Ryan Wright
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2000
- Messages
- 1,875
This is a scary bill.
It would mandate the use of DRM (digital rights management) in all computer systems. What does this mean to you? Plenty.
- Microsoft has pioneered DRM research. Their DRM software may very well become industry standard, since they can deploy it (or may already have) on millions of PCs worldwide. This effectively extends their monopoly many times over.
- Linux and other alternative operating systems will GO AWAY FOR GOOD. Don't believe me? Wait until your system BIOS refuses to boot the PC unless it detects an operating system with the appropriate DRM software. And what will that appropriate software be? Microsoft's. And how much will they try to charge Linux users to license it? $Millions. They don't want Linux around. Linux is the only real threat to their server market, so they can just refuse to license their DRM technology or charge huge fees if forced to do so.
- Allow you to keep your fair use rights? Yeah, right! Copy protected CDs on store shelves now prevent you from making a fair use copy. You can't turn them into MP3s, heck, you can't even listen to them on your computer. Attempting to get around this protection is a violation of the DMCA and can land you in big trouble. With fair use rights already being stripped away, do you really think they will be preserved in this new bill?
This bill is a major problem and there is a very real threat of it passing. I urge you to write your congressmen and tell them you oppose this bill.
Preston Padden, head of government relations for Disney: "There is no right to fair use. Fair use is a defense against infringement."
Source: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,49201,00.html
For those that don't know what fair use laws are: Fair use allows you to make a copy of a recording for your own personal use. When you copy a CD to a tape to listen to in the car, that's fair use. When you copy a CD to another CD to take somewhere so you don't damage your real CD, that's fair use. When you transfer the contents of a CD to an MP3 player, that's fair use. The RIAA would like to take fair use away from you. They don't believe consumers have a right to fair use despite it being law. Copy protected CDs combined with the DMCA have already taken fair use away from you: Sure, you still have the RIGHT to copy the CD, but the label has put copy protection on it that prevents you from doing this. Oh, and if you get around that protection, you can go to jail under the DMCA. But hey, you still have the RIGHT to copy it, don't you?
The ultimate goal of the media companies (RIAA, and eventually the MPAA) is a pay per use scheme. They don't want you to own any content, they want you to pay every time you watch a movie, or hear a song. We all know that they tried this with DivX and it failed horribly, but now they (the RIAA in particular) are using legislation to accomplish the same goal.
Case in point: These new RIAA sponsered music download services. You know, legal Napsters. They're online now, but they only let you burn a small portion of the songs you download to CD. What's worse, you can't copy your songs to another computer nor to an MP3 player - they won't work. Oh, and of course you pay good money for these features. But wait, it gets even worse: If you cancel your service or otherwise quit paying them their monthly fees, every song you've ever downloaded from them expires immediately and you are unable to access it. Isn't that lovely? You pay to download the music and then you continue paying for the rest of your life if you want to continue to hear it! OH, and RealOne's service only lets you listen to 200 tracks at a time. Doesn't matter if you've been subscribed for years and have downloaded (and paid for) thousands of tracks, you're only allowed to keep 200 on your hard drive at any given time.
Source: http://www.shift.com/web/feature/feature014a.asp
Now they're shutting Internet radio down. New CARP recommendations are mandating many thousands of dollars in fees for broadcasting songs over the Internet. This is no different than radio, yet sites that stream music over the net are going to have fees levied on them that are many times higher than what radio stations pay. Worse, these fees are RETROACTIVE back to 1998 when the DMCA was passed. Somafm.com a station that I listen to, has calculated their ~$1000 per year broadcasting fees will be increasing to about $1000 PER DAY. And, oh, that part about being retroactive? They could find themselves owing hundreds of thousands of dollars. This, a site run by a couple of people that barely scrapes by, makes no profit whatsoever, and relies on donations to stay online. Essentially, Internet Radio is going to cease to exist once this fees go into effect.
Source: http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/0...dio/index.html
This is where it's heading, folks. Down the long road to nastiness. They can't talk consumers into paying for this garbage so instead they're forcing them to through the use & abuse of our legal system. The only thing that's going to stop it now is a country-wide revolt by the people... I'm doing my part: I quit buying CDs when they forced Napster to shutdown and now only listen to the radio (both broadcast and streaming over the Internet) or unsigned artists. I still buy DVDs, unfortunately, I'm weak in that area...
Sorry for the long rant. I'm overjoyed to be able to post this message on the HTF. I've wanted to do so for a long time now. While politics are disallowed these are huge issues that are affecting all of us, and I applaud the moderators and owners of the HTF for allowing this discussion to continue...
