On Sun, Sep 09, 2001 at 05:45:00PM -0600, Rick Kelly wrote:
> Wolfgang Rupprecht said:
> 
> >A new DMCA-like law is being readied in congress.  This one would
> >mandate that all computers include music-industry approved secure
> >non-copyable storage system.  $500k/5year penalties for noncompliance.
> >It doesn't look like these congressional turkeys have though about the
> >open-source implications of this.
> 
> This could cause a very grim situation for open source. Ultimately,
> it could effectively ban sales of Linux and *BSD, and push them
> underground in the US. Microsoft would have a field day with this.
> They would probably make a great effort to become the "official"
> software for use in the US.
> 
> Who knows? Microsoft may already have something in XP that will do
> the job. It wouldn't surprise me if Billy Gates was in bed with
> the RIAA. IBM already has the drive hardware technology.
> 
> Hopefully, the government is smarter than that...

The government consists largely of alcoholic old white guys who don't
know how to touch-type, but *do* know how to accept large checks with a
smile as they motion to you to bend over.  They're certainly smart enough
to keep getting elected, and the only way you can have any effect at all
on what they do is to make them wonder if, if they do it, they might be
less likely to be motioning for you to bend over in a few years.

In other words, it's a really bad idea to just "hope the government is
smart" about this kind of issue.  You need to contact your 
extortionists^Wcongressmen and let them know that you will actually notice
how they vote on this issue, and that it will be a determining factor as
you decide whether to vote for them next time around.

Believe me, your august representative in Washington would be overjoyed
to give Microsoft a *legislative* monopoly if he thought that he could
stay in Congress for a few more decades by doing so.  These are not men
of principle you're dealing with here; very much the contrary.