The RIAA's Halloween Tricks 670
deus42 writes "BoingBoing has an interesting article about a joint RIAA/MPAA move started yesterday on Capitol Hill. From the article: 'Hollywood has fielded a shockingly ambitious piece of Analog Hole legislation while everyone was out partying in costume. Under a new proposed Analog Hole bill, it will be illegal to make anything capable of digitizing video unless it either has all its outputs approved by the Hollywood studios, or is closed-source, proprietary and tamper-resistant. The idea is to make it impossible to create an MPEG from a video signal unless Hollywood approves it.'"
Digitize this (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Digitize this (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Digitize this (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Digitize this (Score:5, Funny)
I can think of a hole I'd like them to approve...
Oh, I know, I know: the anal-og hole!
Re:Digitize this (Score:4, Funny)
Actually, "Ogg" has 2 G's.
Unless you meant Anal Log Hole... but do you really want to subject them to your "Anal Log"? If so, I recommend we leave a couple on their doorstep, to show exactly what kind of law they are trying to legislate.
Solomon Chang
Re:OH JOY, LET'S READ ON... (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Digitize this (Score:5, Funny)
Re:See what happens when they "get it" (Score:5, Interesting)
Same with movies. If I owned a film copy of a movie, there is nothing that could stop me from splicing it together to make funny edits, have someone talking to themselves, flipping the picture backwards, etc.
Yet the *IAA want to prevent you from doing just exactly that. They want to force you to watch the commercials during broadcasts, and not do anything whatsoever with their material that they don't approve.
Freedom of expression - art made of books for instance - gives Americans the rights to do just exactly these things. In fact, we have the right to go taket the Harley, modify it, and sell it at a profit if we wish. CDs and DVDs come with printing on them that they may not be re-sold for any reason now. Not only can we not utilize a CD in art, we can't edit it to a new form and re-sell it with the same profit rules that we apply to any other physical property. How exactly is this fair?
Contact your local congressmen and senators. This is insidious and gives new meaning to underhanded tactics.
Re:See what happens when they "get it" (Score:4, Informative)
Re:See what happens when they "get it" (Score:5, Informative)
I always thought the doctrine of first sale prevented the "no resale" markings on CDs and DVDs.
I knew it was a bad omen when Japanese publishers started marking media (especially videogames) with the "No Resale" tag to kill the secondary (used) market about 4 or 5 years ago. One court case later, SoftMap loses against the publishers and "No Resale" becomes enforceable in Japan. What it means is that you need permission from the copyright holders to resell copyrighted goods. Fat chance getting this permission since the publishers/rights holders would rather sell an extra copy than allow a used copy to change hands.
Fast forward a couple years and now it's making appearances in the US too. Why am I not surprised?
Dude, you're WAY behind on your history (Score:4, Informative)
For about one year, in Osaka only (it's "Sofmap" BTW). Then the Osaka high court overturned the lower court's ruling. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, the lower court ruled against the publishers, and the high court upheld that ruling. Finally, in 2002, the Supreme Court upheld both high court rulings [impress.co.jp] (Japanese link), reasoning that the doctrine of first sale overrules any distribution rights. So those "no resale" stickers are utterly meaningless now, and nobody pays any attention to them.
Re:See what happens when they "get it" (Score:3, Insightful)
Methinks you're liable to get trapped in your own analogy.
I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:4, Funny)
That, or he entered a coma in November of 2000, and just woke up...
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're going to troll, at least know what you're talking about, because the gross injustices we now have to deal with were instituted during the Clinton administration. I'm not specifically blaming Clinton, and I'm not defending Bush. However, when you blame everything under the sun on Bush, then it kind of raises the nose floor and no one listens when people talk about things Bush really *has* done.
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Informative)
Yep, passed by a Republican Congress. The same shady individuals who are still running the legislative branch of the government....
No difference between Republicans and Democrats. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:3, Interesting)
Marihuana Act (Score:3, Interesting)
They'd already labeled blacks as "Negro Cocaine Fiends"
http://www.google.com/search?q="negro+cocaine+fie
Re:"This land is my land..." NOW GET THE HELL OUT! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Insightful)
An unintended side effect might be that it might respark the true electronic hacker culture that has rather deteriorated over the last couple of decades. It used to be someone would build a radio or some electronic device from scratch based on ICs, capacitors, etc. Now some geeks think they're cool because they can attach a few IDE cables, insert some memory, and claim to have "built" a computer. Nonsense... that's not building a computer. This change in culture is why Radio Shack now sells things like cell phones, wireless phones, computers, and stereos and resistors and capacitors gets a few square feet of shelf space in the back.
