IDG.net: Is the open-source movement being suckered by the SSSCA?

Dec 04, 2001, 15:41 (12 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by David Weinberger)

[ Thanks to Jason Greenwood for this link. ]

"There are many reasons the proposed SSSCA - the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act proposed by Senators Fritz Hollings and Ted Stevens - is an astoundingly bad idea. But would it kill the open-source movement, as has been suggested many places on the Net? It's not obvious. In fact, it's possible we're being played for fools.

The SSSCA is apparently aimed at providing a technological fix to the problem of copyright violation. It's so easy to reproduce protected digits, however, that the fix requires taking a wrench to the very gonads of computing. This has raised fears that the SSSCA would have the unintended consequence of killing Linux and other open-source software. Here are the fears I've found. (If you have more, please let me know.)"

Complete Story

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• NewsForge: SSSCA gets a hearing Oct. 25 -- can it be stopped?(Oct 20, 2001)
• Arts and Farces: Convergence indeed: Picking cotton for Bill(Oct 17, 2001)
• InfoWorld: Troublesome horizon (SSSCA & W3C)(Oct 15, 2001)
• Red Hat: LEGISLATIVE ALERT: SSSCA - Security Systems Standards and Certification Act(Oct 10, 2001)
• LinuxPlanet: .comment: Bought and Paid For(Oct 03, 2001)