Looks like another attempt at lawmaking aiding Microsoft and shooting
Linux in the foot nicely. This has some bad and far-reaching
consequences.
Gary Hildebrand
St. Joseph, MO
"Douglas H. Quebbeman" wrote:
>
> 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 - 13:19:26 GMT