But I digress... the point is that as long as resistors, capacitors, ICs, and soldering irons are sold, the analog hole will never be closed. Now, if we ever see RIAA/MPAA suceed at getting the soldering iron declared a "circumvention device", be worried--be very worried. :)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Funny)
They're way ahead of you- their next move is to regulate opposable thumbs.
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:3, Interesting)
At least not until all electronic parts vendors require all purchases of each part to be bought in $1000 bulk purchases. And it's already happening: the only local vendor for a part to fix the power connector on my Joust machine would only sell to me if I bought $1000 worth of the part.
The parts will be kept in the hands of those trusted to assemble them into compliant devices. Individuals will still be able to get soldering irons and solder; just not anything to solder with them. (It will become harder and harder to harvest parts from existing devices as well. Entire circuit boards will be covered in black epoxy.)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Informative)
Go to mouser.com or digikey.com. They sell in small quantities and surely have far greater selections and far cheaper prices than any place local to you.
The parts will be kept in the hands of those trusted to assemble them into compliant devices. Individuals will still be able to get soldering irons and solder; just not anything to solder with them. (It will become harder and harder to harvest parts from existing devices as well. Entire circuit boards will be covered in black epoxy.)
Well that's just great; we can then kiss our entire electronics industry good-bye in this country. There's an enormous number of companies (most small ones) in this country that make and sell electronic devices using component parts. These items are designed in-house by engineers, and then prototyped, frequently with parts from Digi-Key and other such distributors, sold in small quantities. The prototypes are debugged, and then eventually the completed design is manufactured either in-house (if the company is large enough), or out-of-house by a contract manufacturer. I used to work as a component-level design engineer, doing schematic design and PCB layout at a small company, so I know a little about this.
Eliminate the ability to buy parts in small quantities and you wipe out virtually all prototyping of electronic designs. The effects of this on the economy are incalculable.
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, the guys at radio shack already look at me like they're about to call the FBI when I go in to purchase 10 resistors and a few capacitors, along with a couple DB9 connectors to make an RS232 terminator. That's on top of the fact that the guy didn't even know he carried that stuff. He says to me, "looks like someone's building a HAM radio". Ya, no kidding. What he's really wondering is if I'm building a bomb to take out a few city blocks.
So anyway, now if it's illegal to build a device to record video, but a bunch of "electronics hackers" start going out to do it, am I going to be lumped in with them too? Are they going to be raiding surplus electronics stores with stashes of old camcorders tucked away on shelves in the back? Is anyone who tinkers with fundamental electronic components going to be on a government watch list? (Is that why radio shack asks for your phone number when you buy batteries?)
This is some scary stuff. Americans are so concerned about the right to bear arms, but I really think that if you ever plan to overthrow the government in the future, electronic components for communications and such are going to be just as important as bullets and grenades.
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:3, Funny)
Correcting him by telling him that you were just making a terminator probably wouldn't have gone down too well then...
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:3, Insightful)
No it's not, and you're missing the point. Back in the '80s the "analog hole" was closed when commercial VHS movies started using MacroVision to prevent casual copying of tapes. Yes, you could go to the back of PopSci and find an ad for a stabilizer, but by and large the vast majority of people didn't bother the extra bucks. They stopped copying and either bought or rented.
The same applies here. In "raising the bar" you don't need to stop everyone. You just have to make ripping you off hard enough that the majority doesn't bother.
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:4, Insightful)
And all of which ignores the real problem. If a bunch of instant-gratification idiots didn't think they were entitled to anything and everything they could get their hands on, we wouldn't be in this mess. All it does is give the **AA's all the justification they need to have these ridiculous laws passed.
A bunch of freeloaders are screwing up MY fair use rights and MY consumer products. And because, like you, they think they're smart enough to game the system, they're going to screw up P2P, torrents, Freenet, and probably the internet itself.
You're right in one thing. It is futile.
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:3, Funny)
I'd mod you (+1, Insightful) for pointing out the need for (+1, Depressing).
I'm hoping for a (+1, Insightful) for pointing out that I use (+1, Informative) as a substitute for (+1, Depressing), thereby resulting in a recursive moderation to (+5, Funny) for this post.
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Interesting)
Ah, now you understand.... (Score:5, Insightful)
It isn't individuals in their bedrooms sharing albums and movies that scares the studios, it is individuals in their garages making albums and movies.
If people are free to create and distribute their own content, it does two things:
Of course, they also run the risk of small, independent producers creating content that is superior to their own. To use an analogy, the big media companies are in the same position now that the Big Three auto makers were in the early 70s. They've had a cooperative oligarchy for decades. Now there are smaller, cheaper,faster (and potentially better) competitors entering their market. Rather than compete in the new world of smaller cars and expensive gas (or, for the studios, independent content and cheap distribution), they react by lobbying for import restrictions and spreading FUD about unsafe foreign cars (or lobbying for content controls and spreading FUD about destroying the incentive to create).
They probably realize this, and they've seen what the failure to successfully lobby has done to the American car industry. Rather than choosing the alternative route and rapidly adapting to the new world, the lesson they've learned from the past is that they need to lobby more effectively.
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't know which is more ridiculous... (Score:3, Funny)
Or just attach it as one of many riders on the latest save the children bill.
And no matter what they do... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:And no matter what they do... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:And no matter what they do... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Cracking is Illegal (Score:3, Insightful)
The media companies will (if they haven't already) make cracking a punishable offense. As it is they drag people through court that crack their schemes just to make an example of them regardless of what the local laws may/may not give them.
Better still, the corporations get to characterize them as the least desirable citizens in the court. It's just like the medical marijuana reformers vs the "war on drugs" institutions.
Blowing it off because it can be cracked just isn't the answer.
Re:And no matter what they do... (Score:4, Funny)
But the date didn't end with sex.
It ended in him mocking her because of her beliefs on copyright law.
Certainly very slashdot.
Re:And no matter what they do... (Score:4, Funny)
It depends on if you're sitting up or laying back.
Re:And no matter what they do... (Score:3, Informative)
How do they determine "regularly employs"? Will that mean that professional devices will come with a time lock tied to a dead man's switch that will permanently disable it if you try to use it at irregular intervals or fail to use it at regular intervals? (This paragraph is not serious and only seeking to be funny through ridicule.)
Further: so if you price your device too low so that people not in the publishing business can and do purchase it, your device is illegal and you face a $500,000 fine or 5 years imprisonment or both for first offense, and double for additional offenses.
That creates contributory infringement just for making a popular device!
Re:And no matter what they do... (Score:4, Insightful)
After their market has imploded and most of the big players' bottom lines got slaughtered, they will be more likely to quit their unsightly and futile holy war.
I do not mind living without TV and movies until then... like have mostly already been doing for the past 5+ years.
Wow, whatsoever shall we do? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wow, whatsoever shall we do? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not just old technology. You think if they pass something like this there won't be tech all over the net that will convert/bypass/ignore the new laws. It will be a boon for Ebay and retailers outside the US. The government can't stop drug sales (illegal, perscription, performance enhancing) on the Internet, how are they going to stop illegal video cards. All rules like this do is create a black market and more criminals.
Re:Wow, whatsoever shall we do? (Score:3, Insightful)
That's the idea. In a society where breathing air is illegal, everyone, except the annointed "lawful inhalers" are criminals. Then tyrants have no difficulties in extracting obedience as all citizens are subject to arrests which are both a tool of control and "legal" at the same time. Such ubiquitous "criminality" is one of the basic components of tyranny.
"War" on drugs is a perfect example: a problem which is medical in nature has been criminalized, resulting in the US having the highest percentage of imprisoned citizens from all the nations in the world, beating places like China, USSR, Iran, North Corea or Cuba. As a bonus side effect, the drug profits have never been greater, related violent crimes never more deadly and the police apparatus never more aggressive, violent, domineering, encroaching on most basic civil rights and never better funded.
I suspect the "war" on "piracy" is heading in the same direction: total subjegation of citizenry to zealous special interests. Combine this with resurgence of retarded, violent, anti-intellectual theocracy in the USA and the trickle of scientists and others who depend on unresticted knowledge for their trade who are leaving the US now will become a deluge. USA is going the way most of the empires of the past have: self-destruction in the name of greed and religion.
Fight, that's what. (Score:3, Insightful)
I kept bitching on sites like Slashdot for years and ultimately found it uniquely unsatisfying. Nothing changed. So 18 months ago I started a grassroots political organization in New York. 8 months ago there was a reform package put before the state legislature that had the audacity to require legislators to actually be present to vote, and many, many other good things. One of our state assemblypeople in NYC came out four-square against the reforms. So I gathered four people from our organization, went out on a Saturday and handed out 300 flyers in 2.5 hours in front of 2 supermarkets in the woman's district. Our 300 flyers generated roughly 80 phone calls to the lawmaker in question. Her chief of staff left a message on our machine the next day calling us all kinds of unholy names. But in the end she did a 180 and voted for the reforms.
Point? I did it, and you can too. Easily. So do. Go out and do.
Re:Just a reminder (Score:3, Insightful)
Untrue. Many people rely on medications of one sort or another to keep them alive and narcotic addicts generally have a physical dependancy on the products.
Bottom line is it's all about FREEDOM. Most things you and I do every day we don't HAVE to do, does that make them any less important to our quality of life? Thing is about this article, it goes beyond the idea of piracy. If Hollywood controls what people can see is, that not a violation of our basic rights. Shouldn't the average citizen have just as much right to create and distribute content as Hollywood does? The whole purpose behind this proposition is to control the content by controlling the hardware. I don't want to give our government or any particular special interest group that kind of control over our society.
And this means... (Score:5, Insightful)
A modest proposal (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:A modest proposal (Score:3, Funny)
Your proposal intrigues me, sir. I wish to support you in your endevor to have this passed by congress, only I feel a bit unsure about the best way to lobby such a bill....
Re:A modest proposal (Score:3, Funny)
Re:A modest proposal (Score:5, Interesting)
A Modest Proposal [wikipedia.org] For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public: a satirical phamphlet written by Johnathan Swift in which the author (a persona, not Swift) advocates solving poverty by eating babies of poor people.
I'll leave it to you to figure out the grandparent's analogy (although I'm not sure it's quite what the grandparent really intended).
And thus... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:And thus... (Score:5, Funny)
Why not? You've got the US beat by at least one.
Some perspectives on...perspectives (Score:5, Insightful)
(kind of offtopic)
I sure wish the ptroleum industry was as concerned about the leaks in their distribution system as the content industry is about theirs. (11230681)
Re:Some perspectives on...perspectives (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd also like to comment that while the ACLU/EFF do a great defending our rights against moves such as this, it seems odd that the congress we elect to preserve our rights is the same congress taking money from big business to remove our rights. Does the constitution need a group of lobbyists to protect itself? With all of the supreme court moving lately I've heard a few times how some members of congress get upset when the supreme court comes in to say they've oversetpped their bounds. Waiting for the checks and balances in the system to work themselves out really seems like a pain, but it's our country and if you're going to complain make sure you stand up and fight this type of lunacy.
Find your cause and do more than comment on slashdot.
..prise my analog hole from my cold, dead hands (Score:5, Funny)
Re:[pries] my analog hole from my cold, dead hands (Score:5, Informative)
prise
v 1: to move or force, especially in an effort to get something open; "The burglar jimmied the lock", "Raccoons managed to pry the lid off the garbage pail" [syn: pry, prize, lever, jimmy] 2: make an uninvited or presumptuous inquiry; "They pried the information out of him" [syn: pry] 3: regard highly; think much of; "I respect his judgement"; "We prize his creativity" [syn: respect, esteem, value, prize] [ant: disrespect]
That word can mean what he wanted it to mean.
Re:[pries] my analog hole from my cold, dead hands (Score:4, Informative)
v 1: to move or force, especially in an effort to get something open; "The burglar jimmied the lock", "Raccoons managed to pry the lid off the garbage pail" [syn: pry, prize, lever, jimmy]
Yes. Wait, not the Prize synonym, dumbasses.
2: make an uninvited or presumptuous inquiry; "They pried the information out of him" [syn: pry]
Yes.
