Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTION ALERT
Defeat the "Security Systems Standards and Certification Act" (SSSCA)
Draft Bill Would Require All Software and Digital Devices to Include
Federally-Mandated Copy-Prevention Systems
(Issued: Friday, September 21, 2001 / Expires: Wednesday, October 21,
2001)
Introduction:
Widespread public outcry has resulted from the circulation of draft
legislation titled "Security Systems Standards and Certification Act"
(SSSCA) that would require that all future digital technologies include
federally-mandated "digital rights management" (DRM) technologies that
will enable Hollywood to restrict how consumers can use digital content.
The EFF opposes this proposed legislation and urges its members to send
their concerns to the sponsoring Senators.
What YOU Can Do Now:
* Mail or email the EFF letter below to Senator Hollings and Senator
Stevens today. Feel free to use this letter verbatim, or modify it
as you wish. Inform both Senators of your concerns regarding the
SSSCA. Please be polite and concise, but firm.
* Contact your own legislators about this issue. For information on
how to contact your legislators and other government officials, see
EFF's "Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers" guide at:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
* Join EFF! For membership information see:
http://www.eff.org/support/
Sample Letter:
Use this sample letter to the Senators or modify it, and send to:
The Honorable Fritz Hollings
Washington, D.C.
125 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
+1 202-224-6121
+1 202-224-4293 (fax)
To send e-mail, use the form at:
http://www.senate.gov/~hollings/webform.html
and
The Honorable Ted Stevens
United States Senate
522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
+1 202-224-3004
+1 202-224-2354 (fax)
senator_stevens@stevens.senate.gov
and most importantly, your own legislators.
You can get your legislators' contact information from Project Vote
Smart:
http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=C&
style=
or the House:
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html
and Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm
websites. You can also look up your Representative with this form:
Dear Sen./Rep. [Surname]:
I am writing to express my grave concern about the draft
Hollings/Stevens copyright legislation, "Security Systems Standards
and Certification Act" (SSSCA), principally authored by the Walt
Disney corporation. This bill, would force virtually all consumer
electronics to include mandatory "digital rights management" (DRM)
copy-prevention and use-control mechanisms to "protect" all digital
content (whether copyrighted or not), and essentially destroy
completely the public's already endangered fair use rights, first
sale doctrine, and public domain rights. I urge you to oppose this
legislation.
Congress and the courts have always struck a careful balance
between preserving incentives for authors while ensuring public
access to our cultural heritage. The SSSCA represents an outright
assault against this balanced view of copyright. Under the SSSCA,
Congress would abdicate its responsibility to protect the public's
interest in copyright, leaving content owners to dictate terms to
technology companies behind closed doors. The public would be left
with no voice in this process, and with crippled technologies that
permit only the uses that Hollywood has the unilateral ability to
control.
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), University
professors and visiting foreign programmers are already being
legally threatened by the music industry and even criminally
prosecuted at the behest of software companies for what always have
been and should be legal activities such as research and making
proprietary formats more accessible. The DMCA was a major step
backwards for both the public side of the copyright bargain and the
rights of scientists and researchers to study and report on
computer security.
Hollywood forces are now hoping that this "DMCA 2" will reach even
further, creating a direct federal mandate that DRM systems be
included in every technology that interacts with digital content.
Please do not let this happen. I urge you to vote AGAINST SSSCA
when introduced. The pendulum has already swung too far away from
the public interest.
Sincerely,
[Your name & address]
(Be sure to correct the salutation - use EITHER Sen. or Rep., and use the correct name.)
Campaign for Audivisual Free Expression:
This drive to stop this "DMCA 2" copyright land-grab is part of a larger
campaigns to empower the creative community in the digital age by
protecting the public's access to and use of audiovisual technologies.
Check the EFF CAFE campaign website regularly for additional alerts and
news:
http://www.eff.org/cafe/
Background:
The draft legislation, "Security Systems Standards and Certification
Act" (SSSCA) is being developed by Senators Fritz Hollings (D-SC) and
Ted Stevens (R-AK) with the assistance of the Walt Disney Company. A
draft of the measure was leaked to the press two weeks ago. If enacted,
the proposed SSSCA would forbid the making, selling or trafficking in
any "interactive digital device" that fails to include
federally-mandated "Digital Right Management" (DRM) copy-prevention
systems intended to protect all digital content (whether copyrighted or
not).
The SSSCA's scope is breathtakingly broad, forcing technology companies
to add support for copy and use restrictions into virtually all future
digital technology. This would include not only all software, PCs, hard
drives, CD-Rs and other computer peripherals, but also many non-PC
technologies like cellular phones, TiVos, set-top boxes, video game
consoles, digital watches, CD players, MP3 players, GPS receivers, ATM
machines, digital cameras, digital photocopiers, and fax machines.
Although existing devices are grandfathered under the statute, all
future models of these devices would have to be revised to incorporate
federally-mandated technology intended to help Hollywood control how its
content may be used by consumers. The SSSCA also applies to anyone who
sells or distributes these digital technologies, and to anyone who
bypasses or modifies any DRM systems in them. Those who violate the
SSSCA would face civil fines and criminal penalties.
And who gets to define the particulars of the DRM systems? According to
the SSSCA, Congress will rely on technology companies and content
companies to select DRM systems based on criteria set by Congress. If
the industries are unable to agree, federal bureaucrats will choose. The
public is not invited to participate, nor do the criteria set out in the
SSSCA require the preservation or protection of fair use, first sale,
the public domain, or any of the other rights reserved for the public by
copyright law.
In the American legal tradition, Congress and the courts have always
struck a careful balance between preserving incentives for authors while
ensuring public access to our cultural heritage. The SSSCA represents an
unvarnished attack on this balanced view of copyright. Under the SSSCA,
Congress would abdicate its responsibility to protect the public's
interest in copyright, leaving content owners to dictate terms to
technology companies behind closed doors. The public would be left with
crippled technologies that permit only the uses that Hollywood
unilaterally permits.
The freedom to innovate, without the shackles of burdensome government
mandates, has been the engine that has driven the information
revolution. Now at the behest of powerful business interests, Congress
threatens to shut this engine down by forcing technological innovators
to beg permission from the content industries before introducing new
tools and products.
As illustrated by the threats made to Professor Felten's research team
by the record companies, as well as the criminal prosecution of Dmitry
Sklyarov, the DMCA was a major step backwards for both the public side
of the copyright bargain and the rights of scientists and researchers
who seek to study and report on computer security. Apparently
unsatisfied with this, Hollywood forces are now hoping that the SSSCA
will reach even further, creating a direct federal mandate that DRM
systems be included in every technology that interacts with digital
content.
The draft of the proposed SSSCA legislation can be viewed at:
http://216.110.42.179/docs/hollings.090701.html
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information
society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the
most linked-to Web sites in the world:
http://www.eff.org
Contact:
Fred von Lohmann, EFF Senior Intellectual Property
Attorney
fred@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x123
Will Doherty, EFF Online Activist / Media Relations
wild@eff.org
+1 415 436 9333 x111
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