Anti-Piracy Labeling Bill in Works

Rinisari writes "Just posted on news.com.com is an article with more on the bill that could make all digital consumer products be required to be labeled with information regarding any anti-piracy technology within the device. Senator Ron Wyden, D-OR, will be the primary sponser of the bill (he's also got a text-only site)."

Actually..

it says he is "close" to releasing a bill that "might" require labeling.

Re:Actually..

until then, bombard Smith with anti-MPAA/RIAA mail and informed information

How about You just leave out the anti-whatever E-mail?

And dont bombard him, bombarding someone just ensures that they take shelter from your bombardment.

Instead, try and educate the man. present an UNBIASED viewpoint and use FACTS.
if you flood the man with propoganda, he's just going to run to the MPAA/RIAA money even faster.

Tell His constituents what he's doing, and EDUCATE THEM!

Take an inteligent aproach, and he MIGHT listen to you.

And for you residents of Oregon, Call His office, send him mail (NOT E-mail), Tell him what you think of his actions, and be sure your vote reflects your opinion the next time he comes up for election.

Act like a freak/fanatic, and he will respond to you accordingly.

Act like an inteligent person, and he might actually listen to you.

Re:Actually..

While I generally agree in principle with your recommendations, having spoken with the man, I can tell you that he has a very focused opinion that is not to be confused with facts or reasonable discussion.

Politicians who are focused and supportive of certain industries are generally ruled by hype and money...if you only have considered opinions and no capital, you are welcome to express yourself and will in no way influence these folks.

On other issues the Senior Senator is considered and thoughtful, even erudite and reasonable. In this place, he has been won over by the RIAA/MPAA twins to believe that if he doesn't protect their content, then he will compromise all intellectual property derived in the US. It is an argument that will not be won except by the voice of his constituents.

As a citizen of Oregon, I can tell you I've seen far more responsive government representatives from Arizona (still have the letter from John McCain where he corrected my beliefs about his encryption legislation) than from Oregon.

I won't recommend voting against a candidate for a single issue, but I do believe that we must make it clear to him the nature of his misinformation, and if that includes sending him snail mail and discussing these at town meetings at every opportunity, then I will...

Never suggested being a freak/fanatic, but I can see how I mis-communicated my thoughts.

Labeling

Wow, to think Tipper Gore has something in common with most /.ers.

Re:Labeling

The difference is that the Tipper Gore wanted things labelled based on something that is not clearly definded (i.e. what is offensive or innapropriate for children) whereas does this cd have copy-protection is a clear cut technilogical question. In addition it is generally accepted that the ultimate goal of Tipper's group was to force retailers to refuse to sell music marked objectionable to minors whereas copy-prevention labeling would be strictly for the purpose of informing potentional buyers, what they can or can't do with a cd (without cracking the protection, of course).

Re:Labeling

>And the similarity is that Communists/Fascists, or >any other shade of totalitarian the Political >Science Departmet can classify, employ this labelig >tactic to force speech on others, just as this >fellow is trying to pull.

Take off the tin-foil hat!

This is more of a consumer-protection law than anything else. It's reasonable to expect the dealer/manufacturer notify you (and discount appropriately) when he tries to sell you known broken goods. Wouldn't you be a bit ticked if the CD burner you bought was used as a hammer by the store manager's kid, without any notice about it?

Copy-protection is making a product broken the moment it comes out of the factory. Note it as damage.

Whew..

For a second, I thought they meant "pro-piracy". I was wondering if this would require Adaptec to start shipping copies of EZ CD Creator Pro letting consumers know that "WARNING, THIS APPLICATION CAN LET YOU COPY YOUR ELITE H4CKED COPY OF MSWORD ONTO CD-R'S! PURCHASE AT YOUR OWN RISK!"

Not a bad idea

On the face of things, this sounds like a good step. Companies are certainly free to incorporate DRM or other anti-piracy features, but consumers should be equiped with all the information they need to make a sound choice. That will make it easier for people to vote with their wallets.

Unfortunately, it probably won't stop most of the unwashed masses from buying the latest [fill in the name of the flavor du 'jour] CD.

Re:Not a bad idea

I was at HMV the other day, and had an option of two CDs I wanted to buy. One was Massive Attack - 100th Window, and the other Nick Cave - Nocturama. I figured, since I'd already heard Nocturama, and hadn't heard 100th Window, I'd get the latter. That is, until I saw the Copy Protection sticker on the back of the CD Case, after which I put it down, and bought Nick Cave instead.

