Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 09:08:54 -0700 (PDT) From: NGH <bsd_appliance@yahoo.com> To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: SSSCA? Message-ID: <20011010160854.33276.qmail@web11907.mail.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <20011010102544.B57921@lpt.ens.fr>
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Hi, I agree with the folks who say that big companies are all for this legislation. It's very convenient for the already-established business because it would effectively end competition from anybody who cannot afford the licensing fees and certification that will most likely be necessary. These fees, etc. are effectively a tax on electronics and software! The existing "tweaks" to copyright, along with SSSCA and existing laws, are a serious abuse of the system. I don't doubt for one moment that Congress will pass this defective thing. At the very least, we should mail letters to editors of any electronics, software and manufacturing magazine and explaining why this is bad. It might be helpful to send letters to companies or individuals you know that would be hurt by SSSCA. Finally, sending mail to the companies pushing this defect, telling them what an outrage this is, would have a small effect but couldn't hurt. If this passes, we, the individuals and small businesses, will suffer extraordinary consequences while greedy corporations continue to squeeze every penny they can. Although old devices and software will be legal, it's only a matter of time until that old hardware breaks down or the software becomes obsolete. It will be very expensive to fight this once it passes, and would require lawyers and probably millions upon millions of dollars. Civil disobedience would be the only way--that is, reverse-engineering (and spreading of that information) and/or modifying the hardware, but they have that covered: SSSCA will make it a felony to "traffic in" or sell any device without the builtin "policeware" as some have called it, and existing laws make circumvention devices very illegal as well. I think I'll write some letters and post them here for review before mailing anything. -Nathan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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