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Boucher's Anti-DMCA Bill Gets High Profile Allies
Landaras writes "News.com is reporting that a newly-formed alliance called the Personal Technology Freedom Coalition is throwing their support and lobbying efforts behind Rep. Rick Boucher's (D-Va) Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act.
Members of the Personal Technology Freedom Coalition include Intel, Sun Microsystems, Verizon, SBC, Qwest, Gateway and BellSouth. The EFF and the American Library Association are also in support."
Could someone tell me the actual chances of this being passed?
Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
Now that Fritz Hollings (D - Disney) is gone, the only major stumbling blocks in the senate will be Senators Hatch and Bono. I think we have a shot if Rep Boucher can get this past the House.
Wu-Tang Name: Half-Cut Skeleton Get your own Wu-Na
It's time we started providing financial support for the elected officals who do the right thing. Rep. Boucher's contribution page is here.
By supporting him (and explaining why), we reinforce his commitment to protecting our copyright rights, and show his peers that there is a group of people (voters) who care enough about the issue to contribute.
'I ain't a liar, baby, and I ain't proud I just want what I'm not allowed.' -- Violent Femmes, 36-24-36
I think it's bold, and a move in the right direction, but it's folly to think that they media lobbies are going to let this go unmolested. They have almost unlimited funds (money we've paid for CDs and movies) to fight this.
Don't be a looter...and yes, I know that it's spelled with an "A" instead of an "E".
Now to get this bit of legislation "harmonised" into Australian law. Preferrably after we make a multi-billion dollar deal with the U.S.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I am waiting for a law that says that producers have a choice: they may a) allow consumers to back up their music/movies/games or b) agree to replace on demand and without charge any CD/DVD that has been damaged and is no longer playable.
If the g'vt kept the data on you that google does you'd better believe you'd be calling it "doing evil"
Assuming that slashdotters would like to add their support in a mail-in campaign, to whom should we send our letters? Would it be best to send it to the Personal Technology Freedom Consortium, to Boucher directly, or to our own senators and representatives?
What do other slashdotters think would be the most effective action?
You may treat all information submitted above as wild speculation.
Rep Kennedy, Patrick J. [RI-1] - 1/7/2003(withdrawn - 1/28/2003)
So the question is: who has deeper pockets?
The state of American politics is at an all time low - votes are now strictly gathered by the $, either in congress or by the voting public.
The kicker? Politicians can voters on their side by taking high-profile polarizing issues (like abortion), but then vote on all other issues based upon the pocketbook of the lobbys. The DCMA and "Patriot Act" are two clear examples.
I would have never have said this before, but I'll say it now: next time, I vote for the ACLU.
Well it seems like it is about time a bill would come along to solve the horrific problems created by that vile devil known as the DMCA. Now what we all need to do is write your senators and representatives. Let them know how much we want this bill to get through and how important it is to us.
If your elected officials are up for election this year iterate how important this issue is and a vote on this issue could sway your voting. The politicians are supposed to listen to their voters and we as voters need to let them know what we want. This bill and an election year may help give us more leverage when writing to our reps and senators.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
Finally, at least some of our rights are being upheld.
Karma: Segmentation fault (tried to dereference a null post)
Instead of debating whether this would pass or what hurdles it will have to clear to pass, can we talk about what I can do to help these guys?
And yes, we can be cynical and weep all we want about how money wins in the end, but how many of us did a darn thing about it?? If someone wants to put together an Anti-DMCA rally in D.C, heck, I will be with you shoulder to shoulder..
Lets not whine about how we are defenseless against the MPAA lobby's millions, lets talk about how we plan to kick their ass!
This is similar to my argument about outsourcing.. When news break out that another firm has outsourced to India/Vietnam/China/Russia, there is a sudden outpour of anger and indignation, but once the last post is written, no one seems to care.. What we need is a permanent revolution (yes I am well aware of who said that!)..
Rapid Nirvana
I think it smells of trying to get the genie back into the bottle. Right now the Microsoft/MPAA/RIAA axis is trying their damnedest to create a culture that is entirely controlled by the media corporations. I'm glad that this bill has the backing of some serious technology players. If DRM isn't controlled in the next few years, it could spin wildly out of control.
I am waiting for a law that says that producers have a choice: they may a) allow consumers to back up their music/movies/games or b) agree to replace on demand and without charge any CD/DVD that has been damaged and is no longer playable.
Oh yeah, I've heard of this. It's the DMFC act. The Digital Media FAT CHANCE act right??? Right???
You'll have that sometimes...
No it doesnt.... this is something that Rep. Boucher has been working on for quite some time, and its been mentioned on slashdot quite a bit as well here, here, here, and here.
and that was just the top four in a search of old stories by score...
