[wplug] poli: the SSSCA threat is real

[David Ostroske]

Hey everyone,

Sorry to leak more politics into WPLUG. But if you 
haven't been reading up on this, you might someday 
be shocked to discover that Linux has been outlawed.

It works like this: under the CBDTPA, a bill now 
before Congress, you can't sell hardware that 
doesn't have (secret) copy protection built in. The 
copy-protection scheme would have to be a part of 
the Linux kernel, which would make it illegal, 
because compiling and running the open-source code 
would count as circumventing the copy protection.

http://www.eff.org/IP/SSSCA_CBDTPA/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html
http://slashdot.org/askslashdot/02/04/04/203234.shtml?tid=116
http://www.lemurzone.com/news/march312002.htm
http://www.digitalconsumer.org/

That last link gives you a way to fax your rep in 
Congress a message stating opposition to the CBDTPA. 
Might be a good idea to throw a word in at the end 
about Linux or your (other) favorite open-source OS.

And apparently, there's a movement to create a 
Political Action Committee for geeks. Draft info 
here:
http://www.thelinuxshow.com/otc.htm

One major reason I bring this up: lawmakers don't 
know what all this tech stuff is about, or why it's 
empowering, and we've got to let them know why it's 
important, before they start legislating it out of 
existence.

--- David Ostroske
    eksortso at linuxmail.org


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