Senator Calls For Copy-Protection Tags

Anonymous Coward writes "C|net has an article on a new bill being proposed in the Senate that requires all software, music and movies that employ copy-protection schemes must be prominently labeled with consumer warnings, which is being sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon."

Comments

Most people won't care

[Kombat]

The sad thing is, most people won't care. They'll roll this out, a very vocal, splinter minority will kick up a loud stink, it'll blow over, and we'll have lost a little more freedom. The public is just too lazy and apathetic to get worked up over something so (seemingly) trivial. As long as the beer store is still there and they're still running Bingo every Thursday night, they'll just go with the flow.

One thing I've learned is that it takes a VERY big offense to motivate your average citizen to actually get up off their couch and do something - ANYTHING - about something. I mean geez, polls show that at a minimum, 30% of Americans oppose the war on^H^Hin Iraq. That's what, 90,000,000 Americans? How many actually show up at the protests? A few thousand here and there? And we're talking about peoples' lives being at stake! Hell, half of the Yankee populace can't even be bothered to vote - you think they're going to sit down and write a letter to their rep over some stupid copy protection that they don't even understand anyway? Call my cynical, but I don't think so.

I believe that if the RIAA decides they want this tech out there, then it's just a matter of time before all CDs have this copy protection. You can boycott if you want, but if every single CD is using it, there won't be any alternatives for you to direct your money at (none worth listening to, anyway). :(

Re:Call for suggests for a Free/Open tag slogan

[dsplat]

The third and fourth nearly had me choking on my coffee. But serious, the final one is suitable for any audience. It conveys the point succinctly and memorably. A slight variation on it that uses both the words "free" and "open" and conveys a subtly different message would be:

Distribute Freely And Openly

Tell everyone who gets a copy that they are encouraged to share it, and they don't have to do it secretly. There's no conspiracy. And there's no one looking over their shoulders to catch them.