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"No more than two years and seven months
after the (Consumer Broadband and Digital Television
Promotion Act) bill becomes law, the only code programmers
and software firms will be able to distribute must
have embedded copy-protection schemes approved by
the federal government."
As I sit here reading these words quoted in Charles
W. Moore's Applelinks article "More
On The Washington/Hollywood Plot To Destroy Computing
And The Internet", it suddenly strikes me
as an undeniable fact that certain undesirable elements
of our society are working as hard as they can to
destroy all that we have worked for and hold dear.
These undesirables are none other than the disgustingly
rich executives of the entertainment cartels and the
shills they have purchased lock, stock, and barrel
in Washington. They wish to take many rights and privileges
that we have fought for over the last few decades
away from us with one sweeping piece of legislation.
Senator Ernest Hollings' thoroughly anti-American
"Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion
Act" will make the DMCA look like a friendly
reminder. The CBDTPA will fully criminalize failure
to adhere to copy-protection laws and Hollywood/Washington
approved protection-tracking schemes.
This directly affects every person who
owns and operates digital equipment in the United
States. Simply by owning non-approved equipment, you
risk violating the law, and having agents of the entertainment
industry descend upon you. That's right, along with
the DMCA, this act will put power and authority in
the hands of Hollywood. Hollywood lawyers will essentially
have police power where "copyrighted content"
is concerned. And just remember, their plan does not
include protection for people like myself and other
independent writers, artists, musicians, and the like.
Perhaps there's a clause that will provide for Thought
Police to do away with nonconformists who object to
this debauchery?
To think that an American could muster the gall to
deal such a slap in the face to the people of this
nation disgusts me. Mr. Hollings is deserving neither
of our respect, or of continued tenure in office.
The people of South Carolina should demand his immediate
removal from his position (you guys can do that, you
know). He has pimped his loyalties and put our way
of life up to the highest bidder. His Orwellian vision
of the future of technology cannot be allowed to come
to pass. We, as intelligent, honest, upstanding citizens
of the United States of America should make our thoughts
and wishes known.
The entertainment industry has made it clear that
they see us, the public, as not only their customer,
but as their enemy. How they can reconcile this in
their feeble brains, I know not, but they've managed
it. They see us as nothing more than animals who,
if given the choice, will always steal their content.
That consumers are some lower race, not worthy of
such things as trust, and choice, and expression.
We should feel lucky that they allow us to consume
the asinine garbage they spew at us. I'm just a little
insulted by this. Aren't you?
The Fundamental Problem
In recent years, the entertainment cartels have
incurred farther and farther on our constitutional
rights, to the tune of billions of dollars in settlements,
the destruction of "fair use" privileges,
and the setting up of a Mafia-like gang of legal thugs
to deal with anyone who would stand in the way of
Hollywood. These content-owning godfathers are no
longer happy to create and sell their content in the
free marketplace. They want complete, federally-approved
control over creation, delivery, and viewing of all
information in the United States.
There is one slight problem. They do not comprehend
the massive opposition they are facing. By 2002, digital
technologies as they currently exist have taken every
field by storm. A veritable blitzkrieg of devices,
software, methods, theories, and concepts have turned
our world on its ear. Our mass culture has been redefined
in terms of the Internet. For the first time in history,
people of all nations and cultures have some access
to free information and ideas. This has long been
a dream of academics and philosophers, and it is now
upon us. But, like all things in our modern day world,
it has been cheapened and bastardized by commercial
interests. No longer can you get on the Web and find
true "free thinking". The Internet of today
is dominated by the same massive corporations that
dominate television, music distribution, and moviemaking.
We CANNOT allow this to continue.
We must put a stop to this incessant forward march.
This endless, never-tiring arm that is assimilating
the last bastions of free thought. Like locusts their
lawyers scour the Internet, searching for the tiniest
instances of "copyright infringement". To
quote Patrick Stewart from Star Trek: First Contact,
we must let them know that they will come "this
far, no further."
This oligarchy must be stopped before it does any
damage beyond what has already been done. Will it
take a revolution? Not in a guns-and-bombs sense,
no. But a revolution nonetheless. If the entertainment
cartels have their way, we might as well throw our
computers, radios, CD players, MP3 players, VCRs,
and camcorders into a bonfire and become drones in
their draconian vision of the "digital world".
What Can Be Done?
There's a huge number of ways to show that we mean
business. As profiteers, the best way to hurt them
is to shoot them in their pocketbook. An all-out boycott
of the entertainment industry is needed. I, for one,
would not miss the drab excuses for entertainment
that come over the airwaves. We'll show them that
we can find other ways to entertain ourselves without
their worthless products.
Next, an endless letter-writing campaign to Washington.
Contact your congressman. Email them, call their office,
send them letters. Do not stop. Make sure that they
know that you are serious about this. Be polite, be
gracious, but be FIRM. Let it be clear that this is
an issue that will affect the entire nation, perhaps
the world, and that if they make the wrong decision,
then their job will only be a formality, as the government
will be controlled from the West Coast.
This campaign should also include many a letter to
Senator Ernest "Fritz the Sellout" Hollings
(D, SC). Clog his inbox with harsh words. Let him
know the truth: that he is nothing but a shill to
Hollywood, and himself and his rich friends are as
anti-American as Osama bin Laden. Let him know that
what he is doing is WRONG. That it flies in the face
of everything this nation stands for. Call him a Nazi
bookburner, call him what you will, but let him know
that you mean business. He should know that we'd like
to see him tarred and feathered as well. Perhaps he
might want to know that the Lord does not look kindly
upon those who worship false idols… such as the
Dollar.
