Subject: Re: SSSCA will make open source illegal in the US
From: nathan r. hruby (nhruby@arches.uga.edu)
Date: Tue Mar 05 2002 - 20:08:00 MST
On Tue, 5 Mar 2002, Barry Sparenborg wrote:
> What can we do to stop this?
>
[nh: I didn't start this thread and I do know that it is very much
off-topic for this forum; however, it is something I feel very strongly
over so I feel I must say something. If you haven't deleted this email
from it's subject and don't want to hear anything more about the SSSCA,
please refrain from reading the rest of this email and delete it with my
apologies for taking you your disk space. IF you'd liek to know a littel
more, but don't care for my opnion, please skim to the bottom of this
email for some informational links. ]
SSSCA is real and has been posted on Slashdot, Wired, LWN, Crypto-Gram,
etc.... It is not a hoax, or if it is - it is one with considerable
govermental backing :) The SSCA is some very very scary shit.
It does in fact threaten OpenSource as the current wording pretty much
says everything wil have to have copy protection schemes built in, and
that protection should be non-optional. Open Source and Free software
allow the flexibility to deactivate this protection through the use of the
source code, therefore it the legality of software that
*could* be unemcumbered from draconian copyright proteection would be
questionable, regardless of who wrote the software and where they were in
the world (as we have seen with the DeCSS and Skylerov [sp?] cases).
I am not trying to be a monger, this is simply how the inital document was
worded. I doubt that people in Washington think about OpenSource or Free
Software when writing this stuff, they simply belive that they are trying
but are really overlegislating a problem they have no clue about. OR if
they have a clue, it's been planted there by the RIAA, MPAA, Disney, AOL,
etc... namely the people to gain the most from this kind of legislature.
This scares me. This is the kind of stuff that will force me to leave my
country. We can't let this happen. DMCA is bad enough and it's
reporcussions are still being felt and will be for years to come as
companies figure out new ways of manipulating it to their advantage.
Imagine what will happen if the SSSCA actually does become law... Wwe
*can't* let this one slip under the radar.
The poster asked "What can we do to stop it?" Here's a few things:
- Join the EFF. They are trying to fight this and keep us informed.
- Write a letter to Sen. Hollings (the author of the bill)
- Write (not email!) your legislators, from local councilman to US
Senator. Sample letters and effective letter writing guidelines can be
found at www.eff.org. Please be polite and concise but let them know
what you think.
- Call your legislators and let them know what you think.
- Don't vote for supporters of this bill. Rememeber this when going to
the pools this year, next year, and the year after.
- Tell your friends, get them to be active as well. Most liekly, they
don't know about this either.
A few links for the people who don't know:
# Original draft
http://cryptome.org/sssca.htm
# Various mentions at LWN
http://lwn.net/2001/0927/a/crypto-gram.php3
http://lwn.net/2001/1025/press.php3
# See the Slashdot articles
http://slashdot.org/search.pl?query=SSSCA
# EFF stanmdpoints and info. Search around EFF.org as well
http://www.eff.org/Legal/active_legal.html
# RedHat's postion Paper
http://www.redhat.com/opensourcenow/article2.html
Thanks for reading
-n.. who will leave this country if this bill is passed.
-- ...... nathan hruby - nhruby@arches.uga.edu computer support specialist department of drama and theatre http://www.drama.uga.edu/ ......
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