3: regard highly; think much of; "I respect his judgement"; "We prize his creativity" [syn: respect, esteem, value, prize] [ant: disrespect]
NO! WRONG! TOTALLY WRONG! WHERE'D YOU LEARN THIS? STOP DOING IT!
(Apologies to Bob the Angry Flower)
"Pri S e" and "Pri Z e" are TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORDS, with completely seperate meanings. Fucking dictionary.com are on fucking crack, the cocksucking motherfuckers ! It's fuckheads like these that will spearhead the demise of the english language. Can't they recognise a simple fucking homophone when they fucking see it!? Fucking Idiots.
There. I feel better now. Continue.
Excellent move (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Excellent move (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at how many indie films have been made with consumer-level equipment. Look at the movies that are still done with hand-drawn animation or with puppets that are moved frame by frame. People can still take amazing pictures in black and white, and sometimes stylized is better than realistic or fancy, a la Sin City (ignoring the technology that went into it for effects like the splashes of color).
Technology doesn't change artistic quality. Expectations do.
Wait a sec, the A'Hole bill? (Score:3, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Informonopoly (Score:5, Insightful)
Soon, you won't be able to buy a new DVD or CD player, reciever, etc. that has analog inputs and outputs, since they won't be "certified". Another reason is that they (the big studios and publishing companies) really want to move over into video on demand style stuff as an industry and cut out the retailers and wholesalers and distributers who have acted as middlemen.
The ultimate goal, of course, is to control all information, entertainment or otherwise, for monetary and political gain.
Re:Please Clue Stick Me (Score:5, Informative)
What will historians think..... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What will historians think..... (Score:5, Interesting)
Ahh yes, the good 'ol "How History Repeats Itself" thing. Yup, I agree. We should learn from our mistakes yet we are told time and time again how this is so much better!
I went to see Good Night and Good Luck which was supposed to reiterate the importance of learning from history. I mentioned that I went to see it to my father. His response to me was: "Son, I lived through that fucking horseshit. I hated that reporter. Why would I want to relive all that shit again?"
Obviously my response fell upon deaf ears. *That* is why history continues to repeat itself. People are just UNWILLING to accept that they are wrong.
If technology is outlawed... (Score:5, Funny)
And that would make all of the geeks rogue outlaw bad-boy types, which would make them suddenly very appealing to women, so maybe this isn't such a bad idea after all.
METHOD OF... (Score:4, Funny)
Any Digitization (Score:3, Interesting)
Broadcast Flag On Steroids, But So What? (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's a link to the EFF's Broadcast Flag work [eff.org].
Here's a PDF link to [then] Circuit Judge Edwards' decision [uscourts.gov] in ALA v. FCC.
Re:Broadcast Flag On Steroids, But So What? (Score:5, Informative)
"Analog signals" covers more than RIAA territory. (Score:5, Insightful)
Are they trying to make life insanely difficult for student and amateur video makers?
What I don't get is that there is TONS of "analog signal" that is not RIAA-owned, so how can they legislate on it?
Or perhaps they won't, but apparently they'll make it very difficult to use the required equipment. Make life difficult for students, and you're cutting off your source of income 20 years down the road..
Re:"Analog signals" covers more than RIAA territor (Score:5, Insightful)
Why, of course they are. Unless they are in an MPAA sanctioned film-school, using expensive *AA sanctioned recording technology. Because we can't possibly allow an independant film-maker to make a movie which does better than a highly expensive Hollywood flop. Witness, Saw II and Zorro from this weekend.
Do you have any idea of how much money they would lose if just anyone could release a better movie than they can?
And home movies are right out. You could be at home watching little Billy win the track meet again, instead of generating revenue for them or their advertisers. What are you, a communist?
Same way they've done this all along -- "we don't care what you're doing with it, someone could, in theory rob from us. Therefore nobody gets access to the technology". Sheesh, it would be like arming terrorists or something. They basically try to cut off any arguments about legitimate contexts in which you would so this -- it's clearly a smokescreen to actually Pirate The Day After Tomorrow.
Student film-makers are too pesky. You could get someone new Like Michael Moore who points out the wickedness of the studio system. All future film-makers will be genetically engineered to give us a steady stream of gruel which has been approved by the *AA's.
Face it, in the Draconian future the *AAs envison, any technology capable of recording/transmitting either video or audio is just too dangerous to be in the hands of consumers and needs to be outlawed and controlled. I mean, we don't sell assault weapons to children, do we?
They never got over Sony v. Betamax (Score:5, Interesting)
From my standpoint, they couldn't possibly poison the well any further. The day I give them any cash so they can use it to buy my representatives is the day Satan's snowplow crews start making money.
What all non-RIAA, non-MPAA members should do (Score:5, Informative)
The MPAA & RIAA are both mired in a business model that is out of date, unfair to most of the participants, and robs blind all the consumers. Ask any so-called "indie" producer. We must put a stop to this.
Three questions. (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Which senators and congressmen submitted this bill for consideration?
2) When are they up for reelection?
3) Where do I send a check to support their opponents?
Bitching and moaning about Hollywood trying to pull crap like this is all fine and good, but unless we PUNISH their accomplices in government, this kind of crap will just keep going and going.
So the next time these turkeys are up for election, start sending their opponents money. When you send them the money, make sure you include a little note explaining exactly WHY you're sending them money. While you're at it, send the turkey a note as well telling him that you've just sent his opponent money and why.
This isn't limited to just the people from the districts in question. I live in Arizona, but there is nothing to stop me from making a contribution to a candidate in another state. I can't take part in the official election, but I can sure as hell vote with my money. Imagine if one of the turkeys who tried to pull this crap got tens of thousands of letters from accross the country that all said the same thing: "I gave your opponent X dollars because you supported the Analog Hole bill" Meanwhile their opponents get tens of thousands of letters saying "I'm giving you X dollars because your opponent supported the Analog Hole bill, don't make the mistake he did."
Freedom is precious and fragile. It is also one of the few things in this world outside of family worth dying for. You can either fight for your freedom, or you can sit by idly and hope that things don't get any worse. Hope that someone else will pick up the tab for your liberty. Hope that the ever-present forces that seek to deny you your freedom will go away. Well guess what, they won't. If you're not fighting against them then you're actively helping them. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and it is a price that we all must pay each and every day. If you're not fighting for your freedom then you've already forfeited it.
Lee
Amen (Score:3, Insightful)
But let's bring it down to the level of the every day. Good candidates for office are out there. They're constantly hurting for money, but even more than that, expert help. If you can give either, it is your duty to do so. Many Slashdotters will think nothing of spending $5/day on coffee. Multiply that by a five day work week and you're spending $1,250/yr. on coffee. For that price, you can give a real shot in the arm to the fine aspiring public servant of your choice. A city council race in NYC, for example, typically has a budget of $20K. Forego your daily cup of joe and you can single-handedly account for 5% of a great candidate's warchest. And suddenly you'll have someone representing you who will keep your streets patched, your neighborhood regularly patrolled and cleaned, and larger, abstract things like affordable housing defended. And if you can take the Board of Elections data, crunch it into a list of likely voters, and help your candidate allocate his/her resources efficiently, then you've saved them the $25K it costs to procure the leading commercial software solution.
In short, the power to create change/improvement in the political scene is eminently in your hands. And like all things, the better the candidates you help elect to local office, the finer the pool of choices you have when fighting for higher state and federal offices. After all, there are always outliers who go from zero to Congress in one try, but mostly it works like a farm team system.
Think about it, consider, and act. If you don't, the schmuck who lives down the street who's out to screw you and everyone else certainly will, and you will be very, very unhappy with the result.
A bit more detail, please (Score:4, Interesting)
And who brought it before the committee? Did a Representative actually introduce/sponsor this? If so, which representative(s)? Let's see... all representatives are elected every 2 years, next one in November 2006, exactly one year from now... An opponent could fry the person responsible, if they could just communicate to the public what this scoundrel tried to get passed...
Re:A bit more detail, please (Score:5, Informative)
And lest you think all lobbyists are evil, Public Knowledge [publicknowledge.org] and the Home Recording Rights Coalition [hrrc.org] will also be testifying at the hearing.
There are no representatives from my state (Arizona) on the committee [house.gov], and they get so much correspondence that they essentially ignore anyone who is not their direct constituent, but if your congressman is on the list, then now is the time to let them know how you feel, especially if you are from Texas or California.
