How can a single country legislate that music copying should be stopped. This seems like a over reaction to a small problem. I have not seen anything saying that movie companies are losing money. I do not believe that the issue of pirated Videos/music is as big a problem as is suggested by the media. Certainly in the UK most users have 56Kbps connections, which prevents the downloading of movies, even a MP3 can take a couple of hours. I just wonder what else is actually behind this new potential legislation over copyright. I understand that currently most of this comes out of countries that America has now influence over!
Having said all of this I would like to see some sensible debate over this problem and potential solutions. I request this as we are told in the UK that the majority of the VCD�s sold add funds to the IRA and other major crime gangs, rather than individuals. Quoting Julia Finnegan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > What he suggests is that this will save our economy. What? More and more > businesses and consumers alike are growing more and more reliable on this > every single day. There is ALWAYS going to be piracy, just like there will > ALWAYS be crime rates. If it's not in digital form, it will be in others > forms. It will always exist. To morph the internet so drastically will > send > our economy on a downward spiral. > > I agree that his suggestions could ultimately destroy the PC and could also > send the Intranet to ruins. Since the majority of us are working in the > tech field, of course we're biased but the BIG picture is that of affecting > EVERY consumer AND business. > > This guy didn't even run a spell check. :( Hopefully his lack of > thoroughness will only radiate to the rest of his efforts in the matter- > even though the larger task is already out of his hands. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Phil Karn [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 8:00 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: It's war, folks --- SSSCA formally introduced > > The story just hit Slashdot -- Senators Hollings, Stevens, Inouye, > Breaux, Nelson, and Feinstein have introduced the so-called "Consumer > Broadband and Digital Television Act of 2002", formerly known to most > of us as the SSSCA. The text of Hollings' comments are available here: > > http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/hollings.cbdtpa.release.032102.html > > The Slashdot article (with links to other coverage) is here: > > http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/21/2344228&mode=thread&tid=103 > > I cannot overstress the awful implications of this bill if it becomes > law. The personal computer, as we know it, will be destroyed. The > Internet, as we know it, will be destroyed. > > Hollings doesn't say that, of course. But all through his statement he > claims that there exist technological solutions to the piracy > problem. These apparently consist entirely of "do not copy" bits added > to copyrighted materials. > > The fact that any "do-not-copy-bit" can be trivially cleared on any > personal computer that can be programmed by its user does not seem to > have registered yet with the authors of this bill. And when it does, > the logical next step will then become obvious to them: the licensing > of programmers and/or the prohibition of open source software as too > easily modified by end users. And when *that* fails, a total ban on > any personal computer that can be programmed by its user. > > It's time for the IETF, its members and the IAB to react, and react > quickly and forcefully. We need to say clearly that there is simply > no such thing as an "Internet copy prevention technology" that can > actually work in a world with programmable personal computers. > > We need to steer policy makers in a different direction, toward > watermarking technologies that do not block copies from being made but > allows them to be traced after the fact. Yes, effective watermarking > is technically difficult, and several have already been broken. But at > least it's *possible* to build an effective watermarking scheme > without utterly destroying both the personal computer and the Internet. > > Phil > > ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/
