[free-sklyarov] Re: [DMCA_discuss] Hollings Schedules SSSCA Hearings October 25

Fri Oct 19 11:29:38 PDT 2001

NewsForge:
SSCA gets a hearing Oct. 25 -- can it be stopped?

http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/10/19/1546246&mode=thread

...

Eben Moglen, chief counsel for the Free Software Foundation, is succinct: "SSSCA is a deliberate attempt to destroy free software." 

...

Simons and Spafford list some of their objections to the legislation: 

Colleges, universities and trade schools throughout the United States would no longer be able to teach advanced computer science and computer engineering. 
The acts of writing basic operating system software or assembling simple computer systems in classes or as assignments would be against the proposed law. 
Research in computer security and protection would be further curtailed, as any such research would be required to be done on (and not interfere with) whatever technology is imposed by this law. However, malicious actors do not need to be so concerned. This has significant national security implications. 
Researchers and hobbyists seeking new uses for innovative technology might well find their experimentation and prototypes to be criminal under this law. 
Devices as disparate as electronic cameras, wrist watches, electric pianos, televisions, ATM machines, cell phones, home security systems, and medical equipment (among many examples) all process and display information electronically. Under the proposed legislation, all would be required to support anti-copying protocols. In most such cases, this is absurd and will raise costs unnecessarily. 

...

http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/10/19/1546246&mode=thread

On 19-Oct-2001, Seth Johnson wrote:
> 
> (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
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> 
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