[free-sklyarov] Hollings Schedules SSSCA Hearings October 25

Fri Oct 19 09:58:16 PDT 2001

Oh, I swear, if this goes through I am leaving the US for another country.
This is totally unacceptable and gives sweeping power to large businesses
and the federal government.  Something which the constitution was designed
to prevent.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Seth Johnson" <seth.johnson at RealMeasures.dyndns.org>
To: <C-FIT_Community at RealMeasures.dyndns.org>;
<C-FIT_Release_Community at RealMeasures.dyndns.org>;
<DMCA_Discuss at lists.microshaft.org>; <Free-Sklyarov at zork.net>
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2001 12:40 AM
Subject: [free-sklyarov] Hollings Schedules SSSCA Hearings October 25


>
> (Forwarded from New Yorkers for Fair Use list, fairuse at mrbrklyn.com)
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 00:25:15 -0400
> From: Brooklyn Linux Solutions CEO <ruben at mrbrklyn.com>
>
>
> On 2001.10.18 20:53:34 -0400 Karsten M. Self wrote:
>
> Mark Lewis of Webnoize reports that hearings on the SSSCA ("Security
> Systems Standards and Certification Act") are scheduled for October 25.
> Public and fair-use interests not invited.
>
> Background:
>
> The SSSCA is legislation authored by Senators Hollings (D-SC) and
> Stevens (R-AK) that would mandate copy prevention controls on every
> piece of electronic hardware, and every computer program, with no
> exceptions.  It was first publicized in early September.  Sponsorship
> appears to come from Disney corporation.
>
> The law would make illegal a broad range of hardware, and would
> effectively render the burgeoning free software movement a criminal
> movement.  The focus on digital television, and language in the statute
> on "time shifting", also appears to ban such pedestrian activities as
> recording programs for repeated playing from TV broadcasts.
>
> This language has *not been revised*, according to
>
>
> http://news.webnoize.com/item.rs?ID=14477
> Hollings Sets Hearing on Copy Control, Explains Need for New Law
>
> Executives from Walt Disney, News Corp. and Thomson Multimedia will
> testify next week on Capitol Hill on the need for a proposed bill that
> ensures that computers and digital devices prevent individuals from
> making unauthorized copies of media, whether the content is copyrighted
> or not.
>
> Scheduled for October 25, the Senate Commerce Committee hearing will
> provide the first congressional forum to probe Disney's and News Corp.'s
> support for an unintroduced draft bill that would require all hardware
> manufacturers, networking companies and web sites to use security
> technologies approved by the federal government.
>
> Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) drafted the
> bill, called the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act, at
> the urging of Disney and News Corp., which have sought new legal
> guarantees for the protection of digital movies and digital TV
> broadcasts. A Senate source said it hasn't been determined whether the
> bill will be introduced in the remaining weeks of this congressional
> session. The bill's draft language, first reported by Webnoize, hasn't
> been revised [see 09.7.01 Hollings' Draft Bill Presents Radical Changes
> to Hardware and Copyright Law, Document Shows].
>
> ...
>
> Some computer and electronics attorneys believe their industries might
> eventually agree to a bill that only establishes copy-control for
> digital video and requires technology to prevent consumers from
> distributing digital TV files through the Internet.
>
> Closing that loophole is a problem because digital TV is broadcast
> without any encryption. Some industry attorneys believe that a law is
> needed to force manufacturers to build sets and recorders that use
> encryption, because a licensing system to require encryption could run
> afoul of antitrust law.
>
> ...
>
> Hollings' letter, which was also sent to lobbying groups the Business
> Software Alliance and the Consumer Electronics Association, chastised
> the organizations for offering their leaders to testify at the October
> 25 hearing, but not senior executives from member companies. Members
> include 3Com, Apple, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Sony Electronics and
> hundreds of others.
>
> ...
>
> Disney and News Corp. secured witness spots for their top executives --
> Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner and News Corp. Chief Operating
> Officer Peter Chernin. Other conglomerates' studios, notably Sony
> Corp.'s Sony Pictures and AOL Time Warner's Warner Bros., haven't chimed
> in to support the bill, having already agreed to use encryption
> co-developed by Matsushita, Sony, Hitachi, Intel and Toshiba for movies
> delivered over cable and satellite systems.
>
> Thomson, the French electronics giant, snagged a witness spot for Jim
> Meyer, the firm's highest-ranking American and a special advisor to
> Thomson's chairman. Eager to accelerate its digital TV business and
> protect its MP3 audio business, Thomson is taking a careful political
> position on the issue.
>
> ...
>
> Non-profit public interest groups haven't been invited to the hearing,
> which has motivated them to take action. The Electronic Frontier
> Foundation (EFF) is drafting a letter to Hollings asking that the EFF,
> librarians or consumer groups be included, according to Fred von
> Lohmann, senior intellectual property attorney for the EFF.
>
> Branding the bill "DMCA 2," after the highly controversial Digital
> Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the EFF states on its web site that
> Hollings' bill would eliminate the "preservation or protection of fair
> use, first sale, the public domain, or any of the other rights reserved
> for the public by copyright law."
>
> "We're also talking to other interested parties, including the Consumer
> Electronics Association, the Home Recording Rights Coalition, and ACM
> [Association for Computing Machinery], as well as several technology
> companies, about the possibility of building a broad coalition to oppose
> the bill," emailed von Lohmann.
>
> The hearing is called "Promoting Broadband: Securing Content and
> Accelerating the Transition to Digital Television." At press time, the
> hearing had not been postponed due to a clean-up project to remove
> anthrax bacteria sent to the office of Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the
> Democratic majority leader.
>
>
> For additional background, see:
>
> Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (Full Text)
> http://cryptome.org/sssca.htm
>
> Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (Analysis)
> http://www.politechbot.com/docs/hollings.090701.html
>
> EFF Alert:  Defeat SSSCA:
> http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010921_eff_sssca_alert.html
>
> USACM letter to Sen. Hollings criticizing draft SSSCA bill
> http://www.politechbot.com/p-02591.html
> http://www.acm.org/usacm/SSSCA-letter.html
>
> Sen. Hollings plans to introduce DMCA sequel: The SSSCA
> http://www.politechbot.com/p-02483.html
>
> Anti-SSSCA petition asks Congress not to pass draft bill
> http://www.politechbot.com/p-02488.html
>
> Hollywood lobbyists laud SSSCA as "exceedingly reasonable" bill
> http://www.politechbot.com/p-02499.html
>
> --
> Karsten M. Self <kmself at ix.netcom.com>    http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
> What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?           Home of the brave
> http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/                  Land of the free
> Free Dmitry! Boycott Adobe! Repeal the DMCA! http://www.freesklyarov.org
> Geek for Hire                  http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html
> --
> Brooklyn Linux Solutions
> http://www.mrbrklyn.com
> http://www.brooklynonline.com
> http://www.nylxs.com
> http://www.nyfairuse.org
>
> 1-718-382-5752
>
> http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/mp3/brooklyn_national_antheum.mp3
> For Jim ---
> ____________________________
> New Yorker Linux Users Scene
> Fair Use -
> because it's either fair use or useless....
>
>
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