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Look Inside A PC-killing WIPO Treaty
mouthbeef writes "The Broadcast Treaty is a proposal from a WIPO Subcommittee that's supposedly about stopping 'signal theft.' But along the way, this proposal has turned into a huge, convoluted hairball that threatens to make the PC illegal, trash the public domain, break copyleft and put a Broadcast Flag on the Internet. The treaty negotiation process is unbelievably convoluted and hard-to-follow, and they've just wrapped up the latest round in Geneva. But for the first time, a really large group of "civil society" orgs were accredited to attend. Me and another EFF staffer and the Coordinator of the Union for the Public Domain created a heavily editorialized impressionistic transcript of the meeting (EFF mirror, UPD mirror), trying to untie the knots in the negotiation. This is the first time that a really exhaustive peek inside a WIPO treaty negotiation has ever been published -- get it while it's legal!"
Unfortunately, I already beat you to it! and most of the links you mention were alreayd mentione din comments. All I have to say is... if you're going to have an email address so that subscribers can let the editors know of dupes, atleast READ the email you get on it
Signed,
AC
Boy, it's obvious the UN isn't in the pocket of the Big Corporations, yessiree!
Will they outlaw ink and paper next?
Hey, if the government doesn't trash the economy and the rights of individuals in order to protect an outdated and relatively small sector of the business community, what good are they?
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
... was apparently introduced by Argentina. Give them the benefit of the doubt: they know not the stupidity of their ways. :)
I'm serious. I keep emitting photons, and all these people keep engaging in signal theft, usually by looking at me, or even more nefariously by having cameras.
and look what they choose to do with it. *sigh*
This bloody silly plan will come to nothing.
For a start - how the hell do the WIPO think they're going to influence what is broadcast on British transmitters? Two fingers and goodbye will be OFCOM's response.
Don't forget the Swiss!
From the article:
'Switzerland proposed language that "roughly corresponds" to it.'
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
The US is only the best at ignoring them if they're inconvenient. This would cause so many problems for US business that the government will ignore this even if WIPO were to descend from a cloud in a fiery chariot and writing the treaty into the side of a mountain with a flaming finger.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
This doesn't only rule out computers; say goodbye to paper and pencil, too.
Depending on what sorts of "encryption" were used with a signal, all sorts of devices could potentially aid in that signal's decryption. I mean, it could be argued that whatever appliance was intended to receive that signal could potentially be modified to aid in decryption. Sounds a little self defeating--lets hope it actually is defeated.
2. In particular, effective legal remedies shall be provided against those who:
...
(iii) participate in the manufacture, importation, sale, or any other act that makes available a device or system capable of decrypting or helping to decrypt an encrypted program-carrying signal.
This is obviously insanely vague. Now, they might argue that obviously they didn't mean to outlaw PCs and televisions with this wording, and of course it wouldn't be interpreted that way. But that's not the point.
The point is, such vague and overly inculsive laws set a dangerous precedent. Later on, when somebody wants to outlaw some new form of decryption technology, all they have to do is point to the language of this law and say, "see, this is exactly the sort of thing it's talking about." Never mind that this language is so broad it could be applied to almost anything with circuitry.
The freedom you give up now, assuming the goodwill of the powers that be, is the freedom you won't have later when that goodwill runs out.
My site: Free Nature Pictures
This shows what happens when bureaucracy gets a hold of power. What's next? Banning oxygen, since its a flame hazard?
got sig?
This could outlaw calculators -- especially ones that can do hex -- pen, paper, crayons, blackboards, telephone.
It can outlaw trucks, cars, and telephones since they can be used to make available ideas, calculations, and formulas, that can help decrypt signals.
Fight Spammers!
participate in the manufacture, importation, sale, or any other act that makes available a device or system capable of decrypting or helping to decrypt an encrypted program-carrying signal.
Apparently procreation and thinking are not something WIPO is keen on, as the human brain is a "a system" of tissues "capable of decrypting or helping to decrypt an encrypted program-carrying signal".
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Is getting my brain fried because of too much TV electromagnetic radiation considered signal theft?
for Pete's sake just don't broadcast it!! How simple is that. Duh!!
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
Make the PC illegal? They can have my computer when they pry the keyboard from my cold dead fingers.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
WMD to soon mean Weapons of Mass Decryption based on this "treaty".
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
I once had a store owner get all over my case for taking photos inside her store. Apparently, those were proprietary photons I was recording. What I wonder is, would she have had a leg to stand on if I had taken the same photos from right outside her doorway? At what point do you own a photon, and at what point do you not?
My site: Free Nature Pictures
Hell, I'll bet Time Warner is dancing for joy over this treaty, but wait until they come into CNN's headquarters and take away all the PCs and video monitors. And what will Disney say when ABC is shut down because nobody is allowed to watch it anymore?
I'd love to see the FBI enforce this one! If you thought our government was in Wall Street's pocket now, well, wait until they try to take all computers away from the Fortune 500 :-)
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
Plans to build PC like computers from parts of other Consumer electronic devices are needed.
If the generic PC is outlawed and Microsoft is able to push through DRM encumbered hardware as a new standard, it might be a good idea to be able to open up an old Tivo-like DRM laden device, a console like the X-box or a HDTV and use the parts to make a PC.
I know that the Tivo and Xbox are really just computers today and they can be hacked, but in the future laws or manufacturers may make this more difficult. It would be great if we could build our own PC's from parts and circumvent stupid laws.
from Article 16, Alternative V:
2. In particular, effective legal remedies shall be provided against those who:
(iii) participate in the manufacture, importation, sale, or any other act that makes available a device or system capable of decrypting or helping to decrypt an encrypted program-carrying signal.
So while we may encrypt things, we will never under any circumstance be able to decrypt them. This would outlaw DVD players, too.
The UN charter (and US Constitution) need amendments outlawing illogical legislation.
There is no way in hell that the U.S. would agree to this. America is highly dependent on encryption on a ridiculous scale. If someone wiped all of the encryption keys at the NSA, most important military traffic would die. The {CI|NS|DI}A would either cheat at it, or reject it outright.
got sig?
That doesn't just outlaw PCs, it outlaws everything. It outlaws the Earth, because on the Earth is a living system of organisms, one of which (homo sapiens) is capable of decrypting a program-carrying signal. Without the support system of the Earth, humans could not exist, therefore the Earth is "helping to decrypt."
I have to wonder how people, who are obviously incapable of drafting a treaty without accidentally outlawing all of existence, have ever reached such positions of legal authority...
because if sex is outlawed, ony outlaws will have sex!
My site: Free Nature Pictures
did you lift this write-up from BoingBoing, or vice-versa ?
I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which this margin is too small to contain.
It makes devices intended to decrypt that signal illegal. Doesn't that include the devices designed to do exactly that? If you transmit an encrypted signal, then you have to get the people who are supposed to actually legally get that signal a device that can decrypt it.
This is so vague that it's ridiculous.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
IR is carried over photons too; we emit that (at least those of us warmer than room temperature do).
All's true that is mistrusted
Rich capitalist pigs are trying to steal the internet off the people who make it actually work for them.
;)
I say turn the internet off for a couple of days, see how they like that
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, Never drive a car when you're dead
They can have my penis when they pry it from my cold dead fingers!
My site: Free Nature Pictures
When encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have encryption.
You can have my encrytpion when you pry it from my cold dead hands...er...PDA.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
that a new type of governance is being successfully pushed - 'capitacracy'. This is where only the largest businesses and wealthiest people have any say and all forms of communication/expression and liberty not controlled by said entities will be outlawed? Regardless of its intent, every lawyer knows this vagueness can be exploited to further all kinds of oppressive litigation and control. It's time to start skimming the gene pool
That is all.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I guess it's a good thing you can't have everything, otherwise you might be prosecuted for posession of the universe. "Damn it, officer, you planted the universe on me and you know it!"
My site: Free Nature Pictures
Just how out of touch the United Nations and its subcommittee's are. Although this is no different from politicians anywhere, this could possibly have an effect greater than what is desired.
The worst thing about these, is that they often will be passed and left in place for years with nobody actually banning computers or televisions. It may sit there until it becomes a convenience to make reference to it. This years computer makers could possibly be next years War Crime defendants(war on terror? accessory to espionage?).
We have several of these type of laws in the United States that ban all sorts of random activities that people do(sorry... no handy informative link).
The whole fucking point of encryption is to keep people from decrypting. If you can't write decent encryption you have to make it illegal to decrypt.
This is stupid. At this point, encryption becomes nothing more than a picket fence with government soldiers gaurding it.
Once it was said that couch potatoes hurt themselves watching TV all day.
No NOT! They hurt many more. Millions of couch potatoes made dancers and singers and their supporting corporations SO strong that they're now trying to control information and educational channels because it *may* be used to *steal* *BROADCAST* signals !!!
What next ? Are they going to ban copper wires cuz they can be used to hook onto power grid and *possibly* steal electric power ???
Throw that idiot box out of your house if you're really serious about protesting against this insanity!!
- mritunjai
Everyone at Bletchly park would have been in jail...
yay for legislation to protect those to stupid to do a proper job of securinf something themselves.
Hey! What pretty widgets?
OMG, we can no longer reproduce if this goes thru since we can't participate in manufacturing humans 'cause they are capable of decrypting and helping to decrypt encrypted program-carrying signals! AIEEEE!
from their homepage:
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection of works of the human spirit. These works -- intellectual property -- are expanding the bounds of science and technology and enriching the world of the arts. Through its work, WIPO plays an important role in enhancing the quality and enjoyment of life, as well as creating real wealth for nations.
With headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, WIPO is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations system of organizations. It administers 23 international treaties dealing with different aspects of intellectual property protection. The Organization counts 180 nations as member states.
see here for more details
Wow. Who could have anticipated that a multinational megacommitee of squabbling factions would produce something so flawed?
Yes, forget about the man behind the curtain, he won't cause anything bad to happen... Forgetting about things is a horid policy, one that got the present leadership of the US elected. Shame on you for suggesting that someone forget about any piece of news.
For those of us in the United States, I strongly urge you to look at things like the Free State Project. (http://www.freestateproject.org)This isn't a bunch of wackos looking to move to Montana for another Waco holdout, it's made of people like you who will stand up, be active, and work within New Hampshire (already the best representative State with only 3000 people per Rep, as well as strongly libertarian minded) to reduce the size of government. It's our only hope, because the more they pass nonsense like this, the more you and your neighbors had better stand together...
If p2p becomes a crime, you want your neighbors to defend you when the thoughtcrime police show up. And don't kid yourselves, we are rapidly coming to that.... The day when you click on the wrong download button and the police knock on your door is already here.
Don't own a computer? Get sued by the RIAA
12 years old? Get sued by the RIAA
66 Years old and never used a computer? Yes, Get sued by the RIAA
Now just imagine the force of the WIPO, and 'the law' bolstering this nonsense...
Help achieve Liberty in your lifetime - join the Free State Project - http://www.freestateproject.org
> Look... whatever... nobody is going to ban PCs
No they are not going to ban PCs. What they can (and likely will) try to do next is to outlaw (or, more likely, severely limit the usage of) any software which can convert PC into "decryption device".
And yes, that will be broad enough to include Linux, compilers, debuggers, hex editors.....
Alternatively, they can (and are already trying to) push PC hardware in the direction which will make writing any software by a non-licensed, non-corporate programmer impossible..
So sleep well, there is nothing to worry about.
The United States is powerful enough to be able to cut its own deals with the rest of the world.
Like it or not, that's the truth.
Thus, we don't need the UN. We don't need the UN dictating what we can and cannot do to us.
Additionally, wouldn't a treaty such as this one violate some parts of the Constitution?
My very limited IANAL legal knowledge, the Constitution is the highest, followed by Treaty, then Statute. Thus, if a treaty like this would break the constitutionally protected freedoms of speech and expression and all that, it's invalid.
Not that anyone would actually dare challenge the WIPO but that's just another point to think about.
We ARE all being ruled by corperations!
d iaBosses
Well at least by proxy. Coperate reps bribe/dine/blackmail/makeloveto ministers/senators/congressmen/presidents/MEPs/Me
and the rest of us end up losing what little rights we have.
WIPO is a forum set up by the powerful for the powerful. An unelected body whose job it is to increase the powers of producers and reduce the rights of consumers.