Good News (Score:5, Informative)
Remember the jurisdiction (Score:5, Insightful)
If this kind of legislation continues to go through, the USA will end up back in the tehcnological stone age as emerging economies such as India and China overtake. Don't forget that these economies still make stuff for the west too. Does your Toyoya have all the dashboard icons in Japanese? Of course not.
There are a groing number of bands rejecting the copy protection that the labels are applying to their CDs. I'm sure the film industry will follow soon. How long before the next Hollywood blockbuster is produced by a non-USA company because they know the USA film industry's anti-consumer practices will actually harm the films success.
My only fear living here in Europe is that our brain-dead politicians will follow suit with the USAs practices. There's still a lot of work to do to make sure we don't.
Re:Remember the jurisdiction (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember... this legislation is being pushed on behalf of the pursuit of the almighty dollar. I assume that your politicians like money as well as ours (be it euros or pounds).
As goes the USA, so goes the world (eventually). Maybe less so that before, but still...
McCarthy's legacy (Score:3, Insightful)
Outrageous measures require outrageous responses. (Score:3, Interesting)
Or we stop being "consumers", NOW. Starve the fuckers.
Don't buy any more CDs. Ever.
Don't buy any more DVDs. Ever.
Don't go to any movies in the theatres, attend any concerts, patronize iTunes or Napster, play any MP3s, watch any TV, visit ANY web sites with ANY advertising. If your favorite indie bands or filmmakers get hurt too, that's their problem.
Learn to read and have conversations. Play your own instruments. Have a lot of sex.
Strike. Now.
NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE (Score:3, Insightful)
So am I now a criminal (Score:3, Interesting)
Sorry, but I find Life south of the border is getting loonier by the minute. Please remind me who won the cold war? I think Stalin is laughing in his grave.
if you actually READ the Running Man...... (Score:3, Interesting)
it's pretty good.
Among the other 'worlds gone to shit' elements are 'freevee' which is tv, which by law, must be on 24 hours a day in every household..
(I think there was even allusion to requirements that the volume be above 0 a certain number of hours per day, but I can't remember for sure)
I read the article at boing, and couldn't help but think freevee was next....
it'll never happen, you'll have to excuse me now, I gotta go to the store and get some more mokie-cokes....
Ex Post Facto (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Ex Post Facto (Score:3, Informative)
You can make continued posession of a legally obtained object illegal. It's rare that it happens, as things usually get grandfathered in, but states have done it before requiring offending items to either be removed from the jurisdiction or destroyed. If I bought a gun legally last year and they've banned it this year, I can't keep it in state anymore.
Re:Not possible (Score:3, Insightful)
Ah, but that is the beauty of the situation. Since any attempt to outlaw the millions of boards already in the field would be a non-starter, they really can't try outlawing mere possession of an unlicensed encoder. Nope, they will go for their old standby and only try to outlaw importation and sales. And because of the nature of our form of government, Congress lacks the power to outlaw sales so they will go for their old standby and invoke the Commerce Clause, forbidding unFritzed boards to be sold in "Interstate Commerce". But neighbors selling to neighbors aren't engaged in Interstate Commerce and we are about to have a majority on the Supreme Court who can actually read. Interesting times ahead.
Re:Not possible (Score:3, Insightful)
But the problem is not technical - the board would be illegal.
Assuming this bit of nonsense were to get anywhere (which it won't), I think you could still sell kits without any problem. It's a bit like with homebrew -- it's illegal for a shop to sell alcohol to a minor but there's nothing wrong with a shop selling to a minor barley malt, hops, yeast, corn sugar, fermenting bins, airlocks, bottles, caps, capper, and a whole range of books on the fine art of zymology.
Similarly, it would be illegal to sell a device that captures an analog video signal to a digital format, but it would not be illegal to sell breadboards, DSPs, coaxial/component jacks, solder, etc.
Nevertheless, this is just a proposal from an industry lobbyist -- the kind of thing that happens all the time in Washington. It isn't a bill, and if by some miracle it becomes a bill, it will never make it out of committee. Remember, electronics manufacturers also have some pretty powerful lobbyists, and there's no way that they will let Hollywood dictate design and engineering decisions.
Re:Ownership rights. (Score:5, Insightful)