It would mandate the use of DRM (digital rights management) in all computer systems. What does this mean to you? Plenty.
- Microsoft has pioneered DRM research. Their DRM software may very well become industry standard, since they can deploy it (or may already have) on millions of PCs worldwide. This effectively extends their monopoly many times over.
- Linux and other alternative operating systems will GO AWAY FOR GOOD. Don't believe me? Wait until your system BIOS refuses to boot the PC unless it detects an operating system with the appropriate DRM software. And what will that appropriate software be? Microsoft's. And how much will they try to charge Linux users to license it? $Millions. They don't want Linux around. Linux is the only real threat to their server market, so they can just refuse to license their DRM technology or charge huge fees if forced to do so.
- Allow you to keep your fair use rights? Yeah, right! Copy protected CDs on store shelves now prevent you from making a fair use copy. You can't turn them into MP3s, heck, you can't even listen to them on your computer. Attempting to get around this protection is a violation of the DMCA and can land you in big trouble. With fair use rights already being stripped away, do you really think they will be preserved in this new bill?
This bill is a major problem and there is a very real threat of it passing. I urge you to write your congressmen and tell them you oppose this bill.
Preston Padden, head of government relations for Disney: "There is no right to fair use. Fair use is a defense against infringement."
Source: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,49201,00.html
For those that don't know what fair use laws are: Fair use allows you to make a copy of a recording for your own personal use. When you copy a CD to a tape to listen to in the car, that's fair use. When you copy a CD to another CD to take somewhere so you don't damage your real CD, that's fair use. When you transfer the contents of a CD to an MP3 player, that's fair use. The RIAA would like to take fair use away from you. They don't believe consumers have a right to fair use despite it being law. Copy protected CDs combined with the DMCA have already taken fair use away from you: Sure, you still have the RIGHT to copy the CD, but the label has put copy protection on it that prevents you from doing this. Oh, and if you get around that protection, you can go to jail under the DMCA. But hey, you still have the RIGHT to copy it, don't you?
The ultimate goal of the media companies (RIAA, and eventually the MPAA) is a pay per use scheme. They don't want you to own any content, they want you to pay every time you watch a movie, or hear a song. We all know that they tried this with DivX and it failed horribly, but now they (the RIAA in particular) are using legislation to accomplish the same goal.
Case in point: These new RIAA sponsered music download services. You know, legal Napsters. They're online now, but they only let you burn a small portion of the songs you download to CD. What's worse, you can't copy your songs to another computer nor to an MP3 player - they won't work. Oh, and of course you pay good money for these features. But wait, it gets even worse: If you cancel your service or otherwise quit paying them their monthly fees, every song you've ever downloaded from them expires immediately and you are unable to access it. Isn't that lovely? You pay to download the music and then you continue paying for the rest of your life if you want to continue to hear it! OH, and RealOne's service only lets you listen to 200 tracks at a time. Doesn't matter if you've been subscribed for years and have downloaded (and paid for) thousands of tracks, you're only allowed to keep 200 on your hard drive at any given time.
Source: http://www.shift.com/web/feature/feature014a.asp
Now they're shutting Internet radio down. New CARP recommendations are mandating many thousands of dollars in fees for broadcasting songs over the Internet. This is no different than radio, yet sites that stream music over the net are going to have fees levied on them that are many times higher than what radio stations pay. Worse, these fees are RETROACTIVE back to 1998 when the DMCA was passed. Somafm.com a station that I listen to, has calculated their ~$1000 per year broadcasting fees will be increasing to about $1000 PER DAY. And, oh, that part about being retroactive? They could find themselves owing hundreds of thousands of dollars. This, a site run by a couple of people that barely scrapes by, makes no profit whatsoever, and relies on donations to stay online. Essentially, Internet Radio is going to cease to exist once this fees go into effect.
Source: http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/0...dio/index.html
This is where it's heading, folks. Down the long road to nastiness. They can't talk consumers into paying for this garbage so instead they're forcing them to through the use & abuse of our legal system. The only thing that's going to stop it now is a country-wide revolt by the people... I'm doing my part: I quit buying CDs when they forced Napster to shutdown and now only listen to the radio (both broadcast and streaming over the Internet) or unsigned artists. I still buy DVDs, unfortunately, I'm weak in that area...
Sorry for the long rant. I'm overjoyed to be able to post this message on the HTF. I've wanted to do so for a long time now. While politics are disallowed these are huge issues that are affecting all of us, and I applaud the moderators and owners of the HTF for allowing this discussion to continue...
