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Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft
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------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 17:53:13 -0700 From: "Karsten M. Self" <kmself@ix.netcom.com> To: Free Software Business <fsb@crynwr.com> Subject: Webnoize: Hollings schedules SSSCA hearings October 25
Mark Lewis of Webnoize reports that hearings on the SSSCA ("Security Systems Standards and Certification Act") are scheduled for October 25. Public and fair-use interests not invited.
Background:
The SSSCA is legislation authored by Senators Hollings (D-SC) and Stevens (R-AK) that would mandate copy prevention controls on every piece of electronic hardware, and every computer program, with no exceptions. It was first publicized in early September. Sponsorship appears to come from Disney corporation.
The law would make illegal a broad range of hardware, and would effectively render the burgeoning free software movement a criminal movement. The focus on digital television, and language in the statute on "time shifting", also appears to ban such pedestrian activities as recording programs for repeated playing from TV broadcasts. This language has *not been revised*, according to
http://news.webnoize.com/item.rs?ID=14477 Hollings Sets Hearing on Copy Control, Explains Need for New Law
Executives from Walt Disney, News Corp. and Thomson Multimedia will testify next week on Capitol Hill on the need for a proposed bill that ensures that computers and digital devices prevent individuals from making unauthorized copies of media, whether the content is copyrighted or not.
Scheduled for October 25, the Senate Commerce Committee hearing will provide the first congressional forum to probe Disney's and News Corp.'s support for an unintroduced draft bill that would require all hardware manufacturers, networking companies and web sites to use security technologies approved by the federal government.
Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) drafted the bill, called the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act, at the urging of Disney and News Corp., which have sought new legal guarantees for the protection of digital movies and digital TV broadcasts. A Senate source said it hasn't been determined whether the bill will be introduced in the remaining weeks of this congressional session. The bill's draft language, first reported by Webnoize, hasn't been revised [see 09.7.01 Hollings' Draft Bill Presents Radical Changes to Hardware and Copyright Law, Document Shows].
...
Some computer and electronics attorneys believe their industries might eventually agree to a bill that only establishes copy-control for digital video and requires technology to prevent consumers from distributing digital TV files through the Internet.
Closing that loophole is a problem because digital TV is broadcast without any encryption. Some industry attorneys believe that a law is needed to force manufacturers to build sets and recorders that use encryption, because a licensing system to require encryption could run afoul of antitrust law.
...
Hollings' letter, which was also sent to lobbying groups the Business Software Alliance and the Consumer Electronics Association, chastised the organizations for offering their leaders to testify at the October 25 hearing, but not senior executives from member companies. Members include 3Com, Apple, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Sony Electronics and hundreds of others.
...
Disney and News Corp. secured witness spots for their top executives -- Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner and News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin. Other conglomerates' studios, notably Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures and AOL Time Warner's Warner Bros., haven't chimed in to support the bill, having already agreed to use encryption co-developed by Matsushita, Sony, Hitachi, Intel and Toshiba for movies delivered over cable and satellite systems.
Thomson, the French electronics giant, snagged a witness spot for Jim Meyer, the firm's highest-ranking American and a special advisor to Thomson's chairman. Eager to accelerate its digital TV business and protect its MP3 audio business, Thomson is taking a careful political position on the issue.
...
Non-profit public interest groups haven't been invited to the hearing, which has motivated them to take action. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is drafting a letter to Hollings asking that the EFF, librarians or consumer groups be included, according to Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual property attorney for the EFF.
Branding the bill "DMCA 2," after the highly controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the EFF states on its web site that Hollings' bill would eliminate the "preservation or protection of fair use, first sale, the public domain, or any of the other rights reserved for the public by copyright law."
"We're also talking to other interested parties, including the Consumer Electronics Association, the Home Recording Rights Coalition, and ACM [Association for Computing Machinery], as well as several technology companies, about the possibility of building a broad coalition to oppose the bill," emailed von Lohmann.
The hearing is called "Promoting Broadband: Securing Content and Accelerating the Transition to Digital Television." At press time, the hearing had not been postponed due to a clean-up project to remove anthrax bacteria sent to the office of Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the Democratic majority leader.
For additional background, see:
Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (Full Text) http://cryptome.org/sssca.htm
Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (Analysis) http://www.politechbot.com/docs/hollings.090701.html
EFF Alert: Defeat SSSCA: http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010921_eff_sssca_alert.html
USACM letter to Sen. Hollings criticizing draft SSSCA bill http://www.politechbot.com/p-02591.html http://www.acm.org/usacm/SSSCA-letter.html
Sen. Hollings plans to introduce DMCA sequel: The SSSCA http://www.politechbot.com/p-02483.html
Anti-SSSCA petition asks Congress not to pass draft bill http://www.politechbot.com/p-02488.html
Hollywood lobbyists laud SSSCA as "exceedingly reasonable" bill http://www.politechbot.com/p-02499.html