| 
          
         | 
        
          
            <<  
             ^ 
              >>
          
          
            
              
                Date: 2001-09-10
                 
                 
                BRUTE FORCE: Copyright-Zwang für alle Kisten
                
                 
-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- 
                 
                
      Lobbyisten der Musikindustrie et al holen zum ultimativen  
Vernichtungschlag gegen Raubkopierer aus: Die Copyright- 
Kontroll/mechanismen sollen in möglichst alle Consumer-Geräte  
und PCs eingebettet werden - bei ansonstigen Strafen von USD  
500.000/5 Jahre Knast für den Hersteller. 
 
Eine derartige Regelung soll im Security Systems Standards and  
Certification Act (SSSCA)erfolgen. Sie hätte de facto zur Folge,  
dass nur mehr Storage-Systeme jeder Art auf den Markt kommen,  
die den US-Copyright-Vorstellungen folgen - bei sonstiger  
Strafzahlung. Außerdem würde die Musikindustrie damit alle  
potentiellen Trust-Vorwürfe unterlaufen. 
 
-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-  
relayed by "Bademeister" <bademeister@aon.at> 
 -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-  
 
 
"Wired" 4:19 p.m. Sep. 7, 2001 PDT 
 
New Copyright Bill Heading to DC 
 
WASHINGTON -- Music and record industry lobbyists are quietly  
readying an all-out assault on Congress this fall in hopes of  
dramatically rewriting copyright laws. 
 
With the help of Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), the powerful chairman of  
the Senate Commerce committee, they hope to embed copy- 
protection controls in nearly all consumer electronic devices and  
PCs.  All types of digital content, including music, video and e- 
books, are covered. 
 
The Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA),  
scheduled to be introduced by Hollings, backs up this requirement  
with teeth: It would be a civil offense to create or sell any kind of  
computer equipment that "does not include and utilize certified  
security technologies" approved by the federal government. 
 
It also creates new federal felonies, punishable by five years in  
prison and fines of up to $500,000.  Anyone who distributes  
copyrighted material with "security measures" disabled or has a  
network-attached computer that disables copy protection is  
covered. 
 
Hollings' draft bill, which Wired News obtained on Friday,  
represents the next round of the ongoing legal tussle between  
content holders and their opponents, including librarians,  
programmers and open-source advocates. 
 
Hollywood executives fret that without strong copy protection in  
widespread use, piracy will allow digital versions of movies to be  
pirated as readily as MP3 audio files once were with Napster. With  
the SSSCA enacted, the thinking goes, U.S. technology firms will  
have no choice but to insert copy-protection technology in future  
products. 
 
The last legislative salvo in the content wars was the controversial  
1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which the SSSCA extends  
and expands.  Under existing law, Russian programmer Dmitry  
Sklyarov has been charged with allegedly selling "circumvention"  
devices, and 2600 magazine has been sued for distributing a DVD- 
decryption utility. 
 
"The government is mandating what your technology has to do,"  
says Cindy Cohn, the legal director of the Electronic Frontier  
Foundation of the SSSCA. "The government's now in some ways  
effectively writing code that anyone who makes anything with a  
microprocessor has to implement in anything they make.  I'm  
unaware of any other requirement like that." 
 
Hollings' aides could not be reached for comment on Friday.  One  
lobbyist opposing the legislation said Disney, which markets  
movies and TV shows, is the measure's most ardent supporter  
among industry groups. 
 
The SSSCA and existing law work hand in hand to steer the  
market toward using only computer systems where copy protection  
is enabled. First, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act created the  
legal framework that punished people who bypassed copy  
protection -- and now, the SSSCA is intended to compel  
Americans to buy only systems with copy protection on by default. 
 
The SSSCA says that it is illegal to create, sell or distribute "any  
interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified  
security technologies" that are approved by the U.S. Commerce  
Department. An interactive digital device is defined as any  
hardware or software capable of "storing, retrieving, processing,  
performing, transmitting, receiving or copying information in digital  
form." 
 
Jessica Litman, a law professor at Wayne State University who  
specializes in intellectual property, likened it to the 1992 Audio  
Home Recording Act that slapped restrictions on digital audio  
recorders. 
 
"This appears to be an attempt to expand the concept to anything  
that has a microprocessor in it and to have everyone agree or to  
have the government set technological standards that will enforce  
copyright owners' preferences," Litman says. 
 
"Forgetting all the reasons why this is bad copyright policy and bad  
information policy, it's terrible science policy," she says. 
 
Sonia Arrison, a technology policy analyst at the free-market  
Pacific Research Institute, said, "Some parts of this go too far....  
Would this mean that if I distributed a file that I received from  
someone who had broken security technology that I would be  
breaking the law? Sounds like it." 
 
Under the SSSCA, industry groups have a year to agree on a  
security standard, or the Commerce Department will step in and  
decide on one. Sunshine laws would not apply to meetings held in  
conjunction with the law, and industry organizations would be  
immune from antitrust prosecution. (By Declan McCullagh) 
 
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46655,00.html  
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/hollings.090701.html
                   
 
 
 
 
 
-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
    
                 
- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- 
                
edited by  
published on: 2001-09-10 
comments to office@quintessenz.at
                   
                  
                    subscribe Newsletter
                  
                   
                
- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- 
                
                  <<  
                   ^ 
                    >> 
                
                
               | 
             
           
         | 
         | 
        
          
         |