, managed, or controlled by a financial institution, account issuer, credit card system member, or other entity within the jurisdiction of the United States; and

(2) the person transports, delivers, conveys, transfers to or through, or otherwise stores, secretes, or holds within the jurisdiction of the United States, any article used to assist in the commission o the offense or the proceeds of such offense or property derived therefrom.".

The way I read this, it doesn't matter where you are. If you're using hardware ("access device") running any kind of software including the BIOS, that has anything to do with a company in the US, they can try to nail you. I can see it now:

D.A. : While you were in Canada, did you have a computer connected to the internet?

defendant: Yes.

D.A. : and were you using government-approved Windows software on that computer?

defendant: er, no....

D.A. : Your honor, the defendant was using an access device running non-approved software to send emails to US Civilians. Clearly this is an act of international Terrorism.

Jury : FRY HIM! FRY HIM!

Version 2

[LordNimon]

Ok, thanks for all the feedback. I've incorporated all of it, and made a few other changes. Again, anyone is free to copy this letter, provided you make some changes so that at least it appears to be somewhat original. I'm still open to comments and suggestions.

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It has come to my attention that Rep. Fritz Hollings is introducing a bill titled the The Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA). This bill will make it illegal to possess any computer device that allows unrestricted copying of digital data.

I have previously written to you about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a similar law which I believe to be unconstitutional. The DMCA makes it legal for corporations to develop technology that can limit or remove my fair-use rights under copyright law, but makes it illegal for me to use other technology to restore these rights.

The SSSCA takes this unconstitutional practice even further. The SSSCA makes it illegal to own a computer that does not have "security controls". If I purchase a computer, all of the hardware and software in that computer must comply with whatever access controls the media industry has created. Undoubtedly, the restrictions that these access controls impose will not be open for debate by the American public. The corporations will have total control.

The SSSCA effectively criminalizes the development and use of a type of software known as "Open Source." Briefly, programs classified as Open Source are written in such a way as to allow users to examine and, if they wish, modify the inner workings of the programs to suit their purposes. Security controls such as these could not be implemented in Open Source software because any programmer could easily remove them . You may be surprised to learn that a significant portion of the entire Internet runs on Open Source software.

Like the DMCA, the SSSCA does not guarantee that I will be able to exercise all of my fair-use rights with this new "approved" technology. Fair-use is about intent. I can duplicate any copyrighted work I want, provided my intent falls under the guidelines of fair-use. However, it is impossible for any technology to determine what my intent is.

The DMCA and the SSSCA are unnecessary, because the original copyright laws are sufficient for the digital age. They allow individuals to make personal copies of copyrighted works that they've legally obtained, but disallow mass distribution of those works. Unfortunately, the media companies are not interested in targeting only those people who violate copyright law. Instead, it's much easier for them to buy legislation that strips honest consumers of their rights.

I would like to direct your attention to an online news article about Rep. Hollings and the SSSCA. If you can, please pull up your web browser and visit

http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/09/20/2 047211

On this page, you can read how a reporter attempted to get some basic questions about the SSSCA answered from Rep. Hollings, but was instead met with resistance. Not only that, but investigations into the financial supporters of Rep. Hollings show that five of the top twenty soft-money donations come from media companies. These are the same companies that promoted the DMCA and would like nothing more than to completely eliminate the concept of fair-use from copyright law.

Draconian laws such as the DMCA and the SSSCA are getting out of hand. They prove to me that many of our so-called elected officials really answer only to commercial interests. I am opposed to any law that restricts my constitutional rights, and the SSSCA is definitely one of these laws. As an engineer, I feel that my rights are being slowly erased by politicians who don't understand technology. I am confident that you will take the right side on this issue. Don't let commercial media interests defile the constitution.

Here is what I sent...

[friedmud]

I sent this to both of my sentors in my district and my one representative, I thought it might give other people an idea about what to write. I tried not to make it too harsh, nor too soft - while also not putting a lot of technilogcial mumbo jumbo in it:

/////////////////
Senator Bond,

Being one of your constituents (I live in Sometown, MO) - I felt it my duty to inform you that we are not happy about the new Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA) that is currently in draft form and is being spearheaded by Senator Fritz Hollings from South Carolina.

I know that in the wake of last week's tragedy - a more secure computing model sounds like a good idea. But let me assure you that this bill is not the way to go about implementing it. This bill has the potential to ruin computing as we know it. It will squash innovation and many freedoms.

You can check this address for one of the many news stories about this bill:
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/09/20 /2 047211

Please do not endorse this bill - as someone who is in your voting district I will be watching very carefully to see who is supporting this bill, and let me assure you that my next vote will be influenced by what I see.

Sincerely,
My Name
///////////////

You can e-mail the senators and reps straight off of this site.

I suggest that all of you do - they can't ignore all of us!

Fried