This Must Be Stoped

[xbnmx]

Spread the word, we've all got to fight this off as hard as we can... Spread the word everywhere possible...

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=728226

[DuRaNgO]

signed and sealed.

[xbnmx]

?

I didn't understand what you meant in that post, care to clarify?

[Kruzin]

This has nothing to do with Matrox Hardware.

Relocated to The Soap Box.

[xbnmx]

Umm...

If passed, it will outlaw Matrox hardware...

[KvHagedorn]

Am I allowed to hate Michael Eisner?

Manipulative corporate scum..

[xbnmx]

C'mon Guys!

Sign the petition...

http://www.petitiononline.com/SSSCA/petition.html

[KvHagedorn]

Much is at stake for media companies and equipment makers, and neither has been willing to budge. The studios estimate they lose $3 billion a year to piracy, not including Internet downloads of 350,000 to 400,000 movies a day. They want to stem those losses and protect movies and TV shows in future formats. They want that copy protection done with technology built into all new electronic devices.

And taxpayers lose more than $3 Billion per year paying whores like Fritz Hollings to barter our rights away to the highest bidding corporation!

Why should the majority of voters give a rat's ass about these scumbags who are already overpaid losing some small sliver of their ill-gotten gains? It doesn't matter. The majority of voters don't run this country, the corporations do. We get fed drivel like Jerry Springer in hopes that we will be dumbed down to the point where most of us are willing slaves. The government only cares about the rights of rich media bastards like Michael Eisner.

Hollywood and the makers of TVs, PCs and other electronics were told Thursday that they must resolve their differences over future copy protection technologies or Congress will.

And where does the average consumer come in? does he get any say in the debate? No. He is a non-entity. He buys what's offered and shuts the **** up.

[xbnmx]

I know...

WE MUST STOP THIS AT ALL COSTS!

[DuRaNgO]

Originally posted by DuRaNgO
signed and sealed.

as I said,,, signed......and sealed with a kiss

[Dr Mordrid]

After reading the actual legislation here is what I get out of it;

The basic thrust of this seems to be to implement a more secure infrastructure, and given how easily cyberwar could be waged without it this may not be a bad idea. Specifically;

1. mandated security for infrastructure and networks. No problem with that these days.

2. mandated media copyright enforcement. The MPAA certainly put this one in there and I agree that this provision needs to go.

3. the only "outlawing" of systems I see is when using non-secured components manufactured AFTER the enforcement date.

Building systems made from non-secured components manufactured BEFORE the enforcement date is still permitted. I see nothing specifically outlawing self-assembled systems other than those made with components without security manufactured AFTER the enforcement date.

A "secure" device for networks would likely would mean something like installing an enhanced NAT firewall in cable/dsl modems etc. Something like the Linksys router uses.

As far as media content protection goes, this is already being put into chipsets. An example would be the new IEEE-1394 enabled multimedia chips made by Philips. IEEE-1394 is likely to be the new interconnect between TV's, decks etc.

Dr. Mordrid

[Gurm]

Dr. M.,

The problem is that they don't delimit the devices they're talking about. Hard Drives, motherboards, chipsets, CPU's... all fall into their definition of devices.

- Gurm

[The Rock]

Thank GOD I'm Canadian. Otherwise, you'd get my vote. That act is SICK.

Bart

[Wombat]

I don't think it matters much that you're Canadian. I can't see all of these companies making two versions of their hardware, so you'd be stuck with what we're stuck with. Keep in mind how nVidia/Intel/AMD/Micron/Maxtor/IBM/WD etc are all based in America, even if a lot of manufacturing is done in the East.

The good news is that Intel has taken a firm stance against this legislation, and the tech industry is so much bigger than Hollywood that they stand to lose about as much as the entertainment industry is worth.

The best summary I've seen of Hollings is (D-Disney)

It's about time the MPAA/RIAA realized that the world is changing, and not even outrageous legislation can preserve their current business model. Sometimes progress means that old professions fall into oblivion, and their time has come.

[KvHagedorn]

Sometimes progress means that old professions fall into oblivion, and their time has come.

If you mean suited billionaire pimps like Eisner, Katzenberg, Geffen, Time-Warner, etc. are going to stop doing what they do (ripping off artists by taking all profit from their work and then turning around and wailing that average Joes are ripping them off, depriving them of a tiny sliver of their ill-gotten billions) that would just be too good to be true. I would really like to see Michael Eisner burn in hell, he's such slithering slime. Poor Walt Disney is probably turning in his grave.

What do you expect from a society that allows someone like Mike Tyson to make 4000 times as much money as a daycare worker or a teacher? As I have said, the only culture we share in America is greed. We are all powerless as the rich celebrities buy politicians left and right. I would be very surprised to find that Fritz Hollings was not on the take big time from Hollywood on this one. The lowlife arrogant beltway worms we elect to congress do nothing for the people who elected them. They just sell their services to the highest bidder.