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Congress' Tech Agenda

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the moving-forward dept.

A reader writes: "Fox News is running a story on Congress' Tech Agenda. We have all been reading about plenty of legislation as each bill is introduced or considered, but it's nice to see a major news outlet picking up on the larger trend."

33 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Digital Media Consumers Rights Act by maharg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    this sounds like a step in the right direction. Fair use and all that.

    --

    $ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
    @(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
    1. Re:Digital Media Consumers Rights Act by tanveer1979 · · Score: 2, Informative

      One step forward two steps back. Its all right when these guys make such laws, but there are so many loopholes in these laws which BSA ppl can interpret easily as they want. In the end all this DMCRA wont get you anywhere. Even if a few good men try to get it right your Hon. Senater Hollings will ensure that there are enough loopholes big enough to get a dinosaur through.

      --
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    2. Re:Digital Media Consumers Rights Act by ncc74656 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Senater Hollings will ensure that there are enough loopholes big enough to get a dinosaur through.

      ...or at least big enough to get Mickey through. Beyond that, he doesn't care.

      --
      20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
  2. Are they getting a clue??? by TopShelf · · Score: 4, Interesting
    1) They blocked the big-brother information gathering system that the Pentagon wanted to put in place (run by a convict who lied to Congress), and

    2) The DMCRA

    Is it just possible that they're getting a clue? As a coworker says, "dawn breaks on marble head..."

    --
    Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
  3. The media's agenda as well (ZDNet) by jkrise · · Score: 3, Informative

    This seems to be on the agenda of mainstream news agencies as well. Media reposts tend to equate real-life security with online security bigtime. http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10 738,2909590,00.html This article talks of Bill Gates and Sep11 in the beginning. Towards the end, there's mention of a "War Against The Bad Guys" as long as we use PCs and networks. Bears investigation.

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  4. Careful: Congress and it's position on TIA by Corpus_Callosum · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A quote from the article:

    "Government programs such as the Defense Department's Total Information Awareness Project, data-mining activities, biometric initiatives and various forms of tracking programs have already come under fire for privacy violations.

    Congress, however, defunded TIA in the 2003 omnibus spending bill it passed Thursday night. In passing the rule, Congress said it wants a guarantee that the government's database program will not infringe on civil liberties before it approves its continuation."
    -----

    So this is far from dead and the demand by Congress that they "want a guarantee that the government's database program will not infringe on civil liberties" does not sound, to me, like an effective counterbalance for our freedoms over the long-term. What we should be pushing, lobbying (and fighting) for is EXTREMELY STRICT oversight of any project that involves collection of personal data for ANY reason. But only if we fail to stop the damned projects in the first place.

    --
    The reason that it can be true that 1+1 > 2 is that very peculiar nonzero value of the + operator
  5. Warm Safe Feeling by kahei · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For some reason, I found that reading this article gave me a warm, safe feeling as if it's all being taken care of by wise, kindly people. Sure, they may have their arguments but ultimately they're all working together for my benefit.

    Looking closer, I found that the main debate is between 1) Keep the DMCA and enforce it better, and 2) Completely wacky measures like banning unprotected digital media.

    But since that's kind of worrying, I think I'll just sink back into that warm, safe feeling now... mmm...

    --
    Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
  6. ZDNet seems to have got the clues.... by jkrise · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ALL the points mentioned in the Fox News report have been covered by David Coursey of ZDNet in his unique style. It's an open secret that David is the Chief Microsoft Apologist at Anchordesk. What remains to be seen is whether the agenda is that of the govt. or Microsoft's. Links from the last few weeks at ZDNet:

    1. Internet Tax: A lame troll by David.
    http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/st ory/0,10 738,2910920,00.html

    2. Cell phone rights:
    http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/s tory/0,10 738,2910207,00.html

    3. DMCA, Lexmark and printer refills:
    http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/ story/0,10 738,2910015,00.html

    4. Hollywood, DVDs, DMCA Fair-use rights:
    http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/s tory/0,10 738,2909517,00.html

    5. Copying music, Boucher-Dooliitle:
    http://www.zdnet.com/anchordes k/stories/story/0,10 738,2908975,00.html

    Judging by the Talkback generated by David Coursey, it seems he's got the 'average-Joe' readers excited with his unique sensationalist style of journalism.

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  7. What do you do when... by lambadomy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Your elected officials get things half right? Or get half of what you want done. Example:

    Backing the entertainment industry, Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., may reintroduce a bill to prohibit the making and distribution of "digital media devices" unless they include government-approved copy restriction technology.

