From: Kenneth Hurst (k_hurst18@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Aug 01 2002 - 02:06:07 MDT
Giving special rights (especially freedom from litigation) to any one group
is a scary thought, but a new California law could make this nightmare a
reality. (Wouldn't you know the bill's sponsor's constituency includes
Hollywood?)
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,415648,00.asp
"The key provisos of the bill would indemnify, or free from legal penalty,
copyright holders from whatever actions they would need to take to prevent
sharing of copyrighted files."
Protecting copyrights is one thing, but doing so in a manner which elevates
the MPAA, RIAA, etc. to a quasi-police status is not the way to do it. When
the DMCA passed, it was obvious how much of an influence the recording
industry has in Congress. That too was passed under the guise of
"protecting" copyrights.
At least someone is fighting this. The article notes Ed Black, president of
the Computer Communications Industry Association said, "Hollywood moguls
have long railed against illicit tampering with their protected content by
'hackers' and 'Internet pirates.' Now the Hollywood studios and the
recording industry seek statutory authority for their own hacking, spoofing,
and virus attacks, with the capability to shut down many Internet websites
and services at their discretion."
Kenneth Hurst
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