Re: SSSCA Hits the Senate

[Itai Nahshon]

On Monday 25 March 2002 23:24 pm, Herman Oosthuysen wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Rik van Riel <[e-mail]>
>
> > The fact that the source code is available doesn't give you
> > the right to use it, if some company has a patent on the
> > technology ...
>
> If the law requires you to use it, then M$ won't be able to charge
> royalties for a patent on it. There are enough precedents of that kind of
> thing, so it will be free.

I started reading on <http://cryptome.org/ms-drm-os.htm>. Jugding
from the abstract there is not very much (or nothing at all) that can
be reused. Perhaps the body provides more insight.

> The whole idea however remains impractical, so even if it does pass into
> law, it would be largely irrelivant to any marginally competent geek.

I tend to agree...

> What the music industry fails to understand, is that the music doesn't sell
> because it is bad.  No amount of controls can compensate for that.  Garbage
> in, Garbage out... 

I don't agree.. Music (and movies) sells, probably even better today
than before the inernet. They sell enough to have that power to pass
new laws and they are greedy.

> Maybe they should go back to vinyl records that play on
> wind-up players with rose thorn pickups.  That will instantly make music
> recordings incompatible with all CD equipment and nobody will want to copy
> it...

So the music industry can move itself 30 years back, but why do they insist
of taking the computer industry to that journey?

-- Itai