Heh, this is interesting.
When are these boneheads going to realize... you can't stop media copying. Whether it's with analog or digital means, things are going to get copied. No matter how hard it's copy-protected, there will be ways around it. Doesn't matter if it's a movie, a computer game, a song, or a book. Copying happens, period.
They're expending their energies in the wrong direction, methinks.
I don't think this bill will fly, but even if it does, it'll be no different than any other copy protection: It just means a slight inconvenience for serious pirates trying to seriously pirate something, and a similar slight inconvenience for legitimate users trying to legitmately use the copy-protected media.
The difference is that this one seems to place a big inconvenience on hardware and software manufacturers. You think the industry is going to like that kind of regulation? A system which doesn't improve their bottom line (copying will still happen), but places a burden on both the companies and the legitimage users?
Nah, I'm not worried. This one will fizzle. Then we'll get back to the real questions of how to properly capitalize on the limitless possibilities provided by new media technologies. Smart companies will pull their heads out of the sand and stop trying to think inside the little boxes defined by existing marketing and distribution machines...
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Tony Fabris