And you are correct, at least, in that this is a bold move, and definitely in the right direction. It is indeed a folly to think that media lobbies will just ignore this, which is why we ALL need to come together and slashdot congress both via email and snail mail to get things like this pushed all the way through.
And besides which, they may have almost unlimited funds, but we have unlimited bandwidth collectively...
"Our funds have never taken part in toxic or death spiral convertible financings of any sort" -BayStar's managing partne
I can understand why the EFF, the ALA, and even an underdog like Sun are signed on as supporters of this bill, but what benfits are coming to companies like Qwest, Verizon and BellSouth - all major telecom providers? These companies are spending money to fight the DMCA, but what financial benefits does the destruction of the DMCA offer them? Is Telecom innovation being hurt this much by the DMCA so much that they're willing to take up arms and fight?
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see the DMCA nuked. But it would seem they've found something in this bill that suits them quite nicely in a financial sense, which immediately raises my skepticism level about how positive their support really is.
according to new.com.com it is Digital Millennium Copyright Act but the article says Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act which is which?
this sig intentionally left blank
The content lobby will just counter with a Copying Unceasingly Nurtures Terrorism (CUNT) or an Unlawful Replication Gives Al-Qaeda lots of Yen (URGAY) act. Linking copyright violations to child abuse and even terrorism is en vogue, and as long as this kind of manipulation can be used for profit, they won't cease to try. Anyway, I hope this one does make it through.
I love C++
This certainly smells of election-year politicing
/., but I'm sure somebody probably already has since I started this post.
Normally, I'd be inclined to agree, but Rep. Boucher has been championing this issue for some time now.
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
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Story 5
There are of course many more. This bill was originally introduced in 2002. This guy is the real deal.
I didn't go back far enough to get the link of his interview here on
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
DOH! I have to type faster.
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
...how many of you would really you use the new ability to copy music/movies/games just for backups? I hear a lot of rhetoric about this sometimes quoted "right" on these boards. I think many would see a bill like this to be open season on P2P sharing again.
My opinion is that DMCA is wrong, but that's because copyright is inherently protected by the law and that we should be able to perform actions along the fair use doctrine.
But I am afraid this type of law (though good) would just reopen the door for any person to just start sharing copyrighted material again. As consumers, we need to respect copyrights.
Note that HP and Intel are playing both ends against the middle on this one.
I'm all for having big tough friends against the DCMA, I just wish the big tough friends could decide whether or not they're my friends.
Never approach a vast undertaking with a half-vast plan.
"Bringing in the government to impose certain types of mandatory labeling schemes or new technological mandates is a little bit troubling to us," said Adam Thierer, Cato's director of telecommunications studies.
Bringing in the government to impose a ban on fair use rights or reverse engineering is a bit troubling to us.
-------
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
But they do care when the new CD they just bought won't play in their car CD player.
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
I know several (non-tech) people that are already angry about copy protected CDs. The average consumer who owns an MP3 player is gonna care about copy protection.
I dunno, i think most voters dont have any idea about DRM or the DMCA, at most they might think it was something to do with a male Christian radio station on Digital Radio Mondiale! Any publicity on this is good tho (well almost any) aslong as it doesnt get biased news coverage about hippies dammanding the downfall of the economy. Its a very difficult topic to explain to the public about, most people don't understand the concept of digital or that your DVD player wont fast-forward only because its been told not to by the DVD. When the masses start to really understand the implications of it all then they will be very pissed off and no ammount of money can fix a very pissed off country of people.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Question is, are they going to do anything about it. Will they actually do something about it, or just keep buying the same diarrhea and keep complaining about it for a few seconds before he finally pulls out his portable CD player and listens to it.
Sadly, people like them exist in our world. Some people just don't care.
I'm the guy with the unpopular opinion
I've Donated to the EFF, have you?
EFF's Donation site
Write your representitive (senators too) and let them know your postition. This goes double if they are on the fence, or opposed to this bill. The next part is to vote out those that oppose it during the next election. Politicians will go with special intrest groups only until the general public lashes back. If they are foolish enough to go against the majority's wishes, well they won't be around to do it again.
Seriously, let them know how you feel, and if they fail to listen, vote them out (and encourage others to help in that regard.
I wish it was easier to say "DMCA protects artists" or "it's just wrong". There will always be people who abuse the system, no matter what it is. I remember back in the day of dual cassete decks. Borrow a tape, copy it, and you've got a copy. I admit I made a couple copies from friend's tapes. But for me, it was mostly buying albums, making a copy on tape, and there ya go. It didn't keep me from buying albums (as the RIAA claims all this MP3 trading and CD burning is doing).
