The End of Classic Computing, and in fact, the end
of Computing as a hobby for almost all of us, is on
the table in the U.S. Congress in the form of The
Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion
Act (CBDTPA). This insidious bill would strike at
the very heart of this community, the software that
keeps our ClassicComputers running, unless we or
someone incorporates anti-pirating measures.
Now, if that sounded inflammatory, it should. It's
not quite accurate either. The bill will cover only
software created from the time of the bill's passage
and on into the future. The stuff we play with now
would therefore be exempt.
There appears to be a loophole for stuff you do that
you never distribute. There also appears to be a loophole
for computers that do not contain microprocessors.
But there would be a horizon coming soon. If the bill
is passed, computers and software being developed now,
once 10 years old, might be on-topic, but you'd be
breaking federal law to share software.
Sponsored by someone who must surely be certifiably
insane, one Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina,
if you want more information, see:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51274,00.html
This will require lots of work to defeat, I think, as
the politicians have bought into the fantasy that a
pirated copy of something conctitutes a lost sale.
A true emperor's fine new clothes scneario...
Regards,
-dq
--
-Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (dougq_at_iglou.com) [Call me "Doug"]
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits
Received on Fri Mar 29 2002 - 10:52:46 GMT