Of course, had there been no copy protection sticker/warning, I would probably have ended up with 100th Window (it was cheaper!). It's good to know, certainly - I don't want a crippled CD that may or may not play in my computer, cd player, dvd player, whatever; let's hope all recording labels follow suit.

It's not protected everywhere.

It certainly is in Australia and I think Canada too. There's quite a bit of discussion about it on the Massive Attack forums [massiveattack.co.uk]. Quite a few unhappy people. Me included.

Re:Not a bad idea

"ompanies are certainly free to incorporate DRM or other anti-piracy features, but consumers should be equiped with all the information they need to make a sound choice."

Just to add to that, I think it'd force companies to charge less money for restricted (I hate the word protection in this context) materials. I won't buy a Music CD that won't work in my computer. But if the restricted CD were say $5 less, well then I'd consider it.

It's a pity, these corps have a wonderful opportunity here to gain user acceptance of crippled CD's.

"We're doing this to thwart piracy in order to make our business more profitable. As a pre-emptive reward, we're lowering the price of our products. Support anti-piracy steps, and we'll pass some of the savings on to you."

Yeah, I know, it's not likely to happen. But a price drop for those particular materials would let people vote with their wallets. "So... we lowered the price of CD's and made more money, weird. But, this album isn't restricted and it made a greater profit, wow."

About time!

It's about time somebody stepped up to the plate. This kind of legislation is necessary if we are to even maintain the concept of consumer rights. How can a consumer make a decision on what to buy if it isn't labelled sufficiently?

Good luck on this bill!

No Big Deal

At first I thought this was a terrific idea. But you know that the majority of buyers are people who don't understand what the consequences are.

And further, as the technology becomes more and more popular, eventually, won't EVERY product have one of these labels on it?

Although this act seems like it could be a step in the right direction, I think it should be cut down before it wastes (American) tax-payers dollars.

Kind of like Magic Gate tech from Sony

Even though Sony explains clearly in little print on the back of the Memory Stick packaging that Magic Gate is a DRM technology, it doesn't stop people from thinking that it's something new and cool. They look at the label and figure it must be better than normal non-Magic Gate Memory Sticks.

Labels like these are not the solution and only restrict manufacturer's rights and put a crimp on their profits for no reason whatsoever. Of course, Wyden is from Oregon and may have a small stake in the paper manufacturing increase that will necessarily occur if such a bill is passed.

Don't underestimate the "masses".

But you know that the majority of buyers are people who don't understand what the consequences are.

And part of that is because nobody TOLD them there are consequences.

But as soon as warning labels start showing up, some of 'em will start to wonder what they're being warned about

So some will ask, or look around on the net, and maybe find out. Then they'll be able to make an informed decision about whether it matters to them enough to affect their purchase decision.

And others will just avoid products with the warning label in favor of those without - which will create pressure on the providers to stop using technologies which require a warning label. B-)

Don't underestimate joe sixpack. Just because he isn't an expert on the things YOU'RE expert on doesn't mean he's dumb or lazy. He may be quite the genius, and just focussed on other interests.

Re:Don't underestimate the "masses".

But as soon as warning labels start showing up, some of 'em will start to wonder what they're being warned about

Especially when the warning reads: Secured for your protection.

The industry always likes to reverse the meaning of all important words to make something bad sound good. Remember SDMI or "Secure" media. All warnings that the product is so secure that you can't even use it!

Where am I? What planet is this?

[snip]Don't underestimate joe sixpack. Just because he isn't an expert on the things YOU'RE expert on doesn't mean he's dumb or lazy. He may be quite the genius, and just focussed on other interests.[/snip]

[spit take]

say what? am I still reading Slashdot? what kind of comment is this? not a flamer, not a troll... some sort of new entity never before seen.

I think I need to lie down.

sweatyb

wtf

WTF.

Maybe i am retarted, but why is news.com now news.com.com ?

Now i get the news.com.com.com.com.com.. joke in an earlier article a few days ago.

That is wierd ;)

D.

Sounds good to me...

No longer will I waste money on games that I can't blindread into Daemon's tools so I can toss the CD...

I hate ever so much switching CDs.

Just as offensive as "explicit lyrics"

It's just as offensive to have my "fair use" stripped from me as some lyrics are.

It will also help sell "forward thinking artists" and labels who don't have the label.

Taken too far.

"I want people to walk into every store in America and see that the product they're about to buy has restrictions ..."