We should talk to the people who produce our digital
technology. These people are as concerned with this
bill as you and I. If it passes, they will become
serfs, and the entertainment cartels their lords.
We should go to Apple, to Sony, to media manufacturers,
and yes… to Intel and Microsoft, Dell, and Gateway.
This is one of those issues that can make strange
bedfellows of people. The PC industry sees Apple and
their followers as outsiders, but they need us, as
we need them in this, dare I say, dark time. The cartels
will eventually own not only the creation of content,
the delivery of it, but also the production of the
equipment on which it is viewed. The technology industry
knows this, and can fight with a lot of force, but
unfortunately, not even Microsoft has the power to
withstand siege from Hollywood.
If Worse Comes to Worst
I cannot imagine this disgusting thing coming to
pass, but we should be prepared if it does. Buy computers
NOW. Buy digital devices NOW. Find new ways to get
entertainment. Wean yourself from television, radio,
store-bought CDs, DVDs, the movie theatre. If this
bill passes, we should declare financial war on Hollywood.
They're big, but without customers buying their slop,
they will die. And die they should if we are forced
to live with the fruits of their endless greed.
If this bill passes, a black market will appear very
quickly. A black market not just in material objects,
such as CDs, DVDs, players, and the like, but a black
market of ideas. Free thought will become an underground
movement, much as it was in Nazi Germany, or the Soviet
Union under Stalin. Should we fear intellectual purging?
Will we sit in our homes and hope we are not the target
of legal action because we simply possesses the technical
knowledge to circumvent copy protection, or because
someone reported one of us for having a VCR hooked
up to our TV that might be used to record shows.
These are the possible implications of this bill.
It protects nobody but the filthy rich. Its creators
aim to cripple us and force us into an intellectual
dark age, with information and knowledge controlled
by an oligarchy of the financially elite. The battle
for freedom of expression is on again, my friends,
and the ball's in our court. Let's not fumble, or
we could lose everything.
Stuffit
7 (10-18-02) Dr. Neale Monks. What purpose does file compression have
in this day of 100 GB hard drives? Is version 7 worthy of the upgrade fees?
Fireworks
MX (10-8-02) Dean Browell. Fireworks is more than just a pretty face;
The last app I needed to convert entirely to OS X delivers in upgrades and
features as well...
Dreamweaver
MX (10-8-02) Joel Davies. Not being satisfied with just carbonizing it's
product, Macromedia made sure that Dreamweaver MX was the killer app for web
design.
SliMP3
(9-6-02) Pat St-Arnaud. The SliMP3 is a small, simple and elegant network
devices that connects to any audio component with RCA inputs and lets you
browse, search and play music directly from your computer's MP3 collection.
Voyager
III v.3 (8-16-02) Dr. Neale Monks. Carina's Voyager is the grandfather
of Mac planetarium programs, but does it still have what it takes to keep
up the current generation?
CodeWarrior
8 (8-16-02) Douglas A. Welton. Doug dives into the latest version of this
robust multi-platform programming tool.
STM
Sports Backpack (8-9-02) Pierre Igot. How will this backpack designed
for the "global digerati" stack up when Pierre puts it to the test
with his mobile digital lifestyle?
Scope
Driver (8-2-02) Dr. Neale Monks. An alternative to the 'point and click'
telescope control paradigm: a powerful list-based utility for Autostar and
LX200 telescopes.
Apple
Final Cut Pro 3.0 (7-19-02) Michael Tate Jones. Tate reviews the video-editing
powerhouse Final Cut Pro 3 and sizes up its competition. Does Final Cut Pro
3 hold its ground?
Strata
DVpro RME (7-16-02) Matt Frederick. Matt Frederick. Matt takes a comprehensive
look at Strata DVpro, Strata's pro-level non-linear editor for digital video.
Stargazer's
Delight (6-28-02) Dr. Neale Monks. Looking for a viable shareware alternative
to the big commercial astronomy software packages? Neale may have found one.
TheSky
(6-21-02) Dr. Neale Monks. Neale takes a look at the easiest to use planetarium
program for the Mac.
NI
FM7 (6-21-02) Matt Frederick. Matt takes this software replica of Yamaha's
DX7 synthesizer for a test drive.
The
Digital Universe (6-14-02) Neale Monks. Planetarium program, astronomy
encyclopaedia and space flight simulator all rolled into one - could The Digital
Universe be the ClarisWorks of astronomy software? Neale Monks takes a look.
After
Effects 5.5 (5-31-02) Michael Tate Jones. Tate reviews the OS X native
version of After Effects and likes what he sees.
InDesign
2.0 for Non-Professional Designers (5-24-02) Pierre Igot. In the second
part of our review of Adobe InDesign 2.0 for Mac OS X, Pierre Igot looks at
InDesign from the point-of-view of the non-professional designer - and finds
plenty to like.
Corel
Graphics Suite, Part 2 (5-24-02) Dean Browell. CorelDraw returns in full
force and Corel R.A.V.E makes its debut.
Corel
Graphics Suite, Part 1 (5-17-02) Dean Browell. CorelDraw is back, and
it's brought some powerful friends that makes this Suite worth the look...
OmniGraffle
2.0 (5-10-02) András Puiz. Analog napkins are so 20th century --
this gem from OmniGroup knows (almost) all about diagramming. András
Puiz wishes all Mac developers developed a similar understanding of Aqua,
and of Mac OS X in general.
Watson
(5-03-02) Michael Tate Jones. Tate discovers a 'Swiss Army Knife' for OS X...
it's called Watson.
