CBDTPA Released

Well the Act has been released. I have sent an email off to a local computer magazine, asking them to publish a story on it.
Below is a quote from KenSentMe from SlashDot

Quote:

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Sen. Hollings says the reason broadband isn't as popular today as it should have been is because media giants are afraid to provide large quantities of digital content to the masses over it. Therefore, the public has no 'interest' in broadband. This is blatently wrong. Then he goes on to say the entertainment industry needs a "nudge" in the right direction... which is presumably to come up with a standard for thwarting piracy. Then, the best part, he says that, in order to increase public interest in broadband, the government needs to step in to regulate the digital media industry a little. So my point, and question, is: Since when is it the government's job to promote public interest in a certain area, especially with regards to entertainment????

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http://cryptome.org/broadbandits.htm
http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_e...tpa_alert.html
http://slashdot.org/yro/02/03/22/2345249.shtml?tid=103
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To find the information to contact your Senators check out:
http://www.senate.gov

Thanks for posting this.

I haven't written to the media but i have written to my representatives in the house and senate and filled out the online forms as well. If enough people do this it can make a differance. As corrupt as some of them are they still want to get re-elected.

If everyone who is against this writes a letter or fills in a form that will be quite a number.

Ok, I have found a site which more-or-less explains this stuff in plain english.
Taken for the site: http://www.infowarrior.org/articles/2002-03.html
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Under the unpronounceable CBDTPA, anything that can record or store digital information must be equipped with copy- prevention technology. Thus, under CBDTPA, nearly all existing electronic devices such as personal computers, mainframes, camcorders, servers, MP3 players, home stereos, VCRs, car stereos, pocket calculators, wristwatches, cellular phones, microwave ovens, CB radios, cameras, electronic thermostats, CD recorders, photocopiers, fax machines, televisions, and rectal thermometers - would become illegal. Got a computerized pacemaker? Better have it switched out for a Techniban- compliant one and pray your HMO will cover the costs as non-elective surgery.
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For those of you who reside in the US of A; Does this make you feel all nice and fuzzy inside? :)

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The most striking aspect of CBDTPA (and its cousin, the still-controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998) is that both automatically outlaw what might be done by someone, and not what actually is done. Both initiatives presume the citizen guilty until proven guiltier, not in the eyes of the court, but by the pre-emptive whims and desires of corporations seeking to maintain control over consumers and their crumbling Industrial Age business models. In essence, they pre-emptively criminalize what MIGHT happen, as opposed to what DOES happen. (e.g., Knowing how to kill someone is not by itself illegal; but committing murder is, and being proven to have done so carries harsh penalties.)
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Whatever happened to "Innocent until proven guilty"? The Almighty $GreenBack$ shows it's muscle again.

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It's high time that the entertainment companies learn that if they treat their customers as criminals, they'll not only have fewer customers, but many more criminals to contend with. How's that for economic growth?
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I agree wholeheartedly.

If everything is copyprotected, no one is going to want broadband. Probably 75% of all broadband users got it so that they could run Napster/Morpheus/Kazaa faster. Takes to long dl'ing a Divix over a 56k connection.

I don't even want to think about what this means...

SSJVegeta-Sei

Screw those people they suck. They just don't understand and won't back you if you don't have the right amount cash to give them.

I agree with freeOn, I mean that's even what I was taught in public skewl, buhdur...