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[atlarge-discuss] FW: Reject Senate Bill 655



Below is a copy of a message sent to my state senator regarding a law being
pushed in our state senate.  The Motion Picture Association of America has
been pushing similar laws in all 50 states, trying to make an end-run around
the US Congress.  US members, please get smart on this isssue and fight your
own battles against similar attempts in your state.

Bruce Young
Portland, Oregon USA
bruce@barelyadequate.info
http://www.barelyadequate.info
--------------------------------------------
Support democratic control of the Internet!
Go to http://www.icannatlarge.org and Join ICANN At Large!


|  -----Original Message-----
|  From: bruce@barelyadequate.info [mailto:bruce@barelyadequate.info]
|  Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 11:02 PM
|  To: 'sen.margaretcarter@state.or.us'
|  Subject: Reject Senate Bill 655
|
|
|  I am writing you today to communicate my objection, in the
|  strongest of terms, to Senate Bill 655, sponsored by Senator
|  Charles Starr
|  (http://www.leg.state.or.us/03reg/measures/sb0600.dir/sb0655.intr
|  o.html).  This bill, one of the many so-called "Super DMCA"
|  bills being lobbied for in state legislatures all over the
|  country by the Motion Picture Association of America, is being
|  promoted as an attempt to prevent piracy of digital media.  At
|  this time I won't address the curtailment of digital
|  intellectual property rights this legislation would impose on
|  Oregon consumers in the name of protecting Big Media profits (if
|  you are interested in examining *this* aspect of this bill,
|  please check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation's page on
|  the subject at
|  http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/states/200304_sdmca_eff_analysis.php).
|    Instead, I will concentrate on the aspect of this bill that is
|  most troubling to me as a computer professional: it would make
|  illegal my ability to protect my Internet-connected home
|  computer from hackers looking for it, by making routers using
|  Network Address Translation (NAT) illegal.
|
|  Please understand the scope of this proposed law: virtually
|  every home or small office connected to the Internet using cable
|  or DSL broadband has or will eventually have a device called a
|  router that is used to connect more than one computer to their
|  single broadband Internet connection.  Perhaps you have one at
|  home yourself.  NAT is a feature built into most of the routers
|  sold for home and small-office use.  It works by using a
|  different set of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to manage the
|  computers you hook to it, and "translates" the various IP
|  Addresses on your home network to the single IP address going
|  out to your ISP, therefore masking the true IP address of the
|  PC.  Since the address spaces these routers typically use reside
|  in "non-routable" address spaces reserved for local network use
|  only (i.e., the big routers out on the Internet are hard-wired
|  to ignore the addresses they use!), NAT provides added security
|  for computers hooked to routers that use it.  Thus a hacker on
|  the other side of your router is not easily able to "touch" your
|  PC because they can't even see it.
|
|  SB 655 would change this, by making it illegal for a person to
|  hide the true IP address of his or her PC.  Not only would this
|  make the Internet less secure for Oregon's broadband users, it
|  would also force us to abandon millions of dollars worth of
|  existing networking equipment.  This would not be a trivial
|  expense for many of us, particularly in this time of economic
|  challenge for many Oregon families.
|
|  Just so you needn't think I'm the only one concerned about this
|  issue, I offer for your review links to four of numerous recent
|  articles on the subject, by respected voices in technology and the law:
|
|  Use a Firewall, Go to Jail
|  Prof. Edward Felten
|  http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000336.html
|
|
|  Lawmakers Outlaw Firewalls
|  Dan Gillmor, ComputerWorld
|
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/privacy/story/0,10801,8
0245,00.html?nas=MGT-80245
|
|
|  New Law Putting Net-and You-at Risk
|  Jim Rapoza, eWeek
|  http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1032977,00.asp
|
|
|  'Super-DMCA' fears suppress security research
|  Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus
|  http://www.securityfocus.com/news/3912
|
|
|  I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to reject Senate Bill 655,
and to enlighten your fellow senators as to the the most-troubling |
aspects of this flawed bill.
|
|  Thank you for your time and attention.
|


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