WARNING: The following is a rant. I would love to get feedback though. I remember at a CRIME meeting a long time ago, HDCP was discussed. The question that I have about HDCP is whether it will render current models of HDTV sets obsolete. The reason being, that I just purchased a HDTV set and would be quite annoyed (along with 2 million other early adopters) if my investment was rendered obsolete within the next few years. In addition, the CBDPTA (Hollings Bill) has come before Congress. Frankly, I'm pretty annoyed by the introduction of this bill. While it is fair to say that copyright holders' interests need to be protected, the fair use rights of the consumer also need to be protected. The internet has truly changed the idea of copyright, and instead of changing their business models to embrace new technology, many production houses have decided to fight innovation and have entrenched themselves in the old paradigm. (Example: Michael Eisner decrying Apple for "condoning" copyright infringement through their Rip, Mix, Burn advertisement for the iBook). I for one rip songs off of CD's I own and like to create my own mixes for my drive down to Eugene. Will I soon be a law breaker if I do that with a copy protected CD? I really hope not, and I certainly don't want my first sale doctrine rights legislated away. Do you agree with Edward Felten when he said "every copy protection scheme for general purpose computers that has undergone serious public scrutiny has been found to be ineffective. Consider what will happen if a government mandated protection measure turns out not to work. Such a measure would do many things: it would inconvenience honest consumers; it would raise the price of media players; it would lengthen product development cycles; it would impede the development of new and better standards. Everyone would suffer, except the pirates. The industry that devised the measure would look technically inept, and the government that mandated its use would look worse."? I know we're an organization which is founded to help prevent cyber/electronic crime, but what happens when the laws go too far? Do we need a Consumer Technology Bill of Rights? What's your stance? T. Kenji Sugahara Chief Operating Officer counterclaim Phone: 541-484-9235 Fax: 541-484-9193
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