There was supposed to be a hearing on Thursday in Washington about the godawful “Security Systems Standards and Certification Act” (SSSCA) being pushed by U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, Democrat of South Carolina. This bill would make it illegal “to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide or otherwise traffic in any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified security technologies” — that is, technologies certified by the U.S. government.
An aide to Hollings told me today that the hearing has been postponed.
Not only is Congress having trouble getting business done amid the anthrax scare, he said, but the Commerce Committee isn’t getting much response to its requests that technology-industry people join the debate.
Hardware and software companies should be mounting a huge objection to this outrageous bill, which is part of the entertainment industry’s drive to capture absolute control over all digital media. The SSSCA is a follow-on to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which already tilted the balance grossly toward copyright owners and against you and me, the people who read, view and listen to and otherwise use such material.
The tech companies finally spoke out (Cnet) on Monday. Took them long enough.