Extra! Extra! Even more people than previously suspected think the CBDTPA sucks!
(and for a wide variety of reasons!)

See: Digital-Copyright Bill Inspires Flurry of Criticism.

See Alex Salkever’s:
Guard Copyrights, Don’t Jail Innovation
— Senator Hollings’ call for hardware-embedded anticopying measures is the last thing consumers and the entertainment industry need.

In this case, however, the proposed cure is far worse than the disease. Introducing copyright-protection mechanisms into almost all digital hardware clearly flouts the interests of consumers. And it’s more evidence that, when it comes to delivering content in the 21st century, the entertainment industry is hell-bent on stifling technology, rather than using it in ways that eventually could become highly profitable. Hollings’ proposal hands control over the innovative forces that drive tech development to some of the most change-resistant companies in the world.

This isn’t the first such proposal. Similar bills have come up in the past few years. But unlike those efforts, this one may actually pass. It has the gung-ho backing of the movie industry, especially Disney, and the record labels, two of the most influential lobbying bodies in D.C. Meanwhile, the high-tech industry that fought so hard to fend off past attempts at mandatory copyright protection is distracted by its own woes and is hardly in a position to take a stand on anything, let alone a touchy issue such as piracy.

Declan McCullah was impressively at his post first thing last Monday morning* with three excellent stories on the SSSCA2 (the CBDTPA) for Wired News.
(*Unlike some people I know that couldn’t get to writing about it until today 🙂

What Hollings’ Bill Would Do

Anti-Copy Bill Slams Coders

Anti-Copy Bill Hits D.C.

Quote from the EFF’s Effector on the subject:

Imagine a world where all digital media technology is either mandatory or
forbidden — Senator Fritz Hollings and a cabal of Hollywood
entertainment interests are cooking up a set of laws aimed at conjuring
this apocalyptic world into existence.

Today, Senator Hollings introduced the alarming Consumer Broadband and
Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA), which will give Hollywood
plutocrats the power to stall new digital media technologies for a year,
negotiating a phony “consensus” at lawyer-point with technologists. This
“consensus” will receive the force of law, prescribing which user-hostile
features are mandatory and which innovative features are forbidden.
CBDTPA is derived from the draft SSSCA (Security Systems & Standards
Certification Act), the subject of our last alert.

Both the House and the Senate have called for comments on the future of
digital music, an issue that is deeply entwined with technology mandates.

Send your comments to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Chairman Patrick Leahy and Ranking
Republican Member Orrin Hatch via form at:
http://judiciary.senate.gov/special/input_form.cfm?comments=1

You can also send your comments by email and fax to The Hon. Howard Coble, Chair of the The House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet & Intellectual Property at:
howard.coble@mail.house.gov
Fax: +1 202-225-3673
(I’m emailing AND faxing!)

I sure hope we can get Congress to listen to reason, so I don’t have to go to Washington DC and participate in a Million Geek March!

I’d rather focus on my work, but my livelihood depends on innovation, and innovation will be effectively stifled if this legislation goes through.

For more information about contacting your legislators and other government officials, see the EFF‘s “Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers” guide.