I'm sick of this rubbish. Big business getting laws passed so that if we want to even glance at a film we must pay money each and every time. what's next? CD's with ongoing fees? DVD's that self destruct? MP3s with encryption?
Oh wait......
May the Maths Be with you!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Nothing on the GNU site describes how this 'breaks copyleft'. So does it break copyleft? Or is it simply a bad idea?
engineers are all basically high-functioning autistics who have no idea how normal people do stuff
phheww, i was worried I wouldn't be able to use my mac there for a second...
its a joke, laugh.
Jisho - A Japanese English German Russian French Dictionary for the rest of us.
Why thank you. The Constitution, while it is somewhat vague (though it definitely doesn't outlaw the universe), is a very broad, general document. Furthermore, it is intended to limit the powers of government, and to describe the general form of a government. As such, it's actually pretty specific, in terms of the exact powers the federal govt is granted and the form that govt is to take. Its language is very carefully chosen for those purposes, and despite the intervening centuries, its interpretation is usually fairly clear (notwithstanding the efforts of those to whom it is inconvenient).
This treaty, on the other hand, is just silly. It is a lot more vague than other similar treaties, and it will never fly. And I do have a problem with vagueness in the law in general, afaik that's a common reason for striking down a law is if it's found to be too vague. I especially have a problem with vagueness that grants broad and vaguely defined powers to the government, instead of placing broad and vague restrictions on it, which is not so bad.
My site: Free Nature Pictures
In Argentinian law, the law has no meaning until a Judge makes an "interpretation" of it because the executive power (is this the right translation?) has chosen to enforce it.
Unlike the American system where the law is "positive" and the written word is what counts over interpretation.
And it hasn't been every since it quit trying to regulate how countries behaved, and started trying to regulate how the people within those countries behave!
There are a lot of rather repressed countries seeking to use this UN to regulate the entire world down to the lowest common denominator. So this should be no surprise to anyone.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
However, whether these people realize it or not, it is humanly possible to decrypt or to help decrypt a program carrying signal by hand, starting with nothing more than the raw unencrypted data! Technically, that would make the act of human reproduction illegal, since the child could very conceivably grow up into a person with enough mental accuity to take on a task like that. Yes, it would take time, but there's no mention of how long is has to take in order for the system to be outlawed. This proposal is tantamount to governing what people are legally even allowed to _think_ about and absolutely, categorically, _MUST_ be stopped.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It would not outlaw the brains at WIPO conference.
Fight Spammers!
In truth, and in the right hands, your PC is far more dangerous than any single person with a gun.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Negative, I am a meat popsicle.
You just described how he could decrypt those pieces of Intellectual Property, thus making him an accessory to your foul act of PIRACY!
On the plus side, with no more home computers, nobody will be using Windows anymore either.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I seem to recall subscribers were supposed to be a part of the editorial process, able to e-mail the editors with corrections and dupe alerts.
Has this even happened? The editors here are notorious for operating in a black box, rarely answering e-mails at all.
The subject pronoun should be "I", as in "I created a heavily editorialized....". Just think how silly "Me created a...." sounds to see the error.
Unless you are Jarjar Binks.
It is as necessary for the government to tightly control the internet as it is for the government to take away an individuals guns. You are here to serve the state and that is all you are here to do, PERIOD. Time to quit whining about liberty and trash like that and get out and start supporting the New World Order. If you are against socialism and the New World Order, then I hope that you are murdered by the government. Submit. You are a slave.
...is Oligarchy
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
If you do not want me listen to your signal then keep your photons off my property! What next? Will I get arrested because the people next door play there stereo too loud and I can hear music I did not pay for.
BTW this law would also make paper and pens illegal. As well as the human brain so I guess sex is also illegal.
"participate in the manufacture, importation, sale, or any other act that makes available a device or system capable of decrypting or helping to decrypt an encrypted program-carrying signal."
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
2. In particular, effective legal remedies shall be provided against those who:
(iii) participate in the manufacture, importation, sale, or any other act that makes available a device or system capable of decrypting or helping to decrypt an encrypted program-carrying signal.
Technically, wouldn't this also make it illegal for a supplier to provide a means to decrypt the signal by even the original transmitter? Not to mention that set top boxes would be illegal as well.
Perhaps we should support this, since it would effectively make it useless for broadcasters to encrypt signals since they couldn't legally decrypt them.
Let me see. Hey, I have an idea! Let's skip the promotion part and stick to protection. In fact, let's protect it so well that only people with lots and lots of money will ever be able to afford to see it.
After all, art is not a calling, or a drive, or a belief, or a passion to create. Artists only create when they're well paid.
Yeah, that'll work.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Apparently most/all of Canada's comments were completely disregarded.
I'm left to wonder if our representation is that bad (probably) or if Canada is just expected to go along with the status quo, as put forth by the US (probably).
Personally - while radical and unlikely - I'd just as soon see Canada completely withdraw from this organisation.
We ignore treaties we don't like. We quickly implement (x100) ones we do. The DMCA was for the content producers. This one's for the content distributors. We have to protect both sides of the media, you see?
Most WIPO rules are more or less to the (current) advantage of the US and their enormous patent portefolio and IP production. Why in the hell do you think EU is adopting all those nice treaty protecting IP ? because they are told by the WIPO to do it. Why is China switching to other standard ? because they can't copy the current one or the WIPo fall on them with shrot arms. Who everything ehre is it utimately profiting ? The US and its IP industry, and now draw please a link with all those nice DRM enabled BIOS which will obey the law (enforcement guaranted) and protect broacast, IP and so on.
There are a lot of smoke signal here. Do you REALLY want the people to relax NOW that the fire has a chance to be extinguished or do you want to complain later when the first storey is already in flame ?
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
They have destroyed countries to test experimental economic systems. People paid with their lives so that big countries could feel safer.
Section 3.
If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.
The results were certified improperly. The SC stopped consideration of this issue and the disenfranchisement that it signalled based on the patently false premise that the election had to be done on time.
Hence, the Selected President*.
Yeh, well, you probably won't read this reply either.
But the point is that this treaty is so badly phrased that it may unintentionally require governments to do this kind of thing. They might sign up for it without realising what they're letting themselves in for, and who knows what would happen then...?
Out of interest... does anyone know what _does_ happen if a country signs a treaty and then realises it has made a mistake and shouldn't have done?
