[om-list] CBDTPA: The Linux Elimination Act of 2002

[Lee Howard]

At 06:53 PM 3/29/02 -0700, Mark Butler wrote:

>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. 

(I've read the bill itself - or at least an older distributed version of it.)

The bill's supporters are trying to take copyright enforcement to the next
level like was done in the Napster lawsuit.  They want to make those who
facilitate in any way the violation of the copyright responsible for the
deed.  I think that Napster was doomed from the beginning because the large
majority and bulk of its use violated copyrights.  I did not know a single
person who used Napster in a completely legal manner (and I somehow doubt
that such a person existed).  So, as a comparison, Napster was a massage
parlor acting as a front for a brothel.  Of course Napster was going to
lose its case.

Putting the bill in other words, if I were to distribute or make public a
simple enhancement to HylaFAX which was somehow subsequently used to fax a
copyrighted image of Mickey Mouse without legal authorization - Disney
could have legal recourse against not only the fax sender but also me and
the rest of the US-based development team distributing the patch or
applications of it.

By no means do I support such a convoluted bill, but in reality, such a law
would provide very little further protection for copyright holders and very
little further opposition to violators even if it were passed.  Basically,
I think it would only assist in cases like the one against Napster.

The message Mark quotes implies that all US-based open-source projects
would be so burdened by such a law that the projects would essentially
cease to operate in the US until the software could comply with the law.
Frankly, I can't see politicians committing such political suicide to
attempt to prosecute or shut down thousands of US open-source software
developers on their own, and the law would therefore require a violated
content owner to press charges.

I simply think that it's going to be difficult for Disney to make a case
against me as a HylaFAX developer and thousands of others like me in
assisting some Mikey Mouse fax sender in breaking copyright laws when the
software is virtually otherwise used in a lawful manner.  True, if such a
bill were passed I would have violated it, but I seriously doubt that it
would ever hold up in court to the extent that the quoted message's author
implies.

Oppose the bill, but its passage is nothing to lose sleep over.

Lee.