May 2, 2003

Digital Freedom Update

Here's a good piece from eWeek explaining why the DMCA-like legislation being rammed through the Tennessee legislature is not a good thing. Excerpts:

One of the common aspects of these laws is that they make illegal any device or program that can "conceal or to assist another to conceal from any communication service provider or from any lawful authority the existence or place of origin or destination of any communication." ... This makes a whole set of common IT programs and hardware illegal, from firewalls to VPNs to privacy applications. So if you live in one of these states [that has already passed the legislation], you are now breaking the law if you run a firewall. And if you're an IT admin that has all of your internal systems running on NAT, you could face as much as five years in prison and up to a quarter-million-dollar fine.

... If you live in one of these states, or in a state that is considering one of these Super DMCA laws, you should contact your representatives immediately. And you might want to remind them that if they have any kind of normal IT setup, they are probably also breaking these laws.

UPDATE: Z wrote to point out that the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a copy of the proposed amendment to the Tennessee legislation. I haven't read it and don't have a comment on it yet. But here's the link to the amendment in a PDF file.

The invaluable Copyfight.org continues to cover the Tennessee DMCA fight.