If computers are outlawed, or probably more reasonable - computers without DRM (or any other device you can think of), what can we do to counter it?
How much would it cost to build a small microchip cleanroom in my garage (for my own use, of course)?
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
That's not an accurate description of the US system. In the US, the written law takes precident only when there is no appeals court or Supreme court interpretation. If there is, the judge is bound by that unless he or she wants to step out on a limb and create new law. New law is reviewed carefully by the appeals courts and the Supreme court. All law (legislative or judicial) is bound by the Constitution and only the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution counts.
Why'd they have to choose someplace cold like NH? If they moved it to, say, Florida, I'd have gone for it!
Notice how the text is talking about decryption?
I suspect they _meant_ breaking encryption.
Why would you encrypt a signal if it's forbidden
to decrypt it?
ROT-13 - use at your own risk.
Of course computers won't be made illegal, but general-purpose computers might. They'll point out that terrorists, the mafia, child pornographers, virus writers, pirates and hackers sometimes use encryption, so computers capable of encryption should be licensed. Banks will buy licenses, but you won't be able to show a legitimate need. Oh you'll still be able to buy a little TV-with-a-keyboard web appliance that can set up an HTTPS connection after checking that the server has a government certificate -- e-commerce is why the internet was invented, after all. And of course the appliance will be sealed and there will be draconian laws to stop you even talking about prising it open and trying to make it useful.
(As an odd side-effect, if our Green Party manages to get over 2% of the popular vote in the ellection this month (and they probably will) they'll get the $$ they'd need to become a real political force...).
While I completely agree with you about the utter idiocy of this proposal, and the well-reported inefficiency and stupidity in (high-level) UN decision-making, let's not make sweeping generalisations about the entire organisation.
The work that e.g. Unicef does at the grassroot level, all around the world, well, looking at what they do accomplish makes you feel good there is a UN... Probably the other "divisions" have real success stories too. Here and there, at least.
Not that you really made such generalisations, but I kinda hadda rant anyway. And WIPO (this isn't their first idiocy, just perhaps the biggest), no disagreement whatsoever about them...
Does anyone really think that PC's will be made illegal?
Currently? No.
At the moment, this would provide just one more universally-violated law for our so-called "leaders" to enforce arbitrarily, to punish those daring to espouse dissenting viewpoints. A number (possibly a large number, but not enough to spook the sheep) of key rabble-rousers who dare to stand up for their rights would quietly vanish into the US prison system, as our "real" leaders, our corporate masters, slowly and patiently shift public perception to the point where they can actually outlaw the PC.
At that time, we'll all have very tightly locked-down "internet appliance"-like devices to do email (scanned for "bad" ideas, of course) and buy things from honest upstanding internet vendors (and possibly to stream advertising to us, which of course we would lack the ability to block). The general purpose PC will vanish, since no good, honest, law-abiding Citizen would need such a subversive device to go about their daily purchasing and watching of mind-numbing prepackaged content.
And for the mods, if you consider this "Funny", as a sort of over-the-top 1984-esque joke, you've missed the point entirely.
...there will be draconian laws to stop you even talking about prising it open and trying to make it useful.
Just picking up on a point of your language here, you say "even talking about" as a figure of speech, but it has been repeatedly shown that under the PATRIOT act you really can't talk about anything that is said to you. Free speech has already been banned, this is just the next step.
WIPO is a capitalist invention by definition.
We already know about the fiersome reputation the UN forces have around the world. Oooh, is that a widdle UN soldier boy? Aww, aint he pwecious.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
Look... whatever... nobody is going to ban PCs or pen & paper or your brain or math or your TV set.
Right. And if that's all it takes to make you happy...
Though we already know that the general-purpose PC is directly in the sights of these companies for termination. But as long as your rented locked-down media-center pay-per-view system came from Dell and it has a Pentium in it, it's still a PC, right?
These people have their own agenda, however they aren't stupid by any stretch (which they would have to be if these interpreted outcomes have any chance of happening; think about it, don't just react). Calm down, go back to what you were doing and forget about this...
Yes, think about it. The point is not that this will result in the outlawing of PCs or paper, but the fact that it could. When they could apply the law to anything that means they will apply it to everything they want to. Someday, that just might include something you don't want them to. But you missed your chance, because you believed it couldn't happen.
This is exactly the same technique behind the passage of the PATRIOT act. "Oh, but it will only be used against terrorists!" they said, even though nothing in the act itself ensured that this was the case -- it could be applied to practically anything, but just calm down about it because that won't happen, okay? Then a couple years later, morons (particularly Democrats) in Congress are shocked and dismayed that *gasp* the PATRIOT act powers were used in many (mostly) non-terrorism investigations! "I never would have voted for it if I'd known that was going to happen!" they said. Shite. Idiots.
And what will be your excuse when you still have your "PC", but you can't install any software that wasn't approved by the Powers That Be because that software might not respect the new rights they just gave themselves? When that and your precious pen & paper is all you have? Well?
The enemies of Democracy are
It is not for shock value and no, PC's will never be outlawed. The point of the article is to point out that this new treaty is far to encompassing and broken. If a treaty like this is passed it can just sit there not being used to ban computers until someone finds it useful and convenient to do so. Then they will point to the bill and say, "hey look at that, I am right." and then the rest of the world sides with them.
Argentina doesn't really have a significant media industry with the exception of exporting some telenovelas. How did they get into the middle of setting intellectual property and technology standards? Maybe it's the less than democratic governments in the developing world that are equal members of WIPO that put all this weird stuff in here. I'm talking about the same countries who put Cuba, Zimbabwe and Sudan on the U.N human rights commission.
These people have their own agenda, however they aren't stupid by any stretch (which they would have to be if these interpreted outcomes have any chance of happening; think about it, don't just react).
Have you ever tried drafting a treaty or legislation? It's quite tricky to get the details right. When you think you've got one aspect nailed down, you've totally missed something else.
I don't believe the original draftors of the DMCA _intended_ it to be used to silence people involved in legitimate cryptographic research, but because they failed to ensure it couldn't be, it has been.
