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SSSCA Introduced in Senate
Peter BG Shoemaker writes: "Wired is reporting that Hollings has officially submitted his newly renamed SSSCA, carrying the moniker Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA). It carries all the provisions we've been worrying about...there is a new battlefield folks..." Newsbytes has another story. Reuters has a story about News Corporation and Disney lobbying in support of the bill. I haven't seen the exact text of the bill as introduced; it will probably be in Thomas tomorrow. Update: 03/22 00:12 GMT by M : Declan McCullagh has collected several documents pertaining to the SSSCA, errr, CBDTPA. He's got a faxed copy of the bill (barely legible; read it on Thomas tomorrow), plus statements from Hollings (read it!), the MPAA, the RIAA, and several lobbying groups for the tech industry, who seem less enthralled about it.
Start stocking up on pre-SSSCA computer hardware whilst you can. It wouldnt be a bad idea to burn or buy a few extra linux distros either.
It probably won't affect Canada until Disney successfully lobbies Congress to declare war and begin the long overdue annexation process.
Email petitions are worthless.
/. sends in $1,000, and convinces every relative to send in the same we'll about match what the entertainment industry spent on politicians in the last month or so.
So is email.
Faxes are a bit better.
Better yet: A well-reasoned, non-hysterical actual snail-mail letter, printed and signed and stuck in an envelope.
Best: A letter with a contribution check inside! I figure $1,000 should be enough to overcome the noise of all those check-free letters.
Remember, this is your last chance to get in some soft-money contributions. Make the check out to the senator's party. He or she will have the honor of bringing it over to HQ and will like you even more!
I figure if everyone who reads
Stefan "Sorry, I'm feeling awful cynical today" Jones
Any computer that can do unrestricted computations can be used to break encryption and be used to copy this forbidden data. If only disfunctional computers are legal, then how can scientists or engineers do calculations with computers anymore?? A computer that can't break encryption surely won't be much use to study DNA or to calculate spacecraft trajectories.
We'll be limited to spreadsheets and graphing calculators.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
Don't they mean the "Computers are Bad, Disney is Terrific, Politicians are Arseholes" Bill?
* * Always question "the National Interest" - 9 times out of 10 it is a cover for evil
On to Washington! Give Linus or maybe Stallman a bullhorn on the monument steps. :-)
--Rob
dude, print out everything with a common font so they can read it, my favorite is enya as it is pretty much looks like you are some unschooled data entry lacky or a brain surgeon.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
If this bill is passed, how will it affect canadians?
Well, for one thing, if this bill is passed, I'll be moving there (Canada).
They'd be required to make the french version.
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
Rather than "unprofessional", it makes your letter more personal and distinctive.
To be truly personal and distinctive, I suggest cutting out letters from your newspaper and pasting them onto paper to form your letter.
Actually it is possible. By locking the hardware to only running software that has been digitally signed by the government as approved. End of tech industry period end of story!
You're one mean little elf! :)
Contrary to popular belief, coding is not all free blow-jobs and beer. Those things cost MONEY!
...something very, very profane.
That suggestion would not be very good for one main reason: You are trying to sway your elected official's opinion - not hold them for ransom.
-------text ransom note-------
deAR sEnAtOr:
dO N0T pAsS sSsCa 0r eLSe
sInCErELy,
31337 Hax0r
Buying a Dell computer is equivalent to dropping the soap in a prison shower.
"How can software/software tell the difference between a movie that I made myself or one who's encryption has been broken??"
You must certainly think a lot of your camera work.
Well I've got news for you, you're not that good.
And your directing is stiff and uninmaginative.
"when life gets complicated, I like to take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner" - Hobbes.
Fucking cool! They take PayPall. Although I'm already a member, I'm tired of scoping out political organizations on the net and finding they don't take PayPal. Damn hippies. PayPal makes it so easy for money to flow through the system, and that means power can shift and flow quicker too.. I don't see why other orgs. haven't jumped on the bandwagaon. It could be the birth of a new age.. shopping online for your social groups.. nifty.
Josh
Here we go again, more stupid old white guys up to no good. When will it ever end?
;)
hehe, that artical about the CBDTPA being for "consumers" is simply (one of) the largest piles of garbage I have heard in a while. Apparently, we are not being allowed to get access to "high quality" content because we we don't have something such as the CBDTPA in place. ROFL... are you KIDDING me?! I can spout off at least 3 real reasons why high quality content might be being held back. One of those reasons is Microsoft, the second is also Microsoft, and the third is the lack of support and adoption of more web standards.
Censoring and corporatizing the web like the television is NOT the answer. For christ sake... look at what a pile of crap TV is (with the exception of The Simpsons and Adult Swim).
What really scares me is that these corporations will probably get their way eventually. They are big, powerful, and they have done it before... time and time again. Heck, some of these guys have gotten the US to invade and occupy freek'n countries... what chance does the little 'ol web stand.
I have a feeling that it is going to get a lot worse then having to cut VeriSign a check for your chunk of cyber space... a lot worse. We need to get some legitimate campaign finance reform to stop these stupid old white men from giving soft money to the people that can make this type of garbage "legal".
Sorry for the liberal rant
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"