[luau] Legislative Alert: SSSCA becomes CBDTPA

[Warren Togami]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51274,00.html

PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE
The SSSCA has been submitted to the senate as the Consumer Broadband and
Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA) which would require copy
protection in every piece of hardware and software that is Federally
approved.

The DMCA is already an unconstitutional law with unreasonable and
unenforcable restrictions that infringe on freedoms of code (speech) and
academic study.  The CBDPTA takes this a step further.  Among the reasons
like egregious abuse of fair-use, technical impossibility of keeping copy
protection secure, and economic detriment to the United States, this would
effectively OUTLAW Open Source Software.  I can't begin to describe this
eloquently, so please read that article above and the EFF Alert below for
more details.

"Joining Hollings as co-sponsors of the CBDTPA are one Republican and four
Democrats: Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), John Breaux
(D-Louisana) and Dianne Feinstein (D-California)."

Oh crap...  Our very own senator Daniel Inouye is supporting this bill.

http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html
For more background information about the CBDTPA and what you can do about
it, please visit the EFF.  If you care about this issue, please soon mail or
fax letters in disapproval to our representatives in Washington and also the
Senate public comment.  Also please consider joining the EFF if you support
these issues of electronic freedom.

Hawaii is trying to make itself a "High Tech" state.  If the Techies of
Hawaii oppose this bill, Inouye can't possibly support it.  I want to
organize an educational group locally to raise awareness among the Hawaii
Tech community about the wrongness of CBDPTA.  Who would be willing to work
with me?  I can't do this alone.

Warren Togami
warren at togami.com