The point being, if someone really wants to make a copy of something, they will. I believe in protecting the artists, but when you infringe on people's rights to use their own material (ie, purchased CDs, etc) for their own use (make a copy for the car, etc), it's going to piss a lot of people off.
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I think most people would simply take their CD, make a copy (if they make one at all), and be done with it. You'll have your bad seeds that pirate the crap out of things and they'll get all the attention from the RIAA press, but let the masses be.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
Always follow the money.
Verizon was hit hard by the RIAAs attempts to supoena the names of their users. It's not in Verizon's best interests to give up such names, because they make money on services, not software. The DMCA has severe effects on software and copywrited files. Verizon doesn't give a rats ass (as they should not) as to what goes across their networks, as long as people pay for the right to use those lines.
If people lose privacy and anonymity by using Verizon because they are the target of the RIAA, Verizon will lose customers. Verizon can't afford that.
Also note companies like Comcast and AOL/Time Warner who are cable companies who are NOT on that list. They provide internet services, but they are also part of larger media conglomerates that want their media content providers preserved.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
It's my opinion that it's neither. The way to fix a problem is remove it, not keep patching it up. Bad laws, the DMCA is a prime example, need to be removed. Patching it here and there will give us the same mess we have with the nightmare of drug laws.
Currently, drugs are against the law, except for some drugs, and unless you're in some states and have a medical condition, except that isn't recognized by the federal govt nor every state. Let's throw in the decriminalization movement which leaves the laws entact for certain amounts and certain other drugs, but doesn't outright permit the legal use of drugs. Follow all that? Now, do you really want fair use to look like that?
Either support the DMCA or work to abolish it entirely. This half-assed approach will, in the long run, leave us worse off than we are now, subject to a patchwork of laws and most certainly guilty of something. The only people who benefit from this is the lawyers.
At the bottom of the endless pile of paper work which characterizes all regulation lies a gun.
Alan Greenspan
Please sign up and take action at EFF if you live in the US. I have used the default forms many times and I have received back many letters from my representatives even though these are just e-mails that I have sent. Specifically, on HR 107, I just received yesterday a page and a half (typed, but still) positive response from my representative. With so many slashdotters, I am sure we can make a tiny difference.
Please try it, it takes only a few seconds after you have signed up to send an e-mail on each topic that comes up.
But there is very little money behind this, so the chance of this being passed is essentially nil.
I wish it wasn't. I wish that if I wrote a letter it would make a difference. But the battle lines for this were drawn decades ago and the misinformation surrounding this are so high that I'll bet most senators and representatives really feel that only evil pirates are against the DMCA at this point.
Intel's also a member of the "Trusted" Computing Platform Alliance (or TCPA). So I wouldn't rush out and buy a new P4EE to reward them for their "principled stand" here.
The bill seems to be heading in the "right" direction so this is a nitpick, but how about changing the "Consumer" to "Citizen". I'm tired of everyone, even those in government, thinking of people as consumers only. There is more to life than what/how you spend, ya' know!
Companies have constituents too. This is agreat opportunity to send positive feedback to companies that support the DMCRA, especially if you are a customer. If they perceive that their customers support them on this, then they will be more likely to spend money lobbying for this type of legislation since it may become a selling point in their service. A letter may make more of a difference than a vote.
On the other hand, it would be quite interesting if Microsoft, Adobe, Macromedia, etc. were signing on to this.
"Entertainment industry" is just an euphemism. We should really call it "Entertainment cartels". Because it is what they are. A coalition seeking monopoly.
It looks like these are steps more in the direction that Cory Doctorow of the EFF thinks things should go, mentioned in a previous story on Slashdot.
Does anyone else find it interesting that the bill has references to concrete technical terms like the "Red Book" specification, "44100 samples per second", and "65536 values"? (though these congressmen probably have no idea what the hell this means)
They are thinking of passing a ton of copyright legislation, and apparently, some of it is DMCA like.
Needle Nardle Noo
and you know what we could use to control it?
DRM!!!!
This is good news but first the INDUCE act has to be stopped stone cold.
Writing letters is important, very important, but to beat money, it helps to have money. I changed a portion of my employer sponsored charity program to the EFF. This year, I am switching the entire amount to them.
Rep. Boucher has been championing this issue for some time now.
Aaahhhhh democracy at it's finest! It's just like an auction, whoever bids the most gets the legislation passed!
Auctionist:Do I hear $100,000 for "Anti-DMCA Bill"
Boucher raises hand.
Auctionist: Thank you Mr. Boucher. $100,000 going once, $100,000 going twice... $500,000 by the DMCA filial-group!
Do I hear $550,000...
Yam, yam, uga booga, yam, yam, yade, yade, uga booga, yam, yam, yade, yade
I'm one step ahead of you and put that link as the one in the write-up :).