I'm sure these people don't intend to outlaw PCs, and I'm equally certain that this particularly outrageous interpretation will be stamped on some time between now and when this treaty actually enters force... but that's not to say that software that performs decryption won't become illegal. A badly drafted law can be used by people as a sneaky attack on something that wasn't originally foreseen by its authors. In this case, I can see that:
1. DeCSS might be covered if the phrasing remains particularly bad. I'm pretty sure it is at the moment. Note that there are no 'significant alternative use' provisions or similar, as exist in the DMCA and EUCD.
2. Video signal synchronizers, used to restore the sync signal between a playback and a recording device, will almost certainly be covered unless a 'significant alternative use' clause is added. This hardware is essential for anyone trying to perform high quality duplication of video signals without spending huge amounts of money on it. Yes there are legitimate reasons you might want to duplicate video tapes.
3. This will probably render it illegal to sell the designs for those cable tv descrambling boxes. I don't know about you, but I strongly believe that no transfer of _information_ should be prohibited, except possibly where that information has come into your hands due to a priveleged position (this would cover the protection of national secrets in a manner similar to the UK official secrets act, among other things). Note that by information I'm
talking about distilled facts; this isn't an anti-copyright stance.
4. If future PCs are supplied with some kind of DRM monitor that prevents you from tampering with managed data, this treaty might prevent the sale of kits to remove it, or even the transfer of information on how to remove it.
All WLAN hotspots have to be unprotected.
No more https servers to set up.
We can get rid of "copy protected" CDs and DVDs.
And finally we can sue the NSA.
(ROT-13 - use at your own risk.)
...oligarchy, perhaps?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
If Wolfram's ideas in ANKOS is to be believed, this would outlaw the universe itself!
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Well, looks like fido-net will make a comeback, and perhaps homebrew computer kits. Hello to 1 megahertz once again.
"Hey are you going to eat that?"
- Anonymous
Ewww....
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
And cowardly politicians willing to cave rather than stand up for what's right.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
</rimshot>
They back out of the treaty, and hope the other countries that were party to it don't get pissed off and stop trading with them.
"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone else."
By surfing Slashdot, you may be violating your listener's license agreement.
Give your ears a taste of Independant Librarian Dynamic Sean Kennedy the Sixth for a truly horrific scenario based on this kind of shinanegans. Then give him a little donation because, at the moment, his stories are still legal to freely record, broadcast, and disseminate.
Sorry if this is dupe but on my intial scan, I didn't see anything that looked like a UK / European contact in Government.
No surprises here. Consider it the cost of protectionism. An industry that constitutes a small part of the GDP lobbies hard, and the governments protect. It only works in the very short term, and neither the industry nor "jobs" are protected.
Protecting the Status Quo
50% Overrated
50% Redundant
Total Score: -1 (Dumb)
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
IIRC, treaties often have a withdrawal clause that requires a certain amount of advance notification (say, 6 months). If you don't wait it out, consequences depend largely on what the international community thinks it can do to you for it.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
Me and another EFF staffer and the Coordinator of the Union for the Public Domain created...
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya, bitch. Long live the Iraqi resistance, and fuck the American invaders. Fuck bin Laden, too; he's a bitch. Him and America deserve each other.
And WIPO's dead. J^raxis was Serial Troller.
First time you Hack bell expressvu you'll feel sorry for canadians, i have to say if you people are paying more than a 1.25$ a month your getting ripped.
Bigtime.
that Krill's document was written a month ago? Why is it just now being posted, as he states that he posted it on April 7th.
Wait, What?
Get everyone to power off their routers/servers for 72 hours. See if that gets noticed.
This is great lawmaking. The encrypted program-carrying signal can never be unencrypted because it is now illegal to do so. They might as well have made encrypted program-carrying signals illegal and saved everyone the bother.
After all, if you couldn't legally do that, how would they have legally been able to obtain the work to broadcast it in the first place?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Welcome to the United Corporations (was States) of America.
Preamble: We the Corporations (used to be People) of America, in order to form a better union of greedy businesses to make more money, screw over the average joe, pollute the environment, steal more rights away from individuals, and undo those pesky Bill of Rights.
Permission is granted to reuse this as you see fit. This is public domain.
As opposed to all that corruption free foreign policy that occurs at the nation-state level. Like when we invade a country and give out no bid contracts and have proposals for the country's infrastructure drafted by domestic corporations.
Don't compare the UN to wall street, compare it to the US govt. or any govt for that matter. Suddenly it doesn't quite so bad.
Photos.
Back that up please. If that were true, /. would have been dead a LONG time ago.
Nevermind not one page ago someone suggesting in a sarcastic manner the hunting of the lawmakers fashioning this treaty.
No, then it's Meesa.
Kernel panic: attempt to kill init!
I may not have phrased that perfectly, I didn't mean that the PATRIOT act stops all free speech, but as shown here they do have the power to silence you if you are involved in a PATRIOT act case. It's a slippery slope.
An extract from that article: ACLU lawyers and their client are also disputing a section of the law that prohibits an entity that receives a National Security Letter request for information from telling anyone about the request. Ironically, this gag order is the same rule that prohibits the ACLU and John Doe from talking about many aspects of their case.
The UN is accountable to its member states and its member states are accountable to its citizens. Don't think so shallowly, such is unwelcome.
Or do you have no idea how the UN operates?
Photos.
You have not demonstrated that the UN is sufficiently worse than all the governments underneath it. The UN is no worse than any nation-state, in fact it occasionally goes to those areas of the world the US is so reticent to participate in like africa and provides minimal support. Minimal it may be but it's better than what the US ever does.
You wanna talk UN don't restrict your debate to Iraq or whatever, talk about the whole UN and talk about what the world would look like without the UN and why it would be better.
Anything less is simple finger pointing.
Your arguments are shallow, and a wholesale indictment of the UN would need to be hundreds of pages of foot-noted text. Don't insult my intelligence with this cheap wankery. Since I'm not the one making the ridiculously shallow claim the burden of proof doesn't rest on me.
Photos.
I don't think any true geek would do this to the world, the DRM'd hardware would be designed with flaws on purpose (similar for example to AMD stopping overclockers but letting you pencil-in the broken tracks on the CPU) we would still have existing hardware too (id like to see them try and round all that up!) just remember if you're in the business and forced to implement DRM its your duty to do what needs to be done if you know what i mean.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
It makes ALL signal decryption devices illegal. Tell me what good is using DRM on anything if there are no legal devices to decrypt the data?
