[Cdn-DMCA] A couple of technical points

[Russell McOrmond]

  In future rounds we need to have a group that can put together technical 
information.  Whether it be the issue of TPM or the misunderstandings of 
ISP functions (HTTP caches), there is a need for qualified technical 
people to be involved in the discussions.


  I made an 'oops' assumption at the beginning of this that Heritage and
Industry would have hired technical people before trying to draft laws
that affect technology, but this does not appear to have been done.


On Sat, 30 Mar 2002, Sandy Harris wrote:

> I do not know whether the promoters of these schemes are
> deliberately attempting to deceive or just so incompetent
> that they cannot see the flaw.

  I know that we should not attribute mallice to what can be easily 
understood as stupidity, but they continue to try to protect their scheme 
long after any 'misconceptions' have been corrected.

  Rather than going "oops, we didn't understand the technology" with the 
wide distribution of DeCSS and the opposition to it being applicable to 
any COPYright law, they continued to sue.


> That is, you cannot impose any technical measure which pretends to
> prevent copying and actually is secure without utterly destroying a
> basic property of the "personal" computer.


  This needs to be emphasized!!

  Support of TPM is opposition to "personal" computers.  The "loss" of
revenue from Personal (private) copying to the industry is *theoretical*,
while the loss to citizens of these measures being put in place and
enforced is *REAL*.


  The real cost of TPM is simply orders of magnitude greater than the 
theoretical benefits!

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