The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act has been proposed in Congress by a number of Senators. This "law would force all new personal computers and digital home entertainment devices sold in the United States to have government-approved 'policeware' built in to restrict use of copyrighted materials, such as music files, CD's, video clips, and DVD's, among other things.
By violating the act (such as burning CD's and listening to MP3's), if it was passed, you would face up to five years in federal prision and a $500,000 fine. Removing the policeware would face the same sentence, and "users of these open-source systems [Linux and FreeBSD] would also be eligible for hard time," because they would be likely to refuse to incorporate the policeware. www.stoppoliceware.org is fighting to have the CBDTPA struck down in Congress. If you agree in that the CBDTPA should not be passed, PLEASE sign the petition at stoppolceware.org. The Web site also gives other ways to contact Congress to urge them not to pass the act. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Your ad could be here. Monies from ads go to support these lists and provide more resources for the community. http://www.fusionauthority.com/ads.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