On the plus side, the RIAA/MPAA won't be able to use encryption/DRM to distribute their wares since NO ONE will be legally able to make use of such content. ;)
The industry calls them optical brighteners. It's what they put in color safe bleach. Color safe bleach is really a misnomer, since it's not actually bleach, nor does it truly get the clothes any cleaner...it just gives the illusion of cleaner colors.
Takes a quote totally out of context, riles up the nerds on /., goes to the conference but obviously doesn't participate in the process enough to raise objections to the wording of the decryption clause, plays you guys like a harp.
You guys all have college degrees. This whiner (see his bio at craphound.com) flaked around on Mexico beaches pretending to be a writer. Now you let him rile you up. Very sad.
If you want to be taken seriously at these meetings, you should learn proper grammer.
"Me and another EFF staffer" is not proper gramemr.
Spelling counts, too.
"When laws stop making any kind of sense or justice, I stop obeying them."
Or as Thoreau stated in "Civil Disobedience," when a law is unjust, it is the duty of the just man to break that law.
OHNO! DNA is encoded! therefor DNA will be illegal! quick! everyone get rid of your DNA and RNA!!!
No, sex would still be legal if you used contraceptives.
.... those who are against the ideas of consumer choice, freedom and the ability to contribute to the betterment of mankind?
Aren't these the sort of people who need to be exposed and jailed for anti-human advancement activity, for their own inconsiderate excessive profit?
Hmmm, Why isn't Bill Gates in jail?
...people on here were getting laid in the first place :)
While we're at it: The entire WIPO needs to get laid and definitely needs to chill for a while - and then disband.
I think you've made some mistakes. Look at the etymology: democracy means rule by the people. "Republic" doesn't derive from "represent" and "public," it derives from the Latin respublica (via Medieval French republique), literally "the public thing." A good translation would be "a political unit." Note that there is no inherent conflict between "rule by the people" and "a political unit." While it is true that the USA is not directly ruled by the popular vote, it is also true that the USA is ruled by representatives elected by the people. This makes the USA a democracy by representation. Saying that the USA is a Republic does not contradict that it is also a democracy. Yes, etymology and history are neat; I suggest you study them.
I consider this very Funny. Just for one example, if they stop making general-purpose computers, there won't be any more really skilled programmers, since they usually get their start by messing around with stuff. They can't teach stuff like curiosity in schools. And there are a lot of billions of dollars that would be opposed to anything like that.
And the l33t shall inherit the 34r7h.
You can buy the dye yourself at the pharmacy. it's called Blueing, and it works wonders for white clothes under natural or fuorescent light.
You can also buy detergent with light absorbing dye, it's called Dark Laundry Wash, and it seems to work.
You have to use real vintage tinfoil to be effective. The modern Al foil cointans a special phosphore coating required by a secret convention in the mid 1970's that makes it less effective for blocking mind control radio signals, and causing wearers to stand out on spy satilites.
(at least that what I like to tell the paranoids at the mental hospital I ocaisionaly eat lunch at)
I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
I never said I'm having sex, I said I'm an outlaw. It's true, I am. Actually, I was just hoping that the criminalization of sex would actually increase the chances of me getting laid!
My site: Free Nature Pictures
2004, Report on the Draft WIPO Broadcasting Treaty by Shyamkrishna Balganesh, Dev Gangjee, Tatyana Nikiforova, Tina Piper (Graduate students in the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford)
The report deals with four key areas. First, it argues that the over-propertization of broadcast rights through the treaty may lead to a tragedy of the anticommons, or the under-use of the resources in question. Second, the report shows that contrary to the impression created by the Draft Treaty, many of the proposals for the new treaty are in fact significant changes from the existing treaty regime. Of particular concern is the extension of term to 50 years, a period that is hardly justifiable as necessary for broadcasters in order to recoup their investment. Third, the report argues by analogy to the struggles to create a workable database right that close consideration must be given to proposals to extend the scope and term of rights broadcast rights that are protected by other regimes. Finally, the report interrogates the strategy of using WIPO as the forum for the negotiation of this treaty given its constitutional mandate to promote intellectual property, its funding structure and its limited means for engaging broader stakeholders in policy development."
This is insightful, on top of being accurate!
This sig space intentionally left blank.
If you think for a moment that the fact that "The fact that Gore acquiesced" counts him out, you are sadly mistaken and need to do some reading on how US Presidential Elections work.
I think you missed the poster's point about Gore acquiescing.
It was not a claim that his concession had anything to do with whether he'd be elected.
The point was that Gore threw in the towel rather than calling for an armed insurrection to "correct" the results of the electoral congress. This shows that our Republic is operating as designed.
The purpose of elections is NOT to be "fair".
The purpose of elections is to determine how the civil war would come out, so we don't have to FIGHT AND DIE in the bloody thing!
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
This sig space intentionally left blank.
OK, so how many participants are from countries with governments who restrict their press or other rights? How many totalitarian governments are speaking up?
Apparently most/all of Canada's comments were completely disregarded.
::Thinks of the South Park movie::
"It's abooot respect, it's abooot..."
(laughter) "Can you tell us again what this is *about*???"
I'd love to see the FBI enforce this one! If you thought our government was in Wall Street's pocket now, well, wait until they try to take all computers away from the Fortune 500 :-)
They aren't going to take a single PC away from any of the fortune 500 (and probably none of the fortune 1000).
Like every other unjust, unconstitutional law on the books (e.g. the war on drugs, etc.), the laws will only be selectively enforced.
Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, and a bunch of the rest of us will have our equipment seized without due process and with no possiblity of recovery (and perhaps be banned from ever writing software again) because our software empowers people, and that in the eyes of our hopelessly corrupt government of governments (the UN) and its hopelessly corrupt constituents (the governments of the world, most of whom routinely and ruthlessly repress their populations) that is a cardinal sin.
They're just looking to put the mechanism in place to legitimize this process, and the media monopolies have given them just the political cover they need.
I would not be surprised if, within ten years, there is not a single "free" person left on this earth, even by the loose definition for freedom we generally use today.