    Hollings has said that he really doesn't want the legislation, but some type of compromise is needed. Various tech industry groups and the Recording Industry Association of America recently promised to fight any such mandates and work out the piracy problem.

    ---

    Hollings, along with Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., are also likely to introduce a comprehensive privacy bill to protect online surfers, who before Sept. 11 were pre-occupied with identity theft, but now must add government surveillance to their list of concerns.

    I guess with all I've been seeing recently, half right is better than expected. But my frustration with our two party system grows. Too often I see two candidates who both agree with me on half the issues and disagree with me on the other half. I can't send a message by voting for either of them, other than "this set of my beliefs is more important than that set". Other than writing letters, or running for office myself, what really can be done to get the message across?

    1. Re:What do you do when... by mikeophile · · Score: 2, Funny

      I would expect that when Senator Disney...er Hollings seems to be introducing sane legislation, it's just a candy-coating for the riders his handlers...er lobbyists have insisted upon.

    2. Re:What do you do when... by lambadomy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're 100% right, Hollings is a bad example, and probably tech in general is a bad example of what I'm talking about. But the fact remains that I'll rarely if ever find any legislators that agree with me on a large majority of the issues, and there is something wrong with that. I know that over time what is important to political parties changes quite a bit, so maybe my question is, how do we influence that change? If a third or fourth or seventeenth political party is not going to work it's way into relevance, what has to happen to change either or both of the parties we have into something closer to what I want?

    3. Re:What do you do when... by moncyb · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think the biggest solution to your problem would be to have no political parties at all. Think about it. You would be able to vote on each candidate based on their individual merits instead of what is often cookie cutter party platform. The way things are run now, a politician is more answerable to his / her party than the voters.

    4. Re:What do you do when... by lambadomy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I can agree with Money being a big help (anywhere, not just in the US), but calling the electoral college "ludicrous" is, well, ludicrous.

      This article here gives a decent overview over why the electoral college is probably superior to just counting straight votes. It mostly has to do with lessening the power of voting blocs. Of course, voting blocs reminds me of the huge problem with gerrymandering in this country. Sigh.

      Perhaps the electoral college is really a problem, and I'm not looking at it correctly, but I really doubt it. Twice in 200 years have we had the person who won the popular vote lose the election, and that seems like a small problem if the system decreases the power of large blocs.

    5. Re:What do you do when... by lambadomy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Originally there were no political parties, and if I remember correctly some portion of the more important founding fathers were very against them (quotes escape me). But they formed almost instantly regardless, and they seem to be a pretty automatic formation.

      I agree that politicians are more answerable to their party than the voters, but for example Bob Dole was quoted during his 1996 campaign as saying "I'm not bound by the platform. I probably agree with most everything in it, but I haven't read it."

      Joe Lieberman would be another example of a politician that is far from his partys platform - I'd say most people are surprised he's not a republican. John McCain is another obvious example of not always going with the party line. I think that a partial solution to this problem, instead of eliminating political parties, would be the elimination of the ridiculous gerrymandering of voting districts that goes on and has gone on for what seems like ever. When the republican or democratic candidates don't have any worries about losing in a district, it definitely makes a cookie cutter, party line candidate easy to pass through.

    6. Re:What do you do when... by stocke2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You obviously don't understand how our system works, or how it came about. Getting rid of the electoral vote would really screw things up. The reason we have it is to level things out and keep a few small but hevily populated areas from controlling the whole country. These protections were required by the smaller states when our constitution was created, and removing it would only mess eerything up. I sure don't want to have a couple cities in the northeast and california telling the rest of us what to do. Besides, only twice in 200 years has someone lost the popular vote and won the electoral, that still does make him president, despite what a few far left-wing liberal hacks would like you to believe.

      --
      A Smith & Wesson beats four aces -- Murphy's Law of Poker
    7. Re:What do you do when... by Melantha_Bacchae · · Score: 2, Funny

      The flaws in the electoral system are irrelevant when you have problems in the voting system itself. Exit polls are used to verify the integrity of foreign elections. For the past few years, exit polls have been failing to predict accurately the outcome of elections in America. And no, the problem isn't in the poll system, which works well enough to verify elections outside the US.

      The problem: exit polls have failed in inverse proportion to electronic voting systems being adopted. These systems are closed source, frequently unaudited, and are more and more not giving any sort of paper receipt that the voter can check and verify that that was their vote.

      Enter Microsoft. Yep, that's right, that voting machine software and the database behind it might be a Microsoft product. Why pay three times more than Enron (2000 elections) when Microsoft's proprietary voting system can just elect whoever Microsoft likes once Microsoft has enough market share in the voting system market? Audit? Why you can't audit Microsoft! That would endanger their precious IP! [Insert grumbling about "terrorist scum" here.]

