[luau] RIGHTS: Sorry, Banned in the USA

[MonMotha]

Fortunately, the computer industry mostly poo-pooed the SSSCA/CBDTPA and 
I believe it was rejected (search archives on /.; I may be wrong). 
Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that commodity, consumer-level hardware 
won't still be crippled leaving people such as myself having to pay huge 
premiums for "professional level" hardware so I can do anything with it.

--MonMotha

Warren Togami wrote:
> http://plf.zarb.org/
> 
> "Here you'll find some package that can't be included into mandrake for
> legal reasons (copyright/license/patent)."
> 
> It has stuff like a working DVD player for Mandrake Linux.  
> 
> Unfortunately, if you live in the United States it is illegal for you to
> download or use this software because you would be in violation of the
> Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
> 
> The DMCA is an overbroad, unconstitutional law that makes any
> "circumvention tool" illegal to distribute or use in the United States. 
> This has the side-effect of making it illegal to make and distribute a
> working DVD player for Linux in the United States.
> 
> One site in particular that points out the stupidity of this law is 
> http://www.thefreeworld.net
> 
> Notice their map of the free world.  Here is a quote from their site:
> "New laws in the USA not only make it illegal for US citizens to use or
> produce many kinds of useful software or inform/publishing research
> about such software (that's ok, after all it's their law), but also seek
> to prevent citizens of other countries from making such software or
> information available to the US."
> 
> If you take a look at their list of files banned in the USA you may
> notice a strange looking item.  kernel-2.2.20pre11.log.  Yes, under the
> strict code of US law, it is illegal for you to read that document. 
> Why?  Because it contains information that can be used as a
> circumvention tool to exploit an old Linux kernel security bug.
> 
> Linux developer Alan Cox of Red Hat (who lives in Great Britain) refused
> to make that knowledge available to US developers for fear of
> prosecution under the strict interpretation of the DMCA.  He and many
> other developers also refuse to visit the USA now because they fear
> imprisonment like what happened to Russian programmer Dmitri Sklyarov
> last year.
> 
> Things with the DMCA are ridiculous now, but guess what?  It may soon
> become worse if the CBDTPA is enacted into law.  Under the CBDTPA all
> hardware and software in the United States would need to be Federally
> Approved to respect copy controls set by the movie and record industry
> of America.
> 
> Things like the DMCA and CBDTPA will steadily erode the rights and
> capabilities of American business and academia.  Foreign businesses will
> gain an upper hand over America because they have no such unjust
> restrictions.  This would have a devastating effect on the US economy...
> 
> One more thing, the CBDTPA would effectively outlaw Open Source Software
> in the USA.
> 
> Please learn more about the DMCA and CBDTPA.
> (Thankfully Google maintains a useful directory of DMCA and CBDTPA
> information.)
> 
> DMCA Information
> http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Issues/Intellectual_Property/Copyrights/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act/
> CBDTPA Information
> (Formerly known as the SSSCA)
> http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Issues/Intellectual_Property/Copyrights/Security_Systems_Standards_and_Certification_Act/
> 
> Warren Togami
> warren at togami.com
> 
> 
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