The future is ugly, and it is bearing down hard on us all.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
USA PATRIOT Act and the proposed PATRIOT II Act
CAPPS and CAPPS II
Copyright Extentions
Software Patents
Evoting without a paper trail
ECHELON
Privacy concerns with RFIDs
SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation)
EULAs
Racial Profiling in Law Enforcement
What was done? Nothing. Does anyone here really believe that Congress will "do the right thing" on this "broadcast bit" issue? The magic eight ball says "no fucking way". I personally don't see what the solution is. Bread, circus and prison baby, that's all that will be left.
If I may quote Frank Zappa from "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing":
Think about this: in Iraq right now there are US Soldiers without bulletproof jackets and Humvees without any armour protection yet with have >$100M USD for a State Funeral of Former President Reagan?Forget it kids, game over.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
I guess it is time we incorporated ourselves and then sue any other corporation that uses are likeness and data for any purpose for which they haven't paid big bucks. If that doesn't work then sue the government under NAFTA for not protecting your corporate rights.
Of course it would be illegal. They no doubt have chosen to set an example themselved by ceasing to use their copies of these illegal devices.
Me and another EFF staffer
"Another EFF staffer and I".
That is the big question. Is computing technology going to have special restrictions that is legally required?
Do I need a lawyer while writing my software, and have that lawyer review my code to make sure that it doesn't violate patents, copyright, legal restrictions, etc.?
I dread the day that lawyers outnumber software developers in the typical software company. Some companies (SCO, for instance, but also Dolby Laboratories and a few more successful companies) are already in this situation.
I hope that Open Cores is successful. There already are some interesting developments there, and some of it is already working its way into industry, and this is the best hope that I know of that would allow you to build chips in your own garage. Forcing DRM into the realm of programmable logic chips would, IMHO, be going just a little too far and hamper the efforts of Electrical Engineers for even ordinary devices, but that would be an interesting topic by itself. For just a couple thousand dollars you can "fab" your own chips and at least in theory be able to build your own computer.
One problem that I see with chip design on this level is that the skills needed to do this are not easy to acquire, and there is a very steep learning curve. Still, I think over time you could have some chip manufacturers who are very friendly to open spec computers rather than the current propritary mess in the computer industry at the moment.
It would also be a sad day if amature computer designers and software developers would have the same problems that amature chemists currently face. Worse yet, amature nuclear engineers (think about that for a while).
Me and another EFF staffer and the Coordinator of the Union for the Public Domain created a heavily editorialized impressionistic transcript of the meeting (EFF mirror, UPD mirror), trying to untie the knots in the negotiation.
I know we're a bunch of tech nerds here, but please, writing like this undermines the importance of what you're saying.
An EFF staffer, the Coordinator of the Union for the Public Domain and I created a heavily editorialized impressionistic transcript of the meeting (EFF mirror, UPD mirror): trying to untie the knots in the negotiation.
"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw."
All the bullshit laws the US passed in the last 5 years all rolled up into one. I say we pretend to play dead and follow along with all this crap until they think we are under complete control, which is the idea, and then we get UP.
This kind of thing is so hard to fight. You and everyone you know can write 10 letters a day to Congress about the consequences of stupid laws like this and your requests WILL FALL ON DEAF EARS.
WAKE UP FOLKS. You have no rights. Get over it or get with the program. This big agenda we see manifesting before us through corruption and perversion of legal systems and global governments, financial institutions, trade agreements, and all that happy shit is going to wear us down over time. We might as well end the suffering today by turning away and admitting defeat. Only then will thier true motives be apparent and only then can we fight. You cannot fight an enemy you cannot see, but you can fight them if you expose them for what they really are.
DAMN im in a bad mood now. Thanks ass hats.
Sincerely,
Sam
You are about to give someone a piece of your mind, something which you can ill afford...
If ya'll are ready to wake up, here are a few of my favorite sites...They do require a registration. We welcome all patriots who believe the folks at fed.gov are violating the social contract.
h p
o nb oard.cgi
.30-06 black tip (armor piercing) ammo.
http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/ubb/ultimatebb.p
A Homepage for Patriots, Survivalists, & Gun Owners
http://www.awrm.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi
A Well Regulated Millitia - Home of Patriots and Gun Owners
http://www.roderuscustom.tzo.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ik
Home Gunsmithing Forum
http://www.gunsnet.net/forums
Home of the Infamous AK-47.net Forums.
http://www.ar15.com/
AR-15 / M-16 Forums.
http://www.falfiles.com/forums/index.php
Home of the FAL Files.
I've got to go now to go handload (make at home) some more
Andy Out!
However, as a warm blooded creature, the poster is using chemical reactions to maintain its temperature , and is thus emitting infrared photons that are not reflections or absorption/re-emission photons.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
Is a continual process of creation and destruction driven by desire. The mercantile class is entirely dependent on the talent of those willing to engage in production/provision and the desire of buyers. There will either be a centralised highly regulated brontosaurus corporate dominance which disallows the endeavours of the small and protects long amassed interests, or there will be a distributed culture of provider/producer to customer. When you take my Universal Turing Machine, I will listen to the birds and watch trees grow instead. The law is doomed, because sophisticated society is unable to be covered by a single logical self consistent system.
If I promise to be a good boy can I have some better karma?
...Greece (Athens) was never practicly run "by the people". The general population of the city didn't show up to decide every detail, and in a heated debate they didn't all get speaker time. Most of them were busy trying to make a living. Those who were there were those with money, time, influence and interest, some idealistic and some not.
In fact, it is only in the later years that having a true direct democracy has been feasible. With the Internet, we could to a much stronger degree decide on the running of the country. Of course, those in power nor those exercising power through lobbying wouldn't like that, and so it is unlikely to happen.
Not to mention the general population is terrible at governing itself. You think politicians do stupid things? Just wait until every barely-sentient ignorant populist turncoat in the country get to actually decide something of importance. Of course, then we're stupid at our own behalf, instead of having politicans embarassing us...
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
. . . to its members. That's why you always hear about them voting on resolutions. It's screwed-up because a lot of its members are screwed-up.
People who bash the UN don't seem to realize that there's no alternative. There's only one "everybody." I guess you could disband it, but sooner or later you'd need it again.
You'd need an organization that represents the whole world (not just people who are or could be accused of being in your pocket) to endorse your plan for Iraq. You'd need the help of every nation that diseases spread to in order to fight the next SARS. You'd need a forum where nations can discuss and study things that affect everyone.
You'd end up with essentially the same organization under a different name, accountable to the same screwed-up members. Because you need it.
-- . . ramblin' . . .
Calm down everyone. A PC in itself is not capable of decryption, you need to add the appropriate program. A PC is merely a component that can be used, in combination with other components, to make a decryption device. Similarly, a gearbox will not transport you to the supermarket and bring back the shopping, you need to add the rest of the components that make up a car.
There is a distinction between capable as it stands of doing and capable of being used for.
Omigod! WIPO's banned my brain.
"If it's so irrelevant, why are all the resolutions vetoed?" ;)
Maybe it's irrelevant because everything gets vetoed
You are of course partly correct. The point I was trying to make, though, was that the US (and the Soviet Union in their day) uses its veto to prevent the UN from acting against their interests, especially when it comes to situations like Israel. The US are the ones declaring the UN "irrelevant" unless it "gets on side" with them - but they're also the ones hobbling the process. As flawed as the UN is, it's better than the alternative, which would be having no global organization capable of speaking out against the tyrants and empire-builders of the world. After all, the SC members can't veto a General Assembly resolution.
Freedom: "I won't!"
This does not just outlaw computers it out laws my brain. My brain is every bit as Turing complete as the computer is, it has some other features that make it extreemely fault tolerent and able to operate on partial instructions and data, but it can act strictly as a universal machine in the Turing sense, if I,me,it asks it,me,I to do so. That means it is capable of decrypting encrypted signals which can be recived via my many sensory organs. I submit that my brain would therfore be illicit under this law. The government is not allowed to make post facto laws therfore this law is illicit.
That way we wouldn't realize that Britney-pop and all that "art" that is industrially manufactured to annoy as little as possible (not please as much as possible) is truly utter garbage.
After all, if we don't buy CDs their industry will die. Nevermind the quality and price of their product.
Ban brains now! Save the AAs!
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but how would this benefit the lawyers and promote the case of justice for the wealthiest?
Your attitude seems rather un-american and un-patriotic to me. If we refer to bush-standards that is. Interpret that any way you want.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
I'll take two.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Technically, that would wipe out all of those market- and lobby-droids as well. Not so bad nothing good comes out of it.
And if we just "act a little discrete", the next generation of humans, will exclusively be the intellectual elite without annoying droids to make life miserable for them.
Well. Sort of, anyway.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
The Digital Copyright Canada forum and the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) are working to make Internet, Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) and digital copyright issues during the current election.
In 2001, with the help of the EFF, we were able to generate approximately 650 of the 700 written replies that the government received to their consultation. Our replies all opposed the DMCA being brought into Canada. Unfortunately parliament is not listening to us, and recent reports from parliamentary committees have directed government to immediately ratify the WIPO treaties that were implemented as the DMCA in the USA.
Rather than reacting, Canadians should be proactive and ensure that their candidates know where they stand on these issues. Both CIPPIC and the Digital Copyright Canada forum have questions for Candidates which can help you find out where they stand.
If you are one of those 40% of Canadians that don't vote, please consider protecting the Internet and FLOSS from bad government policy to be an important reason to get involved.
Digital Copyright Canada forum
when laws are sufficient make more to break them
If I could mod you up just for your reference to the Digital Copyright Canada forum ,which I didn't realise existed, I would!!
Unfortunately it seems that the political parties (other than the Green Party) aren't responding to the survey. (The half-assed non-specific Liberal response shouldn't count)
Wonder if the political parties read slashdot?
lol
wat?
Why are you implying that "armed insurrection" was Gore's only option to correct the results of the electoral congress?
+++ATH0
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weks eats ur mama! weks, weks, weks.......
...weks!!
\@o@/
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say me cock?
wat mean cock?
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This post sponsored by New-B-Gone(TM): "Kills newbies dead" and the letters F and U.
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This post is made possible because You Suck at the Internet(TM).
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^__________________^
They that live by the statute book, shall die by the statute book.
What we need is for everyone around the world to make a big push for a new law at the very highest level -- in the USA, an amendment to the constitution -- which makes it clear that an individual is privy to {but may be bound to keep} any secret contained in any article that they rightfully own, and guarantees that no-one can prevent an individual from attempting to decrypt a message where they are the rightful recipient.
That ought to be common sense, never mind English Common Law; but since the "deny all except allowed, guilty until proven innocent" mentality took over, some people might need a gentle reminder that the likes of you and I have rights, and governments -- whose wages we pay -- are supposed to protect those rights.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Yup, there's a similar clause in the UK whereby if the government demands your encryption keys, it's a crime to tell anyone. But then again the UK doesn't (except via European law) have any laws promising free speech in the first place...
In 2001 we had the help of EFF who sent out an announcement about Canada-DMCA-Opponents (which became Digital-copyright.ca ) and were able to generate approximately 650 of the 700 responses.
We have things that Canadians who care about this stuff can actually DO -- no armchair politics here, but the real stuff.
We have a petition for Users' Rights which people can sign and get all their friends to sign.
We have to sets of questions for candidates which can be asked of candidates in debates, via email, at the door when they come knocking
We have an election education website that includes per-riding discussion areas.
Please do what you can to try to get the message out. It would be great if we could get SlashDotted and get people active about this during the election.
Digital Copyright Canada forum
Conservative Party
Liberal Party
Green Party
So far the Bloc and the NDP have not had the party or any candidates reply, but given there is at least one reply for each of the other 3 major parties.
With the Green Party they are running a full slate of 308 candidates and is a very decentralized party. Given this it should be expected that they would have sent in the most replies. I was surprised to see the Conservative candidate reply before the Conservative party headquarters had sent out its reply.
The Liberals are acting predictably with a number of candidates just sending in copies of the reply the executive director of the party sent in.
The Bloc tends to not answer questions from outside of Quebec (they only run candidates in Quebec). Of the major parties it is the NDP that has surprised me by not sending in any replies yet.
Digital Copyright Canada forum
For what its worth, I submitted a story with linkage to Digital Copyright Canada, and in a rarity of rarities it was actuall accepted. Presumably there should be something out soon, if I haven't missed it already.
Here is hoping that it makes a difference in this year's election!!