[NBLUG/talk] Re: Senator Orin Hatch proposes..

Jim Bianchi jimbo at sonic.net
Wed Jun 18 22:36:02 PDT 2003


On Wed, Jun 18, 2003, Bill Kendrick  wrote:
>Honestly, this is one of the most technically unfeasable (if only in the
>fact that NOONE will want it) and stupid ideas, that I'm amazed ANYONE
>is talking about it.

	Well, most people simply do not understand computers or what they
are capable of (or can be made to be capable of). It wasn't all that long
ago that if you had a computer, it was an 'Apple;' and I'm STILL being
asked what I plan to do with the two 'computers' stored on my porch (two
old 15" monitors).

	I don't have much confidence in reality having any influence on
those who'd eventually vote on this measure. After all, those will be the
same dimbulbs who gave us the PATRIOT act and the DMCA (to name only two
things).

	As for not wanting it, I rather think the goal would be to not
give you the choice. Can't happen here? Read about how close the struggle
was to defeat the Clipper chip; and that was long BEFORE 9/11. The mood of
people today is such that, given sufficient support, such a scheme would
pass with flying colors and not even raise an eyebrow on any but a few
geeky types (who don't really count anyway, since all they know about is
what works).

>I guess maybe it has the humor factor. :^)  (Your e-mail was pretty
>funny...I liked the part about grandma's cat not having anywhere to sit.)

	Funny? Heck, using the same logic as used in the proposal, I was
making a very rational and cogent counter argument!

>But seriously... it's being discussed on the RADIO now?  Sheesh!

	Well, last night Gene Burns seemed fairly enthusiastic about it.
His justification goes something like: "To dload music is to steal the
intellectual property of another, and is morally and legally wrong, and
anything done to anyone who does it is ok by him. If someone gets caught
in the gears and unjustly harmed, well, that's what the appeal process is
for."

	I sent him an email pointing out what I said about how if one can
control the music such that you can trigger the self destruct thingy, one
surely can simply not put the music there in the first place. So far, it
hasn't seemed to have much effect. (I sent an almost identical email to
Ronn Owens this morning -- at least he read it on the air and it seemed
to influence his thinking somewhat.)

 	As I said above, popular misconceptions about the capabilities of
computers are legion. ("Linux? What version of Windows is that?" and "ISP?
Isn't that like a mini-AOL?") I know COMPUTER STORES where the manager and
the pimply faced 'repair tech' *KNOW* that 'a computer must run windows'
and simply regard anything else with the same disdain once reserved for
those who used mid-engined racecars at Indianapolis, so this lack of
knowledge is not at all limited to the general public.

-- 
jimbo at sonic.net       Jim Bianchi   Santa Rosa   California

        Eclectic Garbanzo BBS ** (707) 539-1279 ** 28.8kbps

	Remember Flight 93 -- "Let's roll!"







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