[sorry, political warning beforehand] Who Else is Sick of the MPAA?

[Sarreq Teryx]

What the MPAA is pulling on ATSC-HDTV -------- after the standard has been set already:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_9_1/feature-article-digital-home-video-2-2002.html

What the MPAA is trying to push into Law in the USA:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62085-2002Feb24.html
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=728226&STARTPAGE=1
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020228/tc_nm/tech_media_dc_2
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/hollings.090701.html
http://www.usatoday.com/money/tech/2002-03-01-piracy.htm
http://music.tinfoil.net/article.php?sid=406&mode=thread&order=0
Full text of the SSSCA (http://cryptome.org/sssca.htm)

What may be pushed into Law in Europe because of the SSSCA:
http://uk.eurorights.org/issues/eucd/

Links for US Citizens to try to combat the SSSCA:
http://www.petitiononline.com/SSSCA/petition.html
Write your local Representative (http://www.house.gov/writerep/)

Intels battle againt the SSSCA:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/business/2764054.htm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/24262.html

[trbarry]

You left out one of our best champions, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

http://www.eff.org

- Tom

[Hanty]

Well, you can't blame them for trying to protect the copyrighted material of their members.

[Sarreq Teryx]

Originally posted by Hanty
Well, you can't blame them for trying to protect the copyrighted material of their members.
I take it you didn't read through the thing, if this goes through, WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BUILD OUR OWN SYSTEMS, ATTEMPT TO BUILD OUR OWN SET-TOP BOXES, CREATE OUR OWN CODECS, or any form of open-source program, repair our own compueters by ourselves, and other nasty things. I can easily blame them for trying to stifle any sort of competition in the technological marketplace by first time companies, because there will be no legal way to make a prototype to start a company with. We'd be locked into Microsoft or Apple or other huge companies. There will be no Linux to speak of, unless it becomes closed source.
shall I go on?

[AbuNidal]

It's a shame that in a country which calls itself the "land of the brave, free, etc." politicians can make such undemocratic amandments as the SSSCA without an outcry going through the country.

I doubt the amandment will be passed as a law in its current form, although it suits perfetcly as a lever for passing similar laws which then do not go as far as the SSSCA, but still suit to furtherly restrict fair use. This would then lead to a further criminalization of common end-users and to arbitrary punishments of the "offenders" when the common suspects (RIAA, MPAA, etc...) get an eye on them.

And, as always, it will take the EU to take 2-3 years or so to adopt the laws introduced overseas, as it happened now with the European DMCA, so I don't have much of a hope here---

Ummh, guess who has a patent on building-in DRM-functionalities on the level of the operating system? -Right, it's our friends in Redmond! That would be the ultimate method for them of getting rid of Linux!

Of course this, for everyone who oposes the ideas introduced with the SSSCA would be the ultimate reason to switch to Linux...

One final thought: This reminds me very much of the now renewed US anti-drug campaign beginning in the early 80s which implied harsh punhishments on drug-consumption. Although being a victimless crime, equal to the DMCA/SSSCA issue, this campaign helped not to reduce drug-consumption but only led to 500.000 more people incarcerated, making the US the country with most prisoners relative to the population, ahead of even China and Russia!

I feel sorry for gods own country.

-AbuNidal

[Zeppeliner]

I've got only one thing to say - and I think this any intelligent lifeform will agree with me - and it's solely that once you have bought it, it's yours alone and yours to do whatever you want with (as long as it doesn't harm others it's best to add - looking at the gun issue). Finalé.

[Kedirekin]

Well, I don't know about intelligent life forms, but I'm pretty sure the life forms at software companies and the studios would disagree (and yes, that's meant to be an insult). They would like us to believe we aren't 'buying' anything, we're 'licensing' it.

[movmasty]

ok, what is MPAA :confused:

[Sarreq Teryx]

just to tie it in to the rest of the links

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=19769

[TactX]

Originally posted by movmasty
ok, what is MPAA :confused:

Maybe you don't know that a great feature of the so called *Internet* are powerful search-engines that can give you tons of information on a specific topic once you decide to use them.

Try Google (http://www.google.com) and search for MPAA !

[wmansir]

There was a POST (http://slashdot.org/articles/02/03/07/162202.shtml?tid=99) on /. recently that linked to an opinion peice at foxnews.com. The article basicly talked about SSSCA, saying how bad it was, and said it presented an opportunity for Republicans because it's a clear case of big business trouncing the rights of the people (and the Democrates are suppose to be for the little people).

It's interesting that News Corp, FoxNews' parent company also owns Twentieth Century Fox (among many other things) and the article in questions refers to "Big Entertainment", focuses on the recording industry, which News Corp has no direct investment in, and mentions motion picutures only in passing. But at least the article is somewhat independent, taking a stance against the intrests of its parent corp.

Of course, the fact that I haven't seen any mention of SSSCA on Fox News Channel, or any broadcast/cable media outlet, shows how independent the mainstream media is.

@TactX & movmasty
Why search Google when there are a dozen releavent links in the first post of this thread?

EDIT: Actually I just found that News Corp owns Mushroom Records, based in the UK and Australia.

[TactX]

Why search Google when there are a dozen releavent links in the first post of this thread?

Yeah, you're right. I did miss that :)

My post was more a general *hint* on how to get information about something, before asking dumb questions.

[macdaddy]

I might be the optimist here, but I don't think that the SSSCA will get through-currently it is the brainchild of a couple of Senators who are courting the political contributions of Hollywood studios. It is far from becoming law...

Granted, this is what I thought about the DMCA, but I think it will be repealed soon enough, as well...

If you really want to get up in arms about something, you should be going after micro$oft and the cable/satellite operators-these guys are attempting to have our Constitution (the document which is the origin of ALL American law) rewritten (or ammended) so that their monopolies can legally exist. This, too, will not stand...

There are politicians who are actively and vocally working to repeal the DMCA, block passage of the SSCA, and not allow certain corporations to behave like monopolies. You watch, I still think m$ is going down. They are going to be tied up in litigation for years-Sun just filed a civil suit against them yesterday for using monopolistic strategies. We only need to win one of these to set the legal precedent, and then this house of cards will begin to fall...

Hollywood's problems are not just DRM issues-productions are moving to other countries: Canada has long been a production site due to their lack of unions and the favorable exchange rate. The LATimes ran an article this morning about productions (like "Gosford Park") filming in Europe for similar reasons. Independently made films are getting more hype, and are being more widely distributed (thankfully). The same is happenning in popular music. Look at no further than local Epitaph Records for an example. Studios no longer have "stables" of actors and directors, and many are going independent for the control and yes, credibility. Furthermore, seemingly every network and cable channel outlet is starting to produce their own content, further hinderng the movie producing industry's clout in the marketplace. ESPN, Lifetime and Starz! are all running original productions now. Upstart network the WB survives due to the fact that they produce their own content. While I might find shows like "Buffy" and "Dawson's Creek" to be unwatchable, there are millions of teenagers that find those shows to the cat's meow, and they tune in week after week (in staggering numbers). All of this contributes to decreasing revenue for Hollywood studios (and I haven't even started talking about the SAG, and the direction they seem to be heading)...

Studio execs see the writing on the wall. For years the largest, and most consistent, stream of revenue has been monies collected on material for which they own the present and future copyrights. They are trying to say that these claims and rights are never-ending. Interestingly, copyright law was developed to prevent EXACTLY this from happening. Hell, Disney's animated "Jungle Book" was released just a short time after Kipling's copyright expired. If that isn't contrary to the spirit of cpright law, I don't know what is...

The bottom line, imho, is that the bad guys are behaving in ways that contradict the laws of this country. If they aren't "breaking" the laws in the literal sense, they certainly are breaking the SPIRIT of the law, which is just as bad (and illegal). If you don't beleive me, watch as subpeonas are handed down to the bean-counters at Arthur Anderson; those guys are going to jail, some for a very long time. And at the end of the day it will be because, whlie they might not have literally broken any accounting laws (although I doubt it), they certainly broke the spirit of the laws, and that, too, is a crime (especially when knowingly doing so); ignorance of the law is NOT a defense...

You also have to remember that there are other items on the government agenda these days. Personally I would like to see the steel tariffs removed first (talk about a move that contradicts our trade policies and principles). And then there are the military and security issues (some of which are real and important)...

It is going to take time to have our legal system root these groups and corporations out-which is why what the EFF is doing is so important. If you are really worried about it, subscribe to the 2600 quarterly, money from your fees goes to the EFF legal fund...

For me, the biggest hinderance is that the technology has been developed, but because the MPAA and RIAA are scared, and in some ways, technologically ignorant, standards have not been set in stone, and the next generation consumer electronics have not been rolled out on time...

America is among the greatest nations this planet has ever seen. This is due-in large part-to the principles, laws and standards upon which our society is based. Such an open society brings with it a new set of problems-primarily that the room for abuse is so large. m$oft, Enron, Drexel-Burnham (for those old enough to remember) are all examples of this. Relevant changes, must occur within the system-not outside of it in the form of widespread piracy, and other illegal activities (this is not math class: two negatives do not make a positive). Be aware of what is going on, contribute $$ to relevant political causes and legal funds, and hopefully goodness will prevail.

[Sarreq Teryx]

Originally posted by macdaddy

If you really want to get up in arms about something, you should be going after micro$oft and the cable/satellite operators-these guys are attempting to have our Constitution (the document which is the origin of ALL American law) rewritten (or ammended) so that their monopolies can legally exist. This, too, will not stand...
That's another thing, there's a provision in the SSSCA that EXEMPTS monopolies from any part of this law.

[chemmajik]

Well the consumer is the ultimate decision maker, they can copyright hdtv & all future formats but if noone buys it, its all hot air to me.
Alls they are ultimately doing is slowing down the move to them future technologies, people will stick with what works without as many hassles, its a known fact.

[Sarreq Teryx]

Originally posted by chemmajik
Well the consumer is the ultimate decision maker, they can copyright hdtv & all future formats but if noone buys it, its all hot air to me.
Alls they are ultimately doing is slowing down the move to them future technologies, people will stick with what works without as many hassles, its a known fact.
Problem there is they're doing it to the broadcast streams, not just DVDs and such. In America, when HDTV is finally put into full use in 2007, ALL analog signal are MANDATED to go offline by the FCC, so there will be no choice to watch the analog stream anymore, there'll just be the DTV one, which now will be encrypted because of the greedy bastards in hollywood (namely jack valenti and the MPAA)

[Sarreq Teryx]

SSSCA Introduced in Senate

and it now it has a pretty new name

Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA)

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51245,00.html
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175389.html
http://politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/hollings.cbdtpa.release.032102.html
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/mpaa.cbdtpa.release.032102.html
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/riaa.cbdtpa.release.032102.html
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/bsa.cspp.iti.release.032102.html