- Neil Wehneman
My legal education, in nifty podcast format
Well, Microsoft's Darknet paper (1mb .doc file) (as referenced in Cory Doctorow's recent speech to MS) suggests they'll research the problem until they come across a solution (e.g., KaZaa) to circumvent the protection and get their files in mp3 format. Next time they'll probably eliminate the middleman and just go to KaZaa.
Write your Congress Critters, remind them that you are a registered voter, that votes. Then vote according to the way they do. If they fall under Hatches spell of paid for evil, vote them out. Explain to your friends why this is neccessary so they can have an informed vote too.
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
No Apple?
I am thinking about entering politics once I get my degree finished...a politician with a CS degree, that's unheard of.
But, I'd be in touch with important issues.
I.e.: Don't install face recognition systems -- they don't work. Instead, spend $BILLION to pay the minimum wage rentacops at the airports to actually care whether or not a terrorist goes through.
I will fight for the consumer's rights against Corporate America, and ensure your privacy in the digital age.
So, who'll vote for me?
But I also back up my CD collection. I also have gotten screwed when buying new $oftware at full price, having my machine hose up a week a later and then finding that with the OS reinstall I supposedly have a brand new machine and supposedly should be buying all my software again.
"Sharing" will occur with or without the DMCA - it may help fight it, but mostly it just pisses off paying customers...
Believe me, Utah knows how big a bozo Hatch is.
Just wait for his term to be up in a few years.
I know most of the republicans think the same as you. He either is a genius or a nut.. or both. but one way or another I don't think he will make another term.
I just tried to send him some money but got this:
We are sorry that we are experiencing temporary difficulties. Please try again later.
Message 3005
Hopefully, this is because paypal can't cope with the huge number of donations flooding in today. It's probably just because paypal sucks though.
MPAA/RIAA/et al: We must impose DRM technology to prevent piracy which is ruining our business!
:well gosh, this situation seems non-ideal...
Everyone else: Well, you can put whatever information you want on a disk and try to sell it, but you know DRM doesn't really work so it's sort of pointless. Isn't your only option to work on interdicting commercial bootlegging, the only place you're likely to recoup a reasonable recompense without alienating your consumer base and the only real source of your legitimate copyright-violation problems anyway?
MPAA/RIAA/et al: Crap! DRM doesn't really work anyway! I know, we'll pay off congress to have a special case exception of innocent until proven guilty written into the law! DRM still doesn't work but now it's illegal to prove that in the real world! That'll show those rotten pirates!
Adobe: Arrest that durn Ruskie! He is giving a talk which is embarassing to us! Pirates, ARRRR!
Everyone else: Geez, that new legislation seems kinda excessive. It's already illegal to duplicate and distribute copyrighted materials without permission. So what good does banning tools that MIGHT be used for that purpose do? Plus, it doesn't work. DeCSS might be illegal under the DMCA, and it's one of the most ubiquitous pieces of code on the internet. It's redundant, violates the spirit of the constitution, inneffective, frequently unenforceable, and it alienates legitimate consumers of your products who want the freedom to legally use them in the way and on the equipment that is best for them!
MPAA/RIAA/et al: Oh, so you want some free music do you, you little thirteen-year-old tramp? Well here's a subpeona for you! And one for you, and you, and your little dog too! We have five dollars for each of you!
Everyone else: wow, these people are out of control. Hey, massive electronics and telecommunications business, can you give us a hand here? We spend a lot more money on you. These people are obsessed with killing innovation to protect technologies that don't work to prevent violations that don't matter and don't prevent the bootlegging that actually hurts them anyway.
Intel, Sun Microsystems, Verizon Communications, SBC, Qwest, Gateway and BellSouth, Philips Consumer Electronics North America, the Consumer Electronics Association, the American Library Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, Public Knowledge, the American Foundation for the Blind, the United States Telecom Association, the Computer and Communications Industry Association...
MPAA/RIAA/et al: Noooo! If we lose the red herring of our brave fight against piracy our shareholders might finally figure out we're just screw-ups who have been squandering their money with our insane business strategy of screwing all our customers AND the actual producers of our products at the same time!
Hello? Venture Capitalists? Have I got a deal for you...
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
with examples of 2 cases where the DMCA law is dangerous to my health/healthcare, to the point of it actually threatening my life and others like me. I described what I had done to combat those cases, which involved violating the DMCA.
In one case, after I cracked the password of a vender package, I reported the password back to the vender's help desk, where they now give it out to everyone who asks (before I cracked the password, they didn't know it, because I asked).
I urge others with such examples to do the same and give Rep Boucher more data to work with.
I'd like to take this bill to those senators that support the DCMA and say one thing:
Suck it bitches! Suck it good! You like that?
But that's just me.
The term `prerecorded digital music disc product' means a commercial audio product comprised of a substrate in the form of a disc in which is recorded a sound recording or sound recordings generally in accordance with Red Book Audio specifications but that does not conform to all licensed requirements for Red Book Audio: Provided, That a substrate containing a prerecorded sound recording that conforms to the licensing requirements applicable to a DVD-Audio disc or a Super Audio Compact Disc is not a prerecorded digital music disc product.
OK, this means that "prerecorded digital music disc product" is a CD-like thing that sort of conforms to Red Book standards but doesn't really. However, note the caveat: DVD-Audio and SACD's are not included.
This is a very specific bill aimed at a very specific niche in the world. It is a good first step, but it's no Anti-DMCA at all. All it really says is that companies cannot make CD's that do not conform to the Red Book without labeling properly. Furthermore, this doesn't apply to DVD-Audio and SACD, the next-generation standards in audio music. The CD won't become obsolete in many years, but these new formats are becoming popular.
Anyhow, it's not to say that this act is no good. Again, it's a good first step, but this is no more than a skirmish in the war against the DMCA. And IMHO, to attack an overbroad act such as the DMCA, one needs an overbroad act.
(Cue Hal Douglas' voice.) A band of terrorist communist librarians, covertly funded by a telecom cartel calling itself the "Personal Technology Freedom Coalition" and including Intel, Sun Microsystems, Verizon, SBC, Qwest, Gateway and BellSouth, and having a well-placed mole in the highest echelons of government, plots to undermine America's greatest export - culture - and bring down the US economy, by depriving freedom-loving, orange-bearded set decorators of their God-given right to make an honest living.
You see, what's going on here is that copyright enforcement is in a world of hurt right now - and so the media industries are trying to microregulate every other industry to do the enforcement for them. Right now we are seeing a back-lash that will likely succede, because the tech companies together have far more economic clout than Hollywood. This will also likely cause all hell to break loose.
This is not new, it happened in the industrial revolution too. Unlike farming, the industrial revolution required a mobile and educated workforce. It was a disaster for the plantation system who envisioned that the entire meaning and purpose of the industrial revolution was to leverage inventions like the cotton gin to expand their plantations for unlimited growth and profit. At first they reactred by making tougher slave laws, till it got to the point you couldn't even teach a slave how to read, then they responded by trying to "force" the industrial northern states to enforce their slavery restrictions through a series of heavy handed regulations, when that went to hell the southern states tried to break off from the union and fence themselves off from the north.
Today the information age requires the free flow of information, and it is a disaster to those who rely on the copyright system whose vision of the information age was to use inventions like the internet to impose copyrights to the far corners of the earth. At first they responded by making copyrights last (effectively) forever, and imposing punishments for copyright infringement that rival those imposded for violent criminals. Then they pushed through the DMCA, to "force" all the other industries to impose copyrights via heavy handed microregulation. Now that's having problems they are trying to fence themselves off from the rest of the world by using DRM.
So watch out. SCO was a peace walk. All hell is about to break loose.
Bill Gets High...... nice.
...this is. Rather than solve the problem by repealing the laws that cause the problem in the first place, we pass *more* laws which simply muddy the issue so badly that only the lawyers can figure out what the fuck is going on.
This doesn't solve anything, it only makes the whole situation worse. With the DMCA at least I *knew* I was guilty of copyright infringement when I did thing X; after this act I won't have a goddamn clue. That can only be a good thing for the RIAA/MPAA, who'll then be free to persecute Americans who couldn't figure out the fucking bill and committed a series of crimes when they thought they were in the clear.
If I were you, I'd wonder if this boy isn't getting funding from some bar association.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
I am waiting for a law that says that producers have a choice: they may a) allow consumers to back up their music/movies/games or b) agree to replace on demand and without charge any CD/DVD that has been damaged and is no longer playable.
What we need is a law that says if you lock up your content, effectively eliminating fair use and the return to the public domain (if the copyright ever expires), then you lose your copyright protection when it gets cracked.
If you don't play by the rules you can't complain to the referee when someone else doesn't.
People's desire to believe they are right is much stronger than their desire to be right.
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
Dude, you don't seriously think anyone in california gave a rat's ass what political party ol' Arnie claims at the moment do you? He's governor because he managed to mobilize legions of potheads, slackers, and lovesick housewives who haven't voted in like two decades into rolling down to the polls and pulling the lever just for the sheer fun of voting for, "like, the terminator, Man!"
Then we all woke up the next day, and it was like the statewide equivalent of a hangover:
"Awww, damn, G, what'd I do last night?"
"Yo, You elected that cat Schwartzeneger Governor."
"Aw hells No!"
"Word."
