[wEvil]

http://www.vanshardware.com/articles/2002/03/020325_CBDTPA/020325_CBDTPA.htm

[CP5670]

Heard about this already; it's insane, but I doubt it will pass, as it would be practically impossible to enforce such a thing.

[deep_eyes]

Originally posted by CP5670
Heard about this already; it's insane, but I doubt it will pass, as it would be practically impossible to enforce such a thing.

even if it were possible, it inhibits free will to do what you please, especially with things that are created by an individual. legally he can do whatever he wants with it. sell or for free. even if the senate passes the bill, it would have to go through the prez, then the supreme court, who i feel honestly would deem the bill UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! i love the checks and balance system... to prevent stupid arse senators who want to make up the minds of the masses with his won dumb ambitions.

"Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin said it best!

[wEvil]

Well, unless people actually kick up a fuss against it the chances are it will get through.

Dont sit back and rely on the people you voted for to stop it - the amount of money being thrown their way to keep them quiet is probably astronimical.

So dont say everything will be OK, because if you do, you'll wake up in 2 years and find you can't take a crap without a "wipe your own arse" license.

or something.

[vadar_1]

They can't stop companies from making games moddable, people like Blizzard and Valve will just find backdoors to this. And they cant stop us from distributing mods... I mean porn and warez and crackz run free throughout the internet, and they can't stop it. So pass the bill you bastards, nothings going to change.

[Blue Lion]

Originally posted by vadar_1
So pass the bill you bastards, nothings going to change.

 Couldn't said that better myself. If it passes(which isn't really easy to do) it won't be enforcable, we can't even keep up with the drug trade

[Styxx]

Originally posted by Blue Lion
Couldn't said that better myself. If it passes(which isn't really easy to do) it won't be enforcable, we can't even keep up with the drug trade...

Indeed.

(if anyone needs a reliable server outside the US, I'll gladly provide one, for a small fee, of course...)

[mikhael]

Originally posted by CP5670
Heard about this already; it's insane, but I doubt it will pass, as it would be practically impossible to enforce such a thing.

In this case? No, i wouldn't be. Not at all.

The important thing to remember about this act is that it requires manufacturers to reengineer existing hardware to only allow you to copy what they deem is appropriate to be copied. This means that in the future, should this bill pass, you won't even be able to use a normal telivision to get normal television signals, as it won't have the appropriate digital rights management (copy protection) hardware in it to decode them.

You would have to replace your hard drives, modems, cable/dsl terminals, etc. Only machines that can report proper hardware IDs will be able to connect to the internet. You'll still be able to dial up to the internet via an international long distance call, of course, but who is going to pay for that?

Deep Eyes mentioned that such a bill would have to make it past Congress, the President and the Supreme Court. In this, he is wrong. A bill, once ratified by the Congress can be vetoed by the President, but the Congress can overturn that Veto should they muster a strong majority. Not that this is likely to happen since the current administration is very much behind big business. The MPAA and the RIAA and Disney and the rest 0wnz them. Once the President signs it, *BAM* its a law and there's nothing the Supreme Court can do about it unless someone challenges it. Even then, they can rule that copying someone else's work does not violate free speech protections (copying DVD movies across the internet hardly meets the criteria for 'fair use', does it?). Your files, your data, etc, would still be under your control, as you would have the 'keys' to copy it. You could freely distribute it. You just wouldn't be able to hook up a friend with a copy of 'Who let the Shivan's Out? (Carl's Mad Mix)'.

The article's comment about Game modding is FALSE. Game modding, with the support of the company would still be perfectly legal. Iw2 modders would have no problem. Starcraft modders might be screwed.

Linux/*BSD/Other free operating systems, however, would be ****ed. As the industry would have no way to ensure that such OSs included hardware support for their copy protection crap. As such, they would be considered 'circumvention' devices and would have to be made illegal.

[Styxx]

All this means only one thing: if it passes, it'll suck to live in the US. This time I'll be thankful for the majority of free-speech supporters, open source lovers, half-communists in Brazilian congress.

There's also the fact that there's No Way In Hell™ that the hardware companies will abide to this, because they will be forced to rebuild all their foundries and factories just to make a product that noone wants to buy - and they'll probably start focusing a lot more on the outside-US market, that won't have such stupid restrictions and will be a whole lot more profitable because of that.


And how long will it take for people to start using satellite uplinks to other countries around the US to get unrestricted access to the net? I can get that kind of stuff right now if I want, and I'd surely do it if something like that came to happen. This stuff will just screw the US hardware and internet markets, with negligible gains for the movie and record industries. Those guys are Dumb, with a capital D...

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Styxx

There's also the fact that there's No Way In Hell? that the hardware companies will abide to this, because they will be forced to rebuild all their foundries and factories just to make a product that noone wants to buy - and they'll probably start focusing a lot more on the outside-US market, that won't have such stupid restrictions and will be a whole lot more profitable because of that.

