Wow

[A Black Falcon]

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004106.php

[Great Rumbler]

The MPAA and RIAA are determined to alienated the public at all costs.

[Dark Jaguar]

That... is... stupid! That is patently anti... invention! There's a semi-pun in there somewhere...

I should be able to invent anything I want, sans weaponry, with no problem! So what, what happens if someone invents warp holes? Do the car companies get to sue because it puts them out of business? SCREW THEM! That is the IDEA!

[A Black Falcon]

Very stupid... stifiling technology, banning things currently legal, greatly restricting consumer rights to the point where you can barely call them "rights"... all I can do is hope that Congress doesn't go along.

As they say in the article, this makes the broadcast flag that the RIAA/MPAA is also trying to push on people look tame...

[Dark Jaguar]

Now okay you guys, I'm all for whatever limits you put on your own tech to prevent pirating in terms of you have the right to do it. However, if someone else wants to make a device that outperforms yours and allows user modification, and yes, the potential the device could be used for pirating (much in the way that technically a car can be used as a weapon). Let the people who want to create things create them. I really don't care if it threatens someone's pockets. I really only care about a threat to someone's life in a direct fasion.

Sorry big giant companies, I'm for protecting your rights, but not at the expense of my own, and also I really don't care about protecting your pockets. If you fail, then so be it. Lots of people aren't rich.

[Undertow]

So, does this only effect American consumers? If so, then couldn't I just buy some of the equipment they're putting limits on in Canada, where the standards aren't mandantory? Also, could I buy a Sony (are they american? i forget.) recorder in Canada and it'll be fine, or would I have to buy a brand that's made by a Canadian company? That's what I'd like to know.

Hopefully, if that's the case, they won't press congress to bar Americans from buying digital equipment from Canada like they do with medicine. Hopefully, my hyperbole will remain that way.

[Dark Jaguar]

Sony is a Japanese company, trying to sound like the phrase "sonny boy" and failing terribly, I believe I heard somewhere...

And, I suppose you could buy it from Canada, but I live in Oklahoma. It is not a possibility for me. Land locked, I am pretty much forced to either pay high prices to import or just buy from the US with whatever restrictions may be in place.

Now then, that said, it is very clear that such laws these guys are attempting to pass are unconstitutional. The right to modify one's own property is something I consider an unnenumerated right, and as such is protected under whatever ammendment that was that protects those. (I am bad with memorizing numbers...) I'm not supporting hacking online games just because you have a liscense to play it mind you, considering the clauses forbidding such things in those liscenses. I'm just saying if I legally own something, I should be able to do what I want with it. More than that, if I invent something, it truly does have to do real physical harm to someone before the government gets involved. So what do I think of the FCC controlling broadcasting (and I'm not talking censorship here)? It's something that's pretty much needed actually. If one didn't have to buy a liscense for broadcasting in certain wavelengths, the sheer noise produced by everyone trying to use the same channel would basically make the technology useless. Further, signal strength requirements are needed because if all the stuff I had produced very strong waves that weren't checking to make sure they didn't interfere, there would be some major problems. So, I will grudgingly accept restrictions that must be in place to even use the technology.