I agree that the EFF tends to go hyperbolic. The only specific case mentioned is the anti-circumvention aspect of the DMCA.
But providing encryption software is not a way to circumvent DRM. This passage is peculiar: " Essentially any software product or service, such as many encryption programs, that is not responsive to blocking orders could be under threat." I am left puzzled about what is a blocking order against a software product, and how do SOPA/PIPA reach there? What does it mean for a software product to be non-responsive? If anyone has an explanation tied to details in the proposed legislation, it would be interesting to know if there is then a matter for ASF concern. (I am not in favor of SOPA/PIPA; I am in favor of getting the facts straight.) - Dennis -----Original Message----- From: Donald Whytock [mailto:dwhyt...@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 11:39 To: ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org Subject: Re: 18 Jan 2012: SOPA and PIPA Protest Banner Including the list this time. Watch those reply-tos, Dennis...:) On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 1:53 PM, Dennis E. Hamilton <dennis.hamil...@acm.org> wrote: > Don, > > What's your understanding of the connection between open-source encryption > algorithms and SOPA/PIPA? Where is there more information available? This was the EFF article I saw on the topic: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/hollywood-new-war-on-software-freedom-and-internet-innovation It's a little alarmist, but the general tone is that if some idiot can think there's any relationship between software that hides information and efforts to circumvent DNS censorship, the site that provides said software can find itself blocked. Feel free to substitute "government official" for "idiot" as needed. Seriously, how many politicians do you know that really know what security software does? They don't have to be right. They just have to have the authority.
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