![[image of the Head of a GNU]](/web/20080517080649im_/http://www.gnu.org/graphics/gnu-head-sm.jpg)
by Bradley M. Kuhn
I am happy to report some early success of our associate membership program. As of May 2003, there are 1,152 paid associate members. Your dues are helping us to carry out the core work we do for the Free Software Movement. We are particularly thankful for those who, through your blogs and Slashdot posts, have helped to inspire you friends and colleagues to join the Foundation.
Last issue, I wrote about the excitement of Eldred v. Ashcroft, a Supreme Court case, in which we filed an amicus brief, that was poised to decide the future of the commons and the extent and limits of copyright law. I am sad to report that despite Professor Lessig's and Moglen's arduous and valiant efforts, the Court decided that Disney matters more than the freedom of the public. This battle rages on, and we are now sure that the cause of freedom faces an uphill battle with the federal government. In this issue, you'll read about possible FCC action that will serve to regulate the future of Free Software.
Meanwhile, matters of software freedom in our community remain on our minds. We have this year already opened dozens of confirmed GPL violation cases reported to us from the community; we continue diligently in our enforcement efforts. The cost of these efforts increases each quarter. Since nearly all of the resources of the Compliance Lab are used to bring companies into compliance, we have begun to ask corporations, through our GPL Compliance and Corporate Patron Programs, to fund this activity.
Since last summer, GNU Press has shipped nearly 2,500 copies of RMS' book, Free Software, Free Society around the world. That title is now our top-selling book, and we are excited that we have been able to educate the world about software freedom through our press activity.
Finally, we are ever vigilant in our efforts to fight co-opting of the Free Software Movement. We see a rising popularity of proprietary software in Free Software environments. Our goal remains to build a world where all published software is Free Software. In particular, we have put some additional resources into savannah.gnu.org. It is not only ironic but lamentable that the primary site used for Free Software development, sourceforge.net, runs mostly proprietary software. Our hope is to provide more development resources for the community that allow freedom to thrive. Your support is essential to that endeavor.
The MPAA and cable television companies have proposed Draconian new technology control regulations in several states; yours could be next. Their propaganda says these regulations are simply to stop theft of cable services; but that's already illegal. In fact, the laws are more akin to the reviled Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The digital freedom community has been calling them "super-DMCAs".
The original MPAA model bill (introduced more-or-less without change in Massachusetts and Texas) prohibits receiving (or doing almost anything else with) communication services without the express consent of the communication service provider. And just about everything counts as a communication service. This means that you can't use a radio or television without permission from the broadcasters. Nobody is going to tell you that you can't watch TV, but they might tell you that you can't record it, a right the US Supreme Court affirmed in 1984. They might tell you that you can't use your Free Software PVR to pause it while you answer the phone. The Motion Picture Association of America, primarily through its Copyright Protection Working Group, has already said that it wants to limit these sorts of freedoms.
Although I'm too young to remember it, I'm told that people used to be required to rent phones from the phone company. People would get in trouble for using third party phones, and had to pay for each extension. If TV and radio broadcasters have their way, you may have to rent your radio, TV, and VCR from them, or only use "authorized" equipment. And this equipment won't have a record button.
Many of these bills also prohibit anonymous communication, which is a constitutional right. Abuse survivors, human rights workers, and whistleblowers depend on anonymization technology like Mixminion (a Free Software program) to communicate securely. Mixminion's developers have been actively opposing the Massachusetts bill.
In March, the Massachusetts super-DMCA, HB 2743, had a public hearing before the joint committee for Criminal Justice. I organized cryptographers to oppose the bill, and many others came down on their own. In all, twenty people testified against the bill. Only one person, a lobbyist from the MPAA, testified in support. The bill is now effectively dead. In Colorado, activists convinced the governor to veto the bill. In Oregon, letters to the bill's sponsor convinced him to withdraw it.
The battles in other states have been much harder. In Tennessee, I helped organize various GNU/Linux user groups to oppose SB 213 and HB 457. Activists there have now formed the Tennessee Digital Freedom Network (TNDF). TNDF has shown up at many hearings only to have them deferred. All rules have been suspended in the Tennessee legislature now, so bills can be debated with little warning. Many members of TNDF have to take off work or school on short notice. Despite these heroic efforts, the bills have made it out of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, and on to still more committees. The fight continues.
The MPAA and cable industries have fought hard to pass these bills. In Texas, normal rules were suspended, and on a few hours notice, activists had to show up at the state house, only to wait for seven hours. The bill was finally discussed after midnight. In Tennessee, every time a company, university, or consortium was recruited to oppose the bill, a special exception was proposed to pacify them, while not helping consumers at all.
You can help fight these bills. First, check out whether a bill like this has been introduced in your state. Professor Ed Felten maintains a list at freedom-to-tinker.com/superdmca.html. If your state isn't listed there, check the legislature's web site to make sure it hasn't been introduced since Felten's site has been updated. If there is a bill, go to any public hearings. Bring friends from your local digital freedom group, GNU/Linux users group, or university. Be prepared to answer questions about the details of the bill, but plan to speak for only a few minutes. Don't read from written text -- you can usually simply submit a written statement, which the legislators can read at leisure.
Preemptive activism is useful too. Even if there's no bill in your state, you can set up an appointment with your state senator or representative. The MPAA has vowed to introduce the bill in all fifty states, so your legislators will see the bill eventually.
When we first started fighting the super-DMCA laws, they looked unstoppable. The MPAA and cable industry groups have more money than all of the digital freedom groups put together. They can fly in consultants to public hearings in every state. But legislators have shown that they can tell paid lobbyists from genuinely concerned citizens. Your views can be heard.
Just as free software has been a particularly scary subject for the music and film industries in the past several years, threatening their control over their content, it is about to become excessively frightening to their television and radio lordships as well.
Here in the United States we are awaiting rule-making by the Federal Communications Commission concerning the possibility of copy protection for digital television content. In 1996, Congress legislated a ten-year plan for the conversion of the US broadcasting system to a digital TV standard. Every owner of an existing analog television station was given, at no cost, an additional place on the spectrum for a second, digital broadcast operation. When, in 2006, every station in the US is supposed to be fully operational in digital broadcast, the operators are supposed to return to the public their original analog television spectrum locations.
But, although many broadcasters have made th
