April 1, 2004
Associatid Press, Washington - The United States Federal
Communications Commission, as part of a joint project funded by the
Department of Defense, has approved measures to begin requiring US
consumers to obtain licenses for all new personal computers purchased
after January, 2005.
"It's basically the same process that CB radio owners had to go
through in the 1970's, only we require a slight ammount of additional
information.", said Lance O. Onie, director of the FCC's PC Freedom
Initiative.
Purchasers of new PCs will have to fill out a simple "one step" form,
with only the following information: The purchaser's Social Security
number, current address, e-mail address(es), date of birth, driver's
license number and the computer's CPU's unique serial number.
"By requiring the driver's license number, we are able to simplify
things by not requiring consumers to be inconvenienced by having their
photos taken for inclusion in our database; we can just get that data
from the states in which they're licensed.", Onie was quick to point
out as a benifit of this simplified procedure.
The user will be able to access the CPU's serial number through the
use of a computer program distributed on a CD ROM with each new PC
sold. The program must remain installed on the computer whenever the
computer is used with the Internet.
Owners of older computers will be exempt from this new law until
December 25, 2006, "giving them plenty of time to upgrade their
systems as necessary in order to comply with the new law", says Onie,
who commented that this program will also be "very helpful to the
economy."
After that time, the FCC will work with the CIA, state and local law
enforcement officials to conduct random high-tech sweeps throughout
the country to check for the illegal possession and use of
unregistered computing equipment.
Fines and penalties were not specified, but sources say that illegal
possession will be considered to be a very serious offense, necessary
for the freedom, safety and well-being of all Americans.
--
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Received on Thu Apr 01 2004 - 11:45:22 BST