(Personally, I voted for Georgy Russell- not from any real political conviction, mind you, but merely in the hope that I might later be able to use that fact to get in her pants. Like All other real californians, I have no political convictions, but I can be swayed by Babe-osity.)
There are ammendments in this bill that address these exact issues. Declares it is not a violation of copyright law, but fair use, to: (1) circumvent a technological measure in connection with access to, or the use of, a work if such circumvention does not result in an infringement of the copyright in the work; or (2) manufacture, distribute, or make noninfringing use of a hardware or software product capable of enabling significant noninfringing use of a copyrighted work. (from summary) (c) MISLABELED DISCS- For purposes of this section, a prerecorded digital music disc product shall be considered to be mislabeled if it--...(3) fails to provide the following information on the packaging in which it is sold at retail in words that are prominent and plainly legible--...(C) the applicable return policy for consumers who find that the prerecorded digital music disc product does not play properly in a device capable of playing an audio compact disc." (from text)
This is the most intelligent thing I've heard anybody say about the copy protection controversy.
Back in the 70s and early 80s HBO was broadcast through the air like DirecTV. People used to build their own receivers using antennas made out of coffee cans (I know -- I had one). After HBO had harassed and threatened antenna owners for several years, the courts finally ruled that the company couldn't control what people did with the broadcast signal in their own homes. HBO's next move was to scramble the signal, which was easily defeated by those with access to spectrum analyzers but largely stymied the coffee-can community. The eventual solution was for HBO to join the cable world.
I always thought this was the sensible way to handle the controversy. Make companies do business in the real world, rather than letting them reshape it to their needs. Lately our government has gone in the opposite direction, with legislators tailoring laws to suit the demands of their financial backers.
One thing that must be repeated over and over is that copyright infringement is not stealing, because copyright is not property. It's a temporary restriction imposed on everybody except the copyright holder. Copyright holders don't "own" anything, and copyright doesn't give them any extra rights, it takes rights away from everybody else for a limited time. Copyright infringement may cause financial losses, but so do lots of other things -- arson, vandalism, assault, murder, for example -- and we don't call those things theft.
It's important to keep repeating this because the content industry has essentially hijacked the concepts of property ownership and theft. They play the part of the little old lady chasing a purse snatcher, and they label critics of current copyright laws as socialists threatening the whole concept of private property.
This is not new, it happened in the industrial revolution too[. . . .] At first they reactred by making tougher slave laws, till it got to the point you couldn't even teach a slave how to read, then they responded by trying to "force" the industrial northern states to enforce their slavery restrictions through a series of heavy handed regulations, when that went to hell the southern states tried to break off from the union and fence themselves off from the north.
I'm intrigued by the schematic history you provide of the industrial revolution and its effect on plantation economics in the United States during 18th and 19th centuries. Your sig and profile don't have any obvious ways to get in touch with you.
Would you mind posting some references (book publications esp) regarding your schematic history and/or posting a "junk" email address whereby I can contact you? Thanks
P. S. Mods please tolerate this AC post by at least not modding it to -1. Thanks, in advance.
"It is a good start, but in the end not much will change. Your average consumer doesn't care much about copy-protected or not-copy-protected CDs"
Your average consumer buys iPods and nomads and MP3 car-radios, and 100MB MP3-players and CD MP3 players and they certainly own a computer with WinAmp and CD-ex; most of them used MP3.com, and since that closed are using Kazaa and eDonkey, and have most of their music collection in MP3 format, and most of them rarely if ever use their original CDs even where they're available.
MP3 isn't some L33T technology that only slashdotters know about...
If you can't convert a CD to an MP3, then you can't play it on your iPod, and plenty of "common consumers" with very expensive MP3 players and very expensive computers will notice when a CD they bought doesn't work with either...
I wonder about contacting my representative about this. He's already a cosponser of the bill. Is it beneficial to send a letter congratulating him on his efforts and to tell him that I hope he is able to garner the support needed? Or would I be better of writing letters to the other reps in the state?
This is a fairly large problem for me since Jim McDermott not only working to repeal these kinds of laws, but didn't vote for them to begin with.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
The problem with saying that every here at slashdot needs to come together and email congress about this issue is assuming we all share the same views. Like any community we have many vocal people that post very often, and then there are people that post very rarely, if ever. From the post it would seem a decent amount agree with your post, but then how many do not agree, and simply do not want to post? Just something to think about. That's all. Brendan
"Intel's also a member of the "Trusted" Computing Platform Alliance (or TCPA). "
Yeh, but in their mind TCPA was to allow corporations to lock down a PCs on their corporate network.
Only in Microsoft's twisted world view did the corporate network become the internet and the corporation doing the locking became the record companies.
Intel started with a reasonable idea and TCPA got hijacked by Microshaft for its DRM crap. I know this comment doesn't change the reality of the hijack, but at least Intel is trying to redress some of it.