      You know, we ought to do something about this, before we get Bill Gates elected president by an electronic landslide. All in favor of accountable voting systems, raise your hands.

      "Ridiculous, you have no claim. I'll sue you for interfering with private enterprise."
      Kumoyama, Happy Enterprises, "Mothra vs. Godzilla", 1964

    8. Re:What do you do when... by japhmi · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Except that the states are not administrative districts of the nation, but are semi-autonomous. Being a union on states means that what is important is not who gets the most votes, but who gets the most support of the various states.

      IMHO, this is the number one thing most often misunderstood about the US system.

      --
      "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" P. J. O'Rourke
  8. Support Internet Tax bills already in Committee by plasticquart · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm assuming that the majority of Slashdot folk are in favor of keeping the Internet tax-free -- at least for the time being. (IMO, new regulations forced on the internet sector for online sales and Internet access would have a horrible affect on an already hard-hit portion of our economy... but then again, I'm biased... but aren't we all.)

    As mentioned in the article, legislation has been introduced in both the House and the Senate that will extend the current moratorium on new taxes for Internet access and e-commerce activity.

    Contact your members of Congress and voice your support for House Bill H.R. 49 and Senate Bill S.52

    Contact Congress concerning H.R.49 Here
    Contact Congress concerning S.52 Here

    Polite emails (and/or snail-mailed letters, as they carry the most weight) simply stating your support for these bills will suffice.

  9. attitude? by tanveer1979 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    "There will be numerous bills this year that will take a run at the DMCA that will raise concerns for us," Cresanti said."

    Giving rights to their customers is a concern to the corporations now. I wonder what happened to the great so called ideology "customer is the king" that these companies pretend to practice.

    --
    My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
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    1. Re:attitude? by runderwo · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I wonder what happened to the great so called ideology "customer is the king" that these companies pretend to practice.
      It went away when the "customers" became "consumers" and stopped caring about the quality of product and service that they received.

      Capitalists respond to demand. If they can sell their product to people regardless of its quality, then why try to improve it? Obvious exceptions being companies with a real commitment to the customer and commitment to building a quality product, but you don't find those very often in publicly-traded corporations. Mostly because the price of quality would be slightly higher, which causes the consumers to go elsewhere and deal with a less scrupulous company save a buck. Thus, the board of directors demands that sales be raised at any costs, sets unrealistic expectations, and the company cuts corners to meet those expectations, resulting in a product that frequently meets no more than the minimum standards of marketability at best.

      The blame can be placed on the poorly educated, dependent, and apathetic consuming public as much as it can on the soulless companies who'd sacrifice any aspect of their product or corporate karma, if it meant saving a dollar down the road. Don't take advertising at face value, don't buy products from people who won't let you examine them before purchase, and don't buy from companies who won't stand behind their products. That's the only way this situation will improve.

      --
      LRC, the best-read libertarian site on the web
  10. Get a clue Fox News and Congress! by morpheus+2001 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Fox News and Congress actually getting a clue about consumer rights and technology is like a politician vowing vote in the interest of thir constituents. It just doesn't happen in the long run.

    Make lots of speeches crying that they are for the average person, but when the campaign donations start rolling in we all know what's going to happen.

    If you don't believe me, just look at the DMCA, UCITA, and COPA. Whose interest are they really concerned with, those of thier biggest donors.

    1. Re:Get a clue Fox News and Congress! by fenix+down · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Fox News. Heh. Did anybody else see their little 80-second world news thing a few days ago? The last launch of the Ariane II, which has been launching for "116 years"? And I saw the same segment twice, about 6 hours apart. They really need somebody working there who actually watches the channel. I'm not gonna even talk about their "tens of thousands arround the world" bullshit with the protests...

      Anyway, it's not the big donors they like, it's the clear cause-and-effect and reliability of their support. Real people care about abortion and terrorism and shit, companies only care about one thing at a time. You pass DMCA, we give you fat sack 'o cash money. Dealing with the complex opinions of actual voters is too much work, and your average polititian really isn't smart enough to deal with the ammount of imput necessary to actually represent people. You either need interest groups or qualified polititians, and unfortunately, all the qualified polititians are too busy running interest groups to run.

      This is why I send the EFF a few bucks now and then. We need somebody to point out that Sony isn't actually representing us, which, honestly, is what they usually manage to convince congress of. Since their mailboxes and phone lines are spammed by interest groups, your representative's perception of what you want comes from spokesmen for companies and the polls those spokesmen give them.

      I'll bet at least half the people who voted for the DMCA honestly thought it would help the people get better movies, and keep the poor 'ol studios from having to raise DVD prices, if they thought anything about it at all, that is. We just managed to point out the massive flaws there, and congress is responding.

      There's no massive shift here, so don't celebrate. Congress is still clueless, the next godawful law will just disguise itself as something we haven't specifically adressed yet.

      Also, life is a endless road paved with pain and sorrow, and there's two goddam feet of snow outside my door. Fuck you global warming! Fuck you jet stream! Fuck you Gulf currents! Fucking nature.

  11. Great... by MrByte420 · · Score: 5, Funny

    but it's nice to see a major news outlet picking up on the larger trend."

    Now I just can't wait for a credible one to do so too...

    --
    If religous zealots don't believe in Evolution, then why are they so worried about bird flu?
    1. Re:Great... by SirOgre · · Score: 2, Interesting
      or, read Blinded by the Right: Confessions of a right wing hitman by David Brock and you will begin to see how conservative Fox News is.

      Fox News is run by Roger Ailes for Christ's sake...a two bit Republican strategist from the Reagan-Bush era.

    2. Re:Great... by TKinias · · Score: 3, Interesting

      scripsit an AC:

      Disagreeing with Fox does not make a person right or wrong but it does mean they are either left or right of center (in the U.S.).

      <shudder> That's upsetting, but unfortunately probably right. ``Centrist'' in U.S. political terms is really, really far right according to most of the rest of the world.

      That Fox News can be considered ``mainstream''... Scary.

      --
      In principio creauit Linus Linucem.
  12. Good shape - for whom? by ctellefsen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Cresanti said the concern is that lawmakers are putting in too much effort altering the DMCA -- which the industry says is in pretty good shape -- rather than enforcing the existing rules."

    I thought the DMCA was used mainly to scare scientists and prevent crypto research, keep DVDs off Linux, hinder free enterprise and free trade, make toner cartridges more expensive, keep lists of store prices off the net, avoid having to obtain court orders to get access to private information, and other nifty things like that. Maybe it is "good shape" for the industry, but it certainly is "bad shape" for everyone else.

  13. Fox News is not reliable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Rupert Murdoch, his News Corp, the Fox News subsidiary have just about the worst track record of sacrificing truth to profit.

    For example, consider his relationship with the Chinese Gov't:

    - Chris Patten, the last British governor or Hong Kong, wrote a book about Hong Kong's transistion to Chinese rule. It wasn't flattering to the Chinese gov't. They objected, so News Corp killed publication worldwide.

    - The Chinese gov't didn't like BBC news being broadcast over a satellite owned by Murdoch/News Corp. As in many places, the BBC was the only reliable source of news available; it's even more valuable to people with totaliatrian gov'ts oppressing them. Murdoch removed the channel.

    That's only a couple examples. I never watch Fox myself -- how do I know when it's the facts, and when it's Murdoch kissing someones a**?

    For those who don't know: Murdoch owns News Corp. and everything named 'Fox' (well, maybe a few exceptions). News Corp. is one of those 5 large media companies that own nearly everything from movie studios to news outlets to music, the others being AOL-TW, Sony, Bertelsmann and Vivendi.

  14. Where's the ideology gene? by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Rupert Murdoch, his News Corp, the Fox News subsidiary have just about the worst track record of sacrificing truth to profit.

    Nice to see the ad hominem fallacy is alive and well.

    The examples you gave were business decisions by Murdoch for whatever reason he has for courting the Chinese, and nothing to do with Fox News content. Please state actual, confirmed examples of Fox News lying.

    You're as bad as those that say they distrust CNN because they feel Ted Turner's hand is lurking editorially behind the scenes.

    Remember, kids, just say no to ideology. It'll ruin your brain faster and more effectively than a 9mm shot to the head.

    --
    --- Ban humanity.
    1. Re:Where's the ideology gene? by ShieldWolf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I love the way you just completely overlook the fact that the original poster WAS RIGHT. Both examples he gave were evidence of News Corp. choosing profits over the truth, and by truth I mean they didn't tell a lie, but they made sure the truth wasn't told.

      Ideology may be a way to ruin your brain, but conservatism and right-wing corporatism is a sure way to ruin your heart.

      --
      just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
  15. Heavily biased article by moncyb · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This article was written by Fox News, a part of News Corporation. News Corp is one of the companies who "encouraged" Master Hollings to write his SSSCA / CBDTPA bills.

