Anti-Copy Bill Slams Coders

[slandrum at cs.smith.edu (srl)]

On Thu, 28 Mar 2002, Tom Guilderson wrote:

> Wired is now reporting on a congressman from California
> proposing another similar bill in the house.
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51400,00.html
>
> Most of these laws likely violate the existing "fair use"
> laws allowing one to make a copy of a CD etc. onto
> another medium (such as a cassette, etc.) for one's
> own personal use.

Incorrect. Read the Senate version of the bill:

http://www.eff.org/IP/SSSCA_CBDTPA/20020321_s2048_cbdtpa_bill.pdf

It clearly says that under the proposed law, any
copyright-protection scheme that *doesn't* allow the purchaser to
make copies for personal use is violating the law.

Even so, it's still worth fighting. Read
http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html for details
on why and a sample letter to send to your Congresspeople.

srl
-- 
Shane R. Landrum         slandrum at cs.smith.edu                __o
"In the end, you write the book that grabs you                -\<,
by the throat and demands to be written." - Salman Rushdie  (*)/(*)