Best small comment I've seen on this article so far.
I don't know if it's so much "doesn't care" as "doesn't understand." I mean, what on earth does it mean that a CD doesn't conform to the CD standard?
Does that mean it has a larger than normal jewel case? Does it have a special poster placed in place of the usual little booklet at the beginning? Is the CD green instead of the standard silver color?
Of course, what such a label would really mean is that the CD doesn't follow the standard to ensure it plays in every CD player, but such a label could easily be confused or even be thought of as a good thing. ("Yeah, it doesn't conform to the CD standard - it's, like, going against the trend, or something, so it's cool.")
A useful label might be a warning that the disc may not play in all CD players. However, that will likely get blamed on the CD players and not the CD itself. I mean, it's just a CD - if the CD player can't play it, it must be because the CD player is too old or broken or something.
The real problem is education. Users really don't understand how a CD player works or why copyright protection harms thier ability to use what they are willing to pay for. (Like, say, how I can't play WarCraft III any more because it randomly decided I pirated it, which pisses me off since I wasted money on the "special edition." In fact, I can't play any Blizzard game on my computer, since whatever they use for copy protection flat out doesn't work on my machine. End result: I don't play Blizzard games.)
The companies claim that the problem is with the pirates or with the user's hardware. And who is your average user to disagree? I mean, the company has smart people who obviously know more about how these things work than your average Joe who just wants the damned thing to work like it should.
I think the real issue is education - your average CD listener isn't an idiot, he or she just has better things to do than understand why the CD he or she bought at Strawberry's won't play in his or her car. If the entertainment industry educates listeners their view of the problem first, then we'll have lost out on a chance to explain what's really going wrong.
Your average consumer doesn't care because your average user doesn't understand that anything is wrong. Educate them about the issues, don't just decry them as being idiots for liking Brittney Speares. Decry them for having no taste for liking Brittney Speares, but don't say they're stupid. :)
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
It also assumes that everyone here is an American.
The "unlimited funds" of the entertainment industry don't come anywhere near the funds of even a single company like Intel. Intel, Sun Microsystems, Verizon, SBC, Qwest, Gateway and BellSouth and the rest of the bill's sponsors make more money combined in a few days than the entertainment industry makes in a year. All of these companies have a big stake in the convergence of computers, networks, and multimedia entertainment and they will NOT be pushed around by the same people who once said that VCRs would bring about the end of the movie theater. Without VOD and P2P file sharing, BellSouth, Verizon, SBC, and Qwest have a harder time selling broadband. If Intel and Gateway can't guarantee that your MP3s, CDs, and DVDs will work in the products they sell, they can't sell multimedia PCs and digital entertainment devices. The big tech companies have to find a way to move their products now that processor speeds and bandwidth are far beyond "good enough" for most everyday tasks (i.e. word processing, email, web surfing). Most of them believe that multimedia is the answer to this problem.
This is just the first volley of fire between the tech companies and the entertainment industry. If Rep. Boucher's bill does not get passed, this battle is going to get very ugly, with both sides throwing around massive amounts of money in Congress.
While thinking philosophically, we see problems in places where there are none. -Wittgenstein
There this should help contact me and explain where I'm comming from or at least why I see things this way .... the idea came to me when I was trying to question how needed copyrights were, and asked myself was thre ever another time in history where society asserted false property rights?
BPAC
As for reference, I think most everything I said there was pretty much common knowledge from what I can tell. I think it's well known that they did pass harsher and harsher laws on slaves all the way up till the civil war, they did attempt to get the northern states to enforce laws on runaway slaves - and the northern states often didn't cooperate or like it. And they did break off from the union and push the US into a civil war after Lincon got elected symbolizing that the north would no longer cooperate with the south on runaway slave enforcement.
I am not a history expert, but from what I've gathered from people who are is that the northern and southern business leaders were very tight nit, but the forces that pushed them apart were greater than the forces that kept them together.
In fact there was even a stock market crash in the 1850's? due to rampant speculation on industrial technology, and our modern war on terrorisim looks very close to the problems the US had with indians (native americans) arround the same time frame. Not to mention that cooincidences like calling slaves a property right when they clearly wern't, and the vast prosperity that the initial industrial boom brought to the plantation system. There is even some similiarities, where Europe was far less interested in upholding slavery that the US was. In many ways, it seems history is repeating itself. Just something I noticed.
I admire any member of the House who doesn't have to be told that the spam many of us are concerned with isn't packaged meat. But I find myself asking this question: If Boucher is so concerned about personal freedoms, why did he sponsor an anti-flag burning bill [HR 2162]? This smells like election-year politicing to me too.
Because nobody is perfect.
Its kind of hard to call it election-year politicing when the bill was proposed two years ago and he's been speaking out against the DMCA for longer than that.
Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of his constituents were against flag burning. Any poll I have ever seen about flag burning has never even come close to supporting it as political speech.
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
I live out here in San Jose, but I think it is great that I can support Boucher and his work against the DMCA! Below is a link to his campaign website. Here you can contribute via ,what else, but PayPal!
p
http://www.boucherforcongress.com/contribute.as
The most important thing you can do is vote. Even if you have to write yourself in for lack of anyone who will vote the right way. (if that is the case know in advance, knock on doors and otherwise get others to write you in)
Most politicians want to be re-elected more than anything else. Money from special interest groups is a means to that end. Money buys a good makeup crew for the debates. Money buys lots of nice ads (and mean ads attacking the other guy). If you inform yourself on the issues and then vote you are the scariest thing, the only way to get your vote is to represent you.
Remember, most elections are fairly close. just 5,000 votes would have changed most of the seats last time I voted. Must less on a local level. (My town isn't even 5000 people) Get a few people to change their vote and you have personally made a difference. That said, you can't win them all so don't give up.
Don't be blinded by Republican or Democrat labels either. Vote the candidate.
Not that I would dare you to look into anything or anything but...
/whatever/ I have never had to make that choice myself) "conservation of habitat" (you shouldn't be allowed to tear up anything "natural" if you can tear down some old eyesore) "solar, wind, nuclear, etc power" [yes, that should be one group, no-nukers are ill-informed] (fossil fuels are unsustainable, as long as oil==wealth we are screwed) "gay marrage" (the state's interest in marrage is social stability, which is "conserved" by increased marrage rates) and so forth.
Read the Al Franken book. When he isn't obnioxious as hell he pretty thuroughly debunks the "left wing liberal media" lie by counting up the "for" and "against" stories in the Bush/Gore contest. There was a clearly republican (right-wing) bias in the numbers alone (2-to-1) in "suupport" stories and something worse (like 5-to-1) for the "detractor" stories. Think back, how much was Gore lionized? Attacked? What was the Bush lionizing and attacking scores?
Since most "conservatives" can't tell you the first thing they are trying to conserve, or what the cost of that conservation might be, their public needs to understand them for what they are.
Conservatives wish to "conserve" the momentum of the status quo. What made money yesterday must make money tomorrow. What we thought was true yesterday must be true tomorrow. What was beleived yesterday should remain true always.
To that end, any person who seeks to enlighten or examine is "not conservative" of somebodies something somewhere. This is not the same thing as being "liberal".
So the media doesn't seek to conserve the common social myths nor the current feduciary model. Does that alone make them wrong or unfair?
They ask questions.
That is *NOT* the same as being liberal.
The liberal and the conservative alike ask questions only as an excuse to propose their answers.
Conservatisim and Liberalisim do not constitute an either-or proposition. That third "dilligent" thing is supposed to be in there somwhere.
The Daily Show said it best, "how can you present facts in an un-biased way, when the facts themselves are biased?"
Oh look... a question... 8-)
P.S. Before you go lumping me into a southparkian conceptual pile, I am "for": "guns" (right to keep and bare is very important) "abortion" (thank
The only thing I am _universally_ opposed to is deliberate ignorance, so I *cant* be a "conservative", the questions are too important.
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
The problem with tossing out the DMCA is that WIPO requires us to have some parts of it. The DMCA started as meeting that criteria and grew a little out of control.
"But I'm still right here, giving blood and keeping faith. And I'm still right here."
For members of the House of Representatives, every even-numbered year is an election year. All 435 of them face the voters every even year.
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
Ack... mea culpa...
:)
Hope I spelled that right... I tend to reply conversationally to posts, and as that was regarding my country, I had assumed that people who aren't American would be savvy enough to understand what I was saying.
But to be sure, I was referring to American citizens... Although all you over in Europe and in Australia should consider lobbying your respective leaders to support things like this from time to time, as it seems that the EU and Australia have been basing your own copyright and IP related laws and regs on what America passes...
Not to say that is right, but it may help you keep things DMCAish out of your backdoors as well...
but then again, that is a matter of international politics, and I am Not a Politician...
"Our funds have never taken part in toxic or death spiral convertible financings of any sort" -BayStar's managing partne
Actually, the reports he sights were (the way I read it) core election and not Florida related. He mostly cited things like how the oft cited "I invented the internet" comment attributed to Gore traces back a statement that he funded it.
So in a world where "funded" and "invented" are the same thing, then "liberal" and "conservative" are the same thing.
(I generally agree about Al Franken, by the way, since his not-really-funny comedy undermines the message. With friends like this... and all that.)
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press