Has there been a shift in the landscape since the Hollings bill was introduced, or since it became a serious possibility? Is the technology community more open to your concerns?
I think they are much more responsive than they were. I think they realize as I do that there are smart people inside each of these industries. But as long as everyone is suspicious of each other, what we have to insert in these discussions is good faith. "

Draconian legislation is the road to "good faith?"

Jack Valenti on CNET

"Who benefits from the new rules? Point-counterpoint between the Recording Industry Association of America and an Internet radio pioneer."

Salon.com Technology | The battle over Web radio continues

Useful reference when discussing Palestinian-Israeli issues. Map of the area laid out in the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement. Shows French/British areas of "ownership."

Sykes-Picot agreement, 1916

"Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who represents a Los Angeles-area district, sent a letter to fellow lawmakers Wednesday asking them to support his own strict anti-piracy legislation, which he plans to introduce later this year. "

Net anti-piracy debate heads for House - Tech News - CNET.com

"Law enforcement officials may one day use their mobile phones to help identify criminals, thanks to an application being demonstrated by Motorola, Visionics and Wirehound. "

This is the future. When you go into a mall, airport, or other public place you are constantly being scanned against a database of government offenders. Got some unpaid traffic tickets? Better not go into a public place. Look sort of like someone who comitted a murder? Have fun getting shaken down everywhere you go. Next thing that happens is that former offenders are fed into the system. No one wants a former child molester to shop at their grocery store, do they? Of course, they also add in the former shop lifters. Steal a box of candy at one store when you are 15 and you'll be locked out of stores all over the country. I hope you really DID steal something and its not just a disagreement with someone that works at the store that led to your inclusion in the database.

This stuff is going to spread like wildfire, and will only be curbed if the stores decide that the number of people they are excluding from business is actually impacting their bottom line.

infoSync : Look into the mobile phone, please

"Security experts say such inspections will be widespread within five years. Offering thumbprints, palm scans or iris checks will become "second nature" for anyone passing through an airport, said Richard Gritta, a professor of transportation and finance at University of Portland. "This isn't a pipe dream at all," Gritta said. "It's the reality of where we're going. Airlines and passengers want tighter security, and there's less room for human error with biometrics."

Can someone please email me and explain how going through a biometric checkpoint will improve the security of an airport? Are they going to forgo searching my bags simply because they can identify me? If my biometric data is stored on my card, why can't I forge it? Why can't they cross reference existing databases with their list of suspects?

Sounds like another "feel safe" rather then "be safe" measure, with the added side effect that they get to collect biometrics from all kinds of innocent people.

Biometrics may scan air travelers - Tech News - CNET.com

But a new ruling under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act threatens to change the playlist at SomaFM and other stations like it, if not actually shut them down altogether.
"

Congress kills Internet radio.

Salon.com Technology | Web radio's last stand

"Rosen and other panel members said that despite some support in Congress, the bill is unlikely to pass because it would give legislators too much control in the nascent copy-protection industry. "

There are a number of surprising comments from Rosen in this article. Playing good cop?

Proposed anti-piracy bill draws fire - Tech News - CNET.com

"A key senator introduced legislation yesterday that would turn electronics manufacturers and software developers into copyright police."

This Washington Post story has a decidedly PRO CBDTPA slant.

Hollings Proposes Copyright Defense (washingtonpost.com)

Anyone violating the CBDTPA would be subject to statutory damages ranging from $200 to $25,000 per violation. An irked content owner would have a quiver of legal arrows to aim at a violator: Search warrants, impounding or destruction of equipment used in the illegal activity, plus attorney's fees, reimbursement for lost profits and actual damages.

That's not all. Anyone who ignores the CBDTPA's prohibitions -- and does it for "commercial advantage or private financial gain" -- would face the same criminal penalties that once threatened the Russian hacker Sklyarov: up to a $500,000 fine and five years in prison.

Anti-Copy Bill Slams Coders