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.