  16. Shredding by Poeir · · Score: 3, Informative

    Naturally, I don't trust these guys. They're politicians. Here's a few bits that, assuming are valid as news, I don't trust, and why.

    First up is Robert Cresanti, vice president of the Business Software Alliance, trying to keep the DMCA unaltered. That's his job, but that anyone thinks the DMCA is reasonable is bogus.

    More relevantly is the DMRCA, most particularly, this bit: Among them is the Digital Media Consumers Rights Act, introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., that gives consumers more fair-use rights for digital products and calls for copy-protected CDs to be clearly labeled if they include copy-proof technologies.

    We all know there's no such thing as copy-*proof*. Copy-resistant, yes; but not copy-proof. If the bill in fact makes reference to copy-proof, then it really doesn't do anything but pay lip service to "consumer's rights."

    Fritz rears his ugly head once more, but since he's not in charge of the tech committee at this point he's less of a threat. He still demonstrates his complete inability to understand computers, here: Backing the entertainment industry, Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., may reintroduce a bill to prohibit the making and distribution of "digital media devices" unless they include government-approved copy restriction technology.

    Hollings has said that he really doesn't want the legislation, but some type of compromise is needed. Various tech industry groups and the Recording Industry Association of America recently promised to fight any such mandates and work out the piracy problem.

    Yeah, "compromise." I recall reading here a while ago that if I want to cut both your legs off, you don't compromise by removing just the left one. The original deal was completely outrageous. Even halfway is far too far.

    Curious is the last sentence, saying that the RIAA is intending to fight such mandates? Forgive me if I'm skeptical, but if they follow through with reasonable approaches, this would be a fair compromise. They protect their revenue using traditional copyright laws, everyone else can do what they like with their IP. However, I'm not holding my breath. I find pre-dawn, kick-in-the-door, 1 48x CD-burner = 24 CD-burners much more likely.

    The MPAA is a bit more up-front: The Motion Picture Association of America's solution to rampant piracy is "to run to Congress and try to force a solution there that is a dangerous, ongoing process for us," said Cresanti, who argued the tech industry is too young to be more heavily regulated. Hardly surprising; however, why is Cresanti, the BSA representative, speaking on behalf of the MPAA?

    There's a large bit about giving tax credits for broadband deployments, and *not* adding new taxes to e-commerce; so those businesses that exist only online would do well to move to Nevada or other state with no sales tax and no tax agreements with other states.

    I also found this part interesting, The group recently released its Tech Environmental Quality Index, which shows that government is creating an increasingly hostile environment for innovation, competition and growth in the tech industry, but can't think of how to comment on that. Rep. Chrtopher Cox (R-CA) can speak for me, "Given the continued softness in the tech economy, this is hardly the time for new taxes on the Internet," Cox said in a statement. "Rather, providing long-term certainty about tax policy is one of the necessary ingredients for a tech rebound."

    Finally, it looks like we're going to have an argument similar to "Are the X-Men humans or animals?" debates (an article a while back, which was caused by different taxation rates for toys representing humans, and toys representing animals, that I can't find in the time I have), based on this final bit: "This is a very thorny thing right now," Thierer said last week. "There are amazing battles going on about what's a granola bar."

    --
    Sigs are like bumper stickers.
  17. No, they don't get it. by twitter · · Score: 3, Insightful
    this sounds like a step in the right direction. Fair use and all that.

    No, it's a step towards legitimizing the DMCA which should be repealed. Copyright law is so strong already that the Supreme Court's favorable opinion called it "unwise". DMCA outlaws technology instead of enforcing copyright. "Circumvention", making use of things you own, and reverse engineering, simply understanding how things work, should not be crimes. Do not support half measures so that you can be comfortable in your slavery and your children will think you are a criminal for being curious. Laws that make specific exceptions to the gross and unconstituional language of the DMCA are not good for anyone.

    Wholesale redistribution, aka publication, of other people's content is wrong. It deprives artists and publishers of fair returns for their efforts. This is what copyright is all about.

    Using your own media and recieving radio waves that pass through your house is not wrong. Sharing the media you enjoy with a few friends and playing for yourself when you feel like it is not republication and nothing is wrong with it. Decrypting radio waves passing through your house is not a republication. Outlawing your ability to do these things and share that information with your friends is what the DMCA is all about.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  18. Congress' Tech Agenda: SNEAK PREVIEW! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Topic 1: Stopping our VCRs from blinking 12:00
    Topic 2: Figuring out why Winders keeps 'crashing'.
    Topic 3: Gettin' that there computer to say hello, like on that Independence Day movie.

    Important tech discussion this session! Oh, I can't wait!