You must have missed the changes IBM and some others wanted to put into hard drives a year or two ago. Basicly, you could not reinstall your OS without the hard drive manufacturer's and the OS company's permission. Oh, and copying files to other media? Nope. Wasn't happening. This WAS from the hardware companies, not the media companies.

And how long will it take for people to start using satellite uplinks to other countries around the US to get unrestricted access to the net? I can get that kind of stuff right now if I want, and I'd surely do it if something like that came to happen. This stuff will just screw the US hardware and internet markets, with negligible gains for the movie and record industries. Those guys are Dumb, with a capital D...

Sattelite uplinks will become illegal, just like the cable modems, etc. Welcome to the all new, more secure, anti-terrorist America! Now 99% freedom free! Yeah baby.

[Styxx]

That would indeed suck. America will become the only country where you don't have full freedom of speech in the Internet...

[Zeronet]

Land of the free indeed. Are you sure this is true and not some joke?

[phreak]

I think it has to do something with disney

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Zeronet
Land of the free indeed. Are you sure this is true and not some joke?

If this is a joke, perhaps Senator Ernest F. Hollings needs to be informed? Read his speech on the bill to congress. He doesn't seem to think its a joke. Notice how all of this garbage is predicated on the idea that it will help convince consumers to ADOPT HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION. Yeah. So, make our computers garbage so that we can watch really high resolution garbage. Hollings, you can blow me.

Hannibal over at Ars Technica pointed out the logical incongruity in Hollings' speech, as illustrated by these two paragraphs:

Unfortunately, as technology has advanced, copy protection schemes have not kept pace, fostering a set of consumer expectations that at times actually promote illegal activity on the Internet. For example, according to a Jupiter Media Matrix report, over 7 million Americans use technology on the Internet to swap music and other digital media files. More recent news reports place this number at over 11 million... Every week a major magazine or newspaper reports on the thousands of illegal pirated works that are available for copying and redistribution online. Academy award winning motion pictures, platinum records, and Emmy award winning television shows ? all for free, all illegal. Piracy is growing exponentially on college campuses and among tech savvy consumers.

(translation: The Net is flooded with high definition digital content that consumers want)

At the same time, millions of law abiding consumers find little reason to spend discretionary dollars on consumer electronics products whose value depends on their ability to receive, display and copy high quality digital content like popular movies, music, and video games. Accordingly, only early adopters have purchased high definition television sets or broadband Internet access, as these products remain priced too high for the average consumer. The facts are clear in this regard. Only two million Americans have purchased HDTV sets. As for broadband, rural and underserved areas aside, there is not an availability problem. There is a demand problem. Roughly 85% of Americans are offered broadband in the marketplace but only 10-12% have signed up. The fact is that most Americans are averse to paying $50 a month for faster access to email, or $2000 for a fancy HDTV set that plays analog movies. But if more high-quality content were available, consumer interest would likely increase.

By unleashing an avalanche of digital content on broadband Internet connections as well as over the digital broadcast airwaves, we can change this dynamic and give consumers a reason to buy new consumer electronics and information technology products. To do so requires the development of a secure, protected environment to foster the widespread dissemination of digital content in these exciting new mediums.

(translation: there is not high definition digital content on the internet, so people won't buy broadband or HGTV)

WHAT?! Which is it you moronic media mouthpiece? Obviously, we're not supposed to notice he's a tool.

[Zeronet]

Haha, stupid american. He's a puppet, i bet this would annoy Kazan a great deal. As mircosoft would benefit greatly, no more linux.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Zeronet
Haha, stupid american. He's a puppet, i bet this would annoy Kazan a great deal. As mircosoft would benefit greatly, no more linux.

Well no more Linux in the US, which I could probably get behind. But it would also mean no more FreeBSD, which is a truly bad thing.

[Zeronet]

Originally posted by mikhael


Well no more Linux in the US, which I could probably get behind. But it would also mean no more FreeBSD, which is a truly bad thing.

Im not a fan of linux either.

[phreak]

but would you rather see M$ rule the world?

[Unknown Target]

well, then, we'll just have to rock the system!!!!!!!!YAHOOO!!!!!!!:D
Naw, just kidding, but, still, if this goes through, they will have to turn the U.S. into a communist state to enforce it, after all, we simply have to use the web, and they can't take that down, unless they manage to  get every single server on this planet, if I remember correctly....
So, basically, it's one of those things that can't be enforced.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by PhReAk
but would you rather see M$ rule the world?

Actually, Microsoft has opposed this bill, if my memory serves.

But we don't need Linux to counter microsoft. We just need a horde of Daemons. Like FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD.