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SSSCA Hearing October 25th: Free Software Threatened
A story at NewsForge details the latest on the state of Senator Fritz Hollings' proposed SSSCA, which may be the most radical attempt at legislative oversight over electronic goods ever attempted in the U.S. Opposition from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Free Software Foundation, the Association of Computing Machinery and others notwithstanding, Hollings' efforts to impede a free market in computer hardware and software through legislative fiat has been little commented on, in part because Hollings refuses to release much information about it. Eben Moglen is quoted to good effect on the risk a bill officializing and regulating all digital devices would pose to Free software. Under the SSSCA, it would be "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." And that rules out most Free software, right from the start. (Read on for some more information.)
Besides writing your own representatives (email and faxes are probably better than phone calls), note that according to Hollings' contact page, "South Carolina residents may call, toll free, 1-800-922-8503" to reach him. In addition, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Privacy Center will be holding a meeting on "Security or Surveillance? Technology's Impact After September 11" on October 22 at Washington, DC's National Press Club; you can email for details on this meeting.
You may want to wait until we're talking about key escrow again.. Or, conversely you could actually read the bill which has nothing to do with enabling law enforcement deal with crypto.
This bill is about crippling an entire group of industries to help another industry combat imagined losses..
Is there a -1 idiot moderation?
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I am the sharpest crayon in the box, and my name is Green. Due to "Screamin' Green", "Electric Lime", "Jungle Green", "Shamrock", "Aspagarus", "Tropical Rain Forest", and "Caribbean Green", not to mention "Forest Green", "Yellow Green", "Green Yellow" "Spring Green", "Blue Green", "Green Blue", "Olive Green", "Pine Green", and "Sea Green", I just don't see action anymore. I remain sharp and unbroken. Recent rumours tried to push off brown as the sharpest crayon due to the immense popularity of "Fuzzy Wuzzy Brown", but they simply aren't true. "Razzmatazz" is also making a big showing, but no one knows what color that is so we can't say which of the original 8 is sharper in disuse because of Razzmatazz.
From a song by Tom Paxton:
Oh we're filling the bottle for Ronnie
Filling it up to the brim
And we'll never rest
Till we all pass the test
'Cause we all think so highly of him.
Oh we're filling the bottle for Ronnie
And we'll never kick up a fuss
'Cause we're only doing to that little bottle
What Ronnie's been doing to us
Urine Trouble
(c) Copyright 1986 tojo
There's information in your wee-wee
Reveals the secrets of your lifestyle
Detects if you've been smoking thai weed
On alternate Fridays in the middle of the night
(Chorus 1)
We need a sample of your yellow discharge
So go into the bathroom and fill up this jar
We'll send the sample to the boys down in the lab
Dressed in plaid,
How drab
They've got your bladder on the witness stand
The perpetrators are among us
Their numbers growing like a rampant fungus
They think their habits are private
But urinalysis will clearly deny it
(Chorus 2)
You're in Urine Trouble
You're in Urine Trouble
They've got your bladder on the witness stand
A memo from the office of the president
We must submit or he'll fire the whole darn bunch
This executive decision
Arrived at during a three martini lunch
(Chorus 1)
"Jones, I'd like to see you in my office right away!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
"Close the door behind you, Jones"
"R-right away, sir!"
"Miss Nelson, hold all my calls"
"The fellas from the lab have submitted this
It's a list of the substances in your piss
It seems your performance, while fine on the surface
Is really just a front for your deviant purpose!"
"I can't believe we made you employee of the week
When all the while you were a closet freak
You thought you could hide behind your perfect attendence
Just to conceal your drug dependence!"
(Chorus 2)
There's information in your wee-wee
Reveals the secrets of your lifestyle
Detects if you've been smoking thai weed
On alternate Fridays in the middle of the night
(Chorus 1)
"Oh No!"
"What's wrong?"
"Remember that joint I toked last month?"
"Yeah"
"I think I'm having a flashback!"
"I want to operate heavy machinery!"
"I want to cause an industrial accident!"
"I want to exercise poor judgement!"
"I want to unwisely make a critical decision!"
You're in Urine Trouble
You're in Urine Trouble
They've got your bladder on the witness stand
You're in Urine Trouble
You're in Urine Trouble
They've got your bladder on the witness stand
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