This can be taken pretty far:

"This item cannot be used as a shoe, pair of pants, or candy. If used as any of those devices, Sony is relieved of all responsibilities. This item's only function is as a beer mug."

--sex [slashdot.org]

I like it

See, this kind of thing I think is a lot more benificial then some of the rabit anti-anti-copy thought that has been growing recently. Manufacturers should be allowed to so whatever they want with their product, and on the other side consumers should know what they are getting. No need to start spewing that DRM is evil, just allow everyone the information they need to make a good decision.

Yes, I am aware of the irony of using that case for DRM, for the information people may need to use for good judgement can be hidden using DRM. I believe it is a weak arguement though.

Re:I like it

Manufacturers should be allowed to so whatever they want with their product, and on the other side consumers should know what they are getting.

I completely agree. I also think that laws shouldn't be passed regarding this issue. It shouldn't be illegal to break DRM, but it also shouldn't be illegal to put DRM on a disk. When the companies get too greedy and the functionality of their products is lost, they'll feel it in their pocketbook.
Let the consumer decide.

Lessing is wrong and will be used.

Quoth the aritcle:

"Never in our history have fewer been in a position to control more of the creative potential of our society than now," Lessig said. "We have to buy them off, so they don't break the Internet in the interim."

Because the first statement is true, the plan will fail. Every major record label, and there are only five in the world, is putting in Digital Rights Denial. If you want to sell a non-major record in your store, the majors cut you off. So, what choice do you have? You look left, DRM, you look right, DRM. Now that internet radio has been shut down, Napster is dead, and the FBI will soon visit you for running P2P, you won't hear of anything but crappy major music. Not even the mighty Google can lead you to reasonable music can it? No, these lables will only dull you to the rights you have lost, make your kids think that it's right and waste time and money in general. The lables are going to be used for propaganda purposes. I can just imagine one now, "Copy Controled to feed our starving artist's hungry babies - Sharing is Stealing!". Every artists out there is going to love it when their five cent cut per sold CD is reduced to two cents to cover the cost of applying the lables.

You can't buy these bastards off, you can only avoid them. Buy used recodings, support local acts and turn the radio off. Oh yeah, that's what people have already started doing.

The internet has been broken already too. That's why "so few" people have so much control and I can't serve out of my house over the public network that being used by the local cable company. After all, if everyone could sever, word of mouth and Google would work for everyone including the artists who mostly would earn more money than they do now.

It's really needed.

Now, when I buy a CD, I expect to be able to use it in my PC and copy the music to my Sony walkman using the program that came with it. If I am in the store and I can't see if I am able to do that, I won't buy it in fear of wasting my money.

Re:It's really needed.

Is it that Sony Net Walkman? Yuck. You have to encode everything as ATRAC3 and "check in, check out" using their crappy software. No thanks. In fact, I wont buy any Sony MP3 anything for fear that I would have to use some of their check in check out BS. That includes their DVD players, car CD/MP3 players, or whatever else. I advise others to do the same.

iPod and similar devices are really the only way to go. You mount the unit like a file system, and just drag the files over. No re-encoding, no checking the files out. No DRM. Just ease of use and great performance. Sony realizes this, but because of their music devison holding them back, they are stuck with the crappy DRM hassleware.

Also, my Pioneer car deck plays MP3s without any crap. Burn the files onto a regular ISO9660 disc, and you're done. No special software. No proprietary formats. No hassles. I know Sony makes decks that play MP3s, but because of all thier DRM pushing, I would be very skeptical about buying one.

In short, because of Sony Music pushing for DRM, I am probably not going to buy Sony audio electronics again. At one time they were the best, because of Sony Music being scared of their own customers and forcing this lockdown, I'm not even taking a chance with Sony stuff.

Re:It's really needed.

Ah, but if it's copy protected, shouldn't the store be more willing to accept opened returns? After all, it's not like you could have copied it...

Nice, but...

This is, IMHO, a pretty nice little bone to throw us geeks. Now we can know even more certainly what we have to circumvent in order to continue on in our fair-use of things we buy. However, it also seems to me that this is a rather toothless movement and is almost a 'bone' thrown to people on both sides of the debate regarding piracy.

Wait, aren't they on "our side"?

Opponents of Hollywood's drive to strengthen copyright law are mounting a new strategy: Require anything that has antipiracy technology built in to be clearly labeled and let consumers decide at the cash register.

So, they aren't trying to pass a law to require digital copyright protection on devices, they are trying to legislate disclosure of "anti-piracy" technology that might otherwise silently sit on that new CD player you are ready to buy from Circuit City.

Why are we bitching at the Democrats? Oh, because it was on slashdot and the genius editor posted it "from the compromising-freedom dept", so we don't have to actually read the the article before kicking into full knee-jerk mode.

"I want people to walk into every store in America and see that the product they're about to buy has restrictions," Wyden said. "Let's take this to the marketplace."

Uh, that's what we want, isn't it? (well, short of making the whole copyright BS go away, I mean).

Re:Wait, aren't they on "our side"?

First of all, this isn't the same thing as the Parents Music Resource Center. Stickers such as "Explicit Lyrics" are inherently a moral judgement and carry with it the problems of some regulartory group deciding just what exactly is explicit. 'This disc protected by DRM Technology', is not a value judgement. It means that the company has paid money to another company which actively markets DRM technologies (such as Midbar) to use their product. This is much closer to an ingredient label. Are you going to argue that manufacturers being required to disclose that their product contains sugar, dimethol-hy-whatnot, is a violation of their free speech? As for the second half of your analogy, I'm not even sure where to begin. Labeling people for their religous and sexual preferences and then beginning a government campaign to exterminate the entire group does not even begin to compare to product labeling.

For

the more bandwidth hungry of you, here's the link [senate.gov] of the Senator's site w/ pictures.

A happy medium

Let's hope that the Hollings bill doesn't also pass, because then you might as well slap the same generic label on every single digital device out there, just like danger tags on everything -- "Misuse of this kleenex could cause personal injury." You know what I mean.

But, simply by putting a label on the product that says "Restricts blah blah" people who wouldn't have had a clue will now at least have heard of copyright protection and digital restrictions. The more it's talked about, the more people will be judicious with their purchases, and hopefully we can see a happy medium balance itself out.

Sure, Mom and Pop won't know what the hell that tag means, but when us college students figure realize "hey, I can't download my music anymore?! WTF!!" sales of young-person-targeted devices (PDAs, MP3 players, sleek laptops, etc.) will drop if the restrictions are too high.

Now, if only we can get this through, fix the DMCA, and repeal the PATRIOT act...

Don't you mean..

Anti-Fair Use?

Trojan horse?

If something is clearly labeled as having DRM, and we can expect that most if not all major device manufacturers will be putting some sort of DRM in their machines, then any circumvention of that DRM limitation is a flagrant violation of the DMCA.

To quote Ackbar, "It's a trap!"

Consumer notification is a good thing.

A review of Sen. Wyden's site does not reveal any draft of the bill in question. However, based on comments in the article, it sounds like a good idea.

This is the same Sen. Wyden who has sponsored a Senate resolution on consumer's rights to use digital content. A link to the PDF here. [senate.gov]

The advantage of mandatory labelling for consumer devices that have anti-copy technology installed is that the consumer can know, at a glance, whether the device in question will allow him or her to make fair use of digital content he or she has purchased.

Obviously, the Hollywood crowd would prefer such a bill never see the light of day, since it would make devices with anti-copying technology potentially very unpopular. I can imagine that Sony wouldn't be thrilled.

At the same time, I can foresee that this is the kind of domestic issue that could easily get buried under the current foreign policy and economic crises.

ANOTHER WARNING

SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking Cigarettes Can Be Hazardous To Your Health.

lot of good that one does. what if this one isn't different?

Why isn't this guy running for president?

During my unemployment tour "02-03", I've watched Wyden fight for some good causes on CSPAN. He is the guy who pushed for more oversight [senate.gov] in the Office of Total Information Awareness program. He also has exposed the anti-consumer tactics of the oil industry. [senate.gov] Why aren't there more like him around?

Gotta love this quote

"Never in our history have fewer been in a position to control more of the creative potential of our society than now"

Or is that really the issue? Is it really restricting creative potential? Name one artist who won't release, for example, a CD because they think they won't make money because of file sharing. Not that I'm for illegal downloading, but honestly.

Wouldn't you agree that most mainstream "artist" are more profit driven than driven by creativity?

Re:Gotta love this quote

The point about who controls the creative potential of society is much more sophisticated than this - the argument is outlined very well in Lessig's "The Future of Ideas".

First, art does not exist in a vacuum. Rather, it draws on previous experience and the public domain. Renaissance artists admiried Greek art; Disney borrows fairy tales. Countless classical composers wrote fantasies on folk songs. The erosion of the public domain harms all artists by eliminating the ability to borrow from the past.

Second, the zealous defense of copyright has the ability to unreasonably restrict what an artist may use in the course of their work. Say, for example, that you want to make a short film of a play you wrote. Hope you made the costumes yourself; the storebought dress your lead actress is wearing is probably a copyrighted design. Does she sit down in a chair in one scene? Better clear it with the furniture designer before you distribute your film.

Noone's saying, of course, that you can't make a home movie to send to grandma. But what about, say, a group of high school students who just want to put their rendition of a Shakespeare play on the web? Or a computer-programmer-by-day who's itching to share a monologue he wrote? The promise of the Internet (and cheap electronics) was that now _anyone_ could try their hand at being creative, and possibly be heard.

The main harm of this concentration of copyright is not to a "mainstream" artist with the backing of a studio and corporate lawyer. It is, rather, to the individual who wants to go out and make something new - just because. And that's just sad.

Anyway, that's my understanding of (that part of) Lessig's book. It's good, go read it. (though I'm not sure I agree with his proposal for radio spectrum...)

File under UNLIKELY

If the govt can't even get labels on food that's been irradiated or genetically engineered (important things that effect everybody and that a lot of people are concerned about), I have little faith in them putting labels on something like entertainment media that outside of the computing pseudo-intelligentsia and chinese midnight street market circles, nobody cares about.

the urgent need to abolish DRM and copy protection . (Don't get me wrong, I would prefer lack of copyright and copyprotection, I'm trying out for Fox News with all this wild speculation)

Don't call it anti-piracy!

This technology should never be called anti-piracy technology; it's very strange to see Slashdot use such a deceptive term. This is anti-copy technology. It prevents fair use as well as piracy. It prevents users from doing things with the music they buy that the Supreme Court has already declaired as totally legal. There is no technology that just prevents piracy but allows legitimate use by users, just the opposite, many of these technologies hardly slow pirates at all, but present serious problems for legitimate users.

Re:Don't call it anti-piracy!

This technology should never be called anti-piracy technology; it's very strange to see Slashdot use such a deceptive term. This is anti-copy technology. It prevents fair use as well as piracy. It prevents users from doing things with the music they buy that the Supreme Court has already declaired as totally legal. There is no technology that just prevents piracy but allows legitimate use by users, just the opposite, many of these technologies hardly slow pirates at all, but present serious problems for legitimate users.

While it does stop some fair use (depending on the technology), I think calling it "anti-piracy technology" is completely appropriate. That is what it is designed for, and the major task it accomplishes. Saying it isn't descriptive enough is like saying the alarm system on a car shouldn't be called an "anti-theft device" because it also stops the rightful owner of breaking in when he loses his keys. Nit-picking at terminology isn't going to help the actual battle.

Re:Don't call it anti-piracy!

While it does stop some fair use (depending on the technology), I think calling it "anti-piracy technology" is completely appropriate.

Names are very important. Few politicians are brave enough to not vote for a bill titled something like "Special schooling spending for Kids at risk", while they would not vote for the same bill if it was called "Tax increase to spend more money on disruptive delinquent students than the entire rest of the class combined". In this case, if the name anti-piracy is attached to the technology, it makes it sound like anyone who opposes it is in favor of theft of intellectual property. That hardly the case and most Slashdot readers know this technology stops more legitimate uses that it stops any real piracy. Slashdot should not call such technology by a name that encourages it's legal support and enforcement.

Please, let's call it "Anti-Fair Use"

Using the language of the enemy means we've bought into their argument. Anyone with a positive bank account is against piracy, so let's please try to use language that best expresses our reasoned opinions.

-dameron

Like any food product, it's truth in advertizing

We want to know the ingredients of what we buy. If something has 5 grams of phenylalanine added, I want to know about it. This is exactly the same issue...

Worthless if UCITA ever gets passed

This bill is all nice and fluffy, but it will be completely meaningless if UCITA ever passes. Let's get our congresspeople working on nipping UCITA in the bud before they start dreaming up other, less meaningful solutions to consumer-rights issues.

IEEE-USA has a position on copy control technology

It is posted at http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POSITIONS/copycontrol systems.html

It providea a list of characteristics any proper copy control system should have, such as with respect to fair use, non-interference with normal operations, and other issues. It concludes that no technology that has been proposed to date can satisfy the characteristics.

Unfortunate, but understandeable

I wanted to send Senator Wyden an email lending my support for his bill, so I encountered his contact page [senate.gov].

Under the Senate e-mail system, it is only possible for me to respond to messages from Oregonians. If you are traveling or on active duty, please fill out the form with an Oregon address and provide your current address within the message. If you are not from Oregon, I urge you to contact one of the Senators from your home state.

I sent my support along even though I don't live in Oregon, but I'm left wondering what this "Senate e-mail system" is and why it restricts him from replying to any out-of-state emails. It's perfectly understandable (and admirable) that he puts his constituents first, but is he forbidden to correspond with citizens that he doesn't directly represent?

--K.

Would Xerox agree on this?

Just a thought.

Get Real!

Like a label is going to change anything! I mean cigarettes have had "Surgeon General" labels on them for decades and IDIOTS still sue the tobacco industry because they "got cancer after the smoked for their lifetime". You put a label on the CD and in 10 years I'll sue the RIAA because I am addicted to Music & can't stop, "I am broke because I have to buy CDs, I can't help it they are addictive".

Gato

I dunno...

Since people making buying decisions based on the artist/content of the CD, I don't see where this will have any significant impact. It's not like you'll find protected & non-protected versions of the same CD out there...

This shouldnt need to be a separate law...

If the DMCA is going to be validated anyway then it should be amended to it since they are so closely related.

this topic keep coming up

This topic(and related topics) keeps coming up. And I have to wonder...

Why is it OK for the music industry to take the lyrics from songs of which the copyright has expired, repackage that song into some CRAP(you've heard the songs..."Hey this is my favorite song...but, wait who the F*** is this!"), basically RIPPING a song into another FORMAT, then turn around and try to tell consumers, NO YOU CAN'T MAKE OGG OR MP3s out the songs that you BOUGHT even if it's for your own use. They sure haven't BOUGHT lyrics from songs where the copyright has expired!

hmmm...

This seems like a

great idea, I'm sure the RIAA will try to stop it. After all, isn't it more fun to villify and anger your customers than it is to educate them?

FINALLY

Now they won't be able to screw you over by selling unreturnable products that are defective in the sense that the customer doesn't know ahead of time that he won't be able to play them on his computer, car stereo, or whatnot. I'm suprised someone hasn't already sued the pants off of the recording industry for that bullshit.

The purpose of the law

Putting anti-piracy labels on media would probably scare some people away from copying the stuff. And that, of course, is the whole purpose of law in the first place: stopping people from breaking it (pirating stuff in this case). The purpose isn't to catch as many people as possible.

If that were so, the keeping the laws a secret would do a grand job of filling the jails. So, by putting these labels on, it would do a good thing by preventing piracy without using force.

Rillopy

"Anti-piracy" a misnomer

They should be referred to as "anti-backup" or "anti-fair-use" labels.

I could start watching DVD

I have refrained from getting anything related to DVD technology up to this point simply because of CSS and the DMCA. If DVD manufacturers where required to label their broken DVDs then I would consider looking into it ... DVD is a great technology, but it is brought down by some pretty haneous shit.

NR

Apple's Answer

Another sticker on the iPod box: "This box has a sticker on it warning you not to steal music"

MPAA, RIAA, Microsoft.

I have a better idea. The government should REQUIRE any media that contains DRM, copy protection, or any sort of similar access management system, to contain everything necessary, plus full instructions, to completely bypass the copy protection. Furthermore, the government should REQUIRE companies that produce such "protected" products to pay a $30.00 processing fee, within 1 hour, to every individual who claims verbally that they have bypassed the protection, for each such claim, not to exceed $1,000,000.00 per individual per day. Oh, and if someone makes such a claim and the evil company doesn't know about it (such as, someone tells their friend that they have bypassed this crap, but never tells the company), the company must pay an additional "Convenience Fee" of $20.00 upon being notified of such violation, not to exceed $2,000,000.00 per individual per day. Oh, and the government should require that no audio recording can be sold to the consumer for an amount exceeding 99 cents, of which 98 cents goes directly to the artist's bank account and the remaining 1 cent goes to a fund for legal action against the RIAA, MPAA and Microsoft. And each of the above three mentioned entities shall pay $1,000,000.00 per day, plus interest, penalties, fines, and "Convenience Fees," into this fund, if the proceeds of the aforementioned 1 cent per album do not meet a minimum requirement of $5,000,000,000.00 (five billion dollars) on that day. Thereupon, the owners, managers and every employee of the aforementioned three evil entities shall be banished to Papua New Guinea, where they shall serve as slaves in caves to the brave natives. And did I mention that each of these entities shall pay in taxes, daily, two hundred percent of their bank account balance? Yeah, add that to the list.

I don't buy music. I turn on the radio. So there.

Just one more step...

towards a world of independent consultant musicians, and businesses that cater to them. I wonder how many A&R guys have already made the jump?

he's also got a text-only site

And a good thing too, since the graphical version should be considered broken since it uses absolute pixel counts rather than percentages when defining table widths.

:-)

What if the labels get screwed up?

If I start seeing eminem CD's being labelled as dolphin-friendly and cans of tuna that I can't copy, I'll known there's a bug in the label making software.

Similar to the DMCRA

Looks like a Senate version of the "Digital Millenium Consumer Rights Act", a bill being worked on in the house. The EFF was/is seeking support for the DMCRA, check EFF.org for an Action Alert on the topic.

Anti-'piracy' technology

I don't think the issue is anti-piracy technology. I think the issue is technology that indiscriminately prevents *use*. Such measures promote unauthorised copying, because the best way to get corrupt cds to function is to make a(n analog, if necessary) copy of them and use that on your computer or portable mp3/ogg player.

GMO organizations

This reminds me of a longstanding FDA [fda.gov] position that the labeling of GMO Free food is misleading if it implies that said food is superior to other foods that are genetically modified. This is not just an idle position, the FDA has acted [stoplabelinglies.com] several [ebfarm.com] times [thecampaign.org] to stop the voluntary labeling of non GMO foods.

I can see the RIAA and the MPAA taking a similar position. I know the FCC's mandate is less restrictive than the FDA's, but the argument could seem compelling in the face of millions of dollars of campaign contributions. Law-abiding citizens should have no reason to violate their shrinkwrap agreements, and the copy control mechanisms are only there to enforce those licences. It would mislead the law-abiding public, the argument would go, to mandate the labeling of protected content because good, modern copy controls are invisible to the end user and in no way degrade the experience. Besides, they would continue, nearly all content is GMO^H^H^H copy controlled one way or another, therefore fears of copy control schemes are unfounded.

Not that I agree with the above arguments, but I can definitely see a certain Harvard professor having those debates with a group of bloodsucking lawyers from LA.

crap, right effort wrong implementation

I think we just need to better enforce existing laws so that if someone buys an item that is labled for example "CD Music" and does not run as "CD Music" then you are allowed to get a full refund including shipping. Mistakes happen but if it is willful then you get them for false advertisement.

What if I popped in some gas in my car only to find out later that it would not start (or worse was corroding or gumming my engine)? Would I really need a special law just to prevent that and force them to put a label saying in effect, "Even though this pump is right next to all the normal gas pumps, looks the same down to color coding, and even though we call this unleaded you are supposed to know the 25 digit code found in small writing under the dirty nozel that indicates this is in fact not intended for cars except the brand new "Gas DRM" models... sorry for the confusion, pull up to the next pump"

Remember that if the companies want to play ambigous games then consumers can simply show a little sack and quit purchasing from them. Stop running to big brother and show a little backbone. Stop being fucking monkeys and be human beings! WILLPOWER, USE IT

How about Politician labeling?

I propose the following language be applied on the forehead or, if more prominent, the buttocks of every politician:

WARNING: Any rhetoric or action originating from this creature is to be taken with a grain of salt. (If a grain of salt is unavailable, insert fingers in each ear and pray for it to be struck by laryngitis or an invitation from a lobbyist to dinner.) Pious, hypocritical, rapacious and unforgivably dull, the bearer of this label is a servant of interests little caring for the habits of democracy and even less for those of freedom. Watch your wallet around it. Do not feed or pet it. When it tells you the weather is clear, carry an umbrella; and when it tells you to cower, stand tall. Above all, be certain to routinely vote it out of office lest it take root there, grow to scraggly untamable heights, attract blackbirds, and block your view of the sun.

Captain Morgan's shiny coaster

I think the labeling is a bad idea because, in a way, it legitimizes what the RIAA is doing (effectively absolving fair-use rights). The perfect copy thing gets way too much press (if I re-EQ a CD to record, is it an exact copy? The code is different. Argue it either way.). What about copying a CD that is out of print? What about making a 32 bit re-master? Fair-use rights supercede the DCMA (grand-father clause). If the RIAA wants copyright protections, they can spend the funds to develop a system that does not interfere with fair-use rights. All this shouldn't be on anyone else's head. Or start suing them under lemon laws. Two can play this game. Vinyl is looking pretty tasty right now.

Re:Fucking Democrats

Wait, aren't they on our side?

Opponents of Hollywood's drive to strengthen copyright law are mounting a new strategy: Require anything that has antipiracy technology built in to be clearly labeled and let consumers decide at the cash register.

So, they aren't trying to pass a law to require digital copyright protection on devices, they are trying to legislate disclosure of "anti-piracy" technology that might otherwise silently sit on that new CD player you are ready to buy from Circuit City.

Why are we bitching at the Democrats? Oh, because it was on slashdot and the genius editor posted it "from the compromising-freedom dept", so we don't have to actually read the the article before shouting profanities at the "Fucking Democrats".

Re:Fucking Democrats

Moron. Did you even read the article? Wait, this is slashdot. The purpose of the bill is to HELP consumers, so they'll clearly know if an item they are purchasing has anti-privacy garbage inside of it. In other words, it's good for us. Like Wheaties.

Re:F***ing Democrats

No, just the opposite: a liberal wants equal rights. The only way to have equality is to strip EVERYONE of their freedoms and be under government control and government dependency - that way we are MADE/FORCED equal.

Re:F***ing Democrats

The democrats are weak now, and I think they're a bunch of knock-kneed weasels, but at least they still believe in all of the constitution...

I wish that were true, but not a lot of Democrats support the 2nd Amendment. Many Democrats are as rabid on the War of Drugs as any Republican, and the WoD is probably the greatest threat to the Constitution in the last 100 years or so. It's completely destroyed the 4th Amendment, and it's making inroads on several other important elements of the Bill of Rights.

The sad fact is that neither the Republicans or the Democrats have any great respect for the Constitution. Both parties seem to view the Constitution as an inconvenient obstacle to whatever goofy social agenda their constituents like at the moment.

Truth-in-labelling is really a libertarian idea. In other words, buy copy-protected music if you like, but you should at least be allowed to know what you're buying. No force, no fraud, the holy duality.

(Disclaimer) I'm not a doctrinaire libertarian-- for example, I don't think we should sell the National Parks to Disney. But the major parties need to start being just a little more concerned with liberty, or pretty soon there won't be any left.

Re:Fucking Democrats

Fucking dumbass slashdot wankers, can't be bothered to actually read and comprehend the summary, much less the article before launching off and attacking someone.

Geez dude, you give all other users > 500,000 a bad name, yaknow?

*Stupidfuck*

Re:Fucking Democrats

You would think, but then that would be a little more extra work than you are willing to do. ;-)

What is "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..." ???

It is garbage, originally derived from an ancient latin text, but now generated by clever programs to approximate the look and feel of english text for formatters and page rendering. The idea is that you can't actually read it, so your monkey-mind won't get sucked into the content when you are supposed to be meditating on the layout/rendering.

A more authoritative (seeming) answer [lipsum.com] for the bayesian filter people.

Re:Hi Everyone!!

Hi, and welcome to Slashdot! If you're a faggot Linux user who hates Micro$oft Winblows, you'll fit right in around here!

1) I haven't had a girlfriend in a looong... well, okay. I've never had a girlfriend. Where can I get one?

You can't. But don't dispair, this doesn't mean that you are doomed to a life without sex. Just attend your local Linux Users Group meeting, as it is well known in the "geek" community that LUG meetings are really fronts for NAMBLA meetings.

If, for some reason, you're uncomfortable having sex with crusty old men or young boys, then you will have to wait until you are 21, then hang around the local Middle School and offer to buy the girls booze and cigarettes.

2) I've noticed a peculiar aroma emanating from my body at times, especially around the under arms area. Why is this?

This is good. This means that you are sophisticated and cultured like a Frenchman, rather than a simplistic hygiene-obsessed American cowboy.

3) One night I ran out of Mountain Dew and I collapsed on top of my keyboard. When I woke a few days later, ants were crawling all over me and eating the Doritos crumbs from my crotch. They are still there. What do I do?

The best way to rid yourself of ants is to burn them. Try soaking your crotch in lighter fluid, then setting it ablaze. Rubbing alcohol or gasoline will work as well.

4) My "Got Root?" shirt is turning yellow. It's a nice color, but where can I get nice, white one?

Go to cafepress.com and make your own! It'll be cheaper, and you'll be striking a blow against intellectual property! This time, though, try not to urinate on the shirt; that'll keep it fresh and white for weeks.