During its fall session, the U.S. Congress is scheduled to consider the 
Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA).  When passed, the 
SSSCA will make the creation of software (or any other digital device) 
without U.S.-government approved copy prevention technology a felony 
offense punishable by five years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

In all likelyhood, the license fees and potential certification 
requirements for 'approved' copy prevention techologies will kill zero-cost 
software outright.  It is probably not an overstatement to say that the 
SSSCA be the deathknell of non-corporate software development in the US.

As the SSSCA relates to Povray, the U.S.-based Pov developers just might 
find themselves sharing a cell with Dmitry Sklyarov over the fact that 
Povray won't reject watermarked images maps.



Read all the depressing details on the SSSCA at 
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46655,00.html


---- ADVERTISMENT ----

Every time you buy a product from an BSA, MPAA or RIAA member corporation, 
we'll donate one dollar to help speