[olug] congressman Terry needs more attention

[Daniel Linder]

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On Sat, November 5, 2005 10:20, Daniel Linder wrote:

> 3: Make sure everyone is prepared to talk "off the cuff" --
if

> this should attract attention, it will look better if these examples
come

> from the heart and not from a script.



Here are some talking points I have put together.  Before we use
these verbatim, someone should double check my notes.  Number one was
taken from a discussion forum at ArsTechnica.com, items 2 through 5 were
copied from the EFF website, and number six was from my own memory. 
Can someone review these and comment/critique?



1: If someone doesn't understand how DRM ("Digital Restriction
Managment") has a negative effect on their daily life, ask them two
simple questions. Do they like to watch DVDs? And, isn't it a hassle to
get to the actual movie after you put the DVD in the player?  That's
DRM. The MPAA decides what they are going to allow, and the DVD player
manufactureres have to make players that obey their wishes - not yours.
We've already gotten to the point where you can push the "Stop"
button, and sometimes your DVD player says, "Operation not
permitted."  What other new "restrictions" will this
law create?
(http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=dl&s=50009562&f=174096756&x_id=1131126346&x_subject=Congress+discusses+broadcast+flag%2C+analog+hole+proposals&x_link=http://arstechnica.com&x_ddp=Y)



2: The Broadcast Flag cripples any device capable of receiving
over-the-air digital broadcasts. It makes digital TV hardware more
expensive and less capable, impeding rather than accelerating the digital
TV transition. Worse, it gives Hollywood movie studios a permanent veto
over how members of the American public use our televisions and forces
American innovators to beg the FCC for permission before adding new
features to TV.
(http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004106.php#004106)



3: The big media companies are threatening an HDTV boycott unless a
Broadcast Flag law is passed and implemented this year. This is an empty
threat. Viacom made that same threat back in 2002, yet CBS (owned by
Viacom), still transmits nearly all of its prime-time shows in HDTV, even
without the Broadcast Flag. For that matter, even if broadcasters like CBS
aren't willing to provide programming for digital television, there are
plenty of innovative new content creators who will.
(http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004106.php#004106)



4: The unprotected analog outputs of computers will be, in perpetuity,
restricted to either DRM-laden standards, or to a "constrained
image", "no more than 350,000 pixels".  By comparison,
a low-end computer monitor running at a resolution of 1024x768 equals
786,000 pixels.  To achieve the resolution specified in the law, the
display will run at 800x600 -- a screen resolution that was cutting-edge
fifteen years ago.
(http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004106.php#004106)



5: Analog video which has been branded as "do not copy", will
last for only ninety minutes only in the digital world - and will be
erased, literally frame by frame, megabyte by megabyte, from your PC,
without your control. You'll watch a two hour film, and as you watch the
final half hour, the first few scenes will be being dissolved away by
statute. (http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004106.php#004106)



6: Industries have tried to stop other "new technologies" when
they were first introduced:

CD Recorders, VCRs, tape recorders, XEROX copy machines, radios, player
pianos.

Imagine how our lives would be different if these devices had been
crippled or made illegal by government.  Note: all of these devices
were later embraced by the industries that tried to supress them, or they
led the way to larger markets in the future.



Dan



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"Wait for that wisest of all counselors, time." -- Pericles

"I do not fear computer, I fear the lack of them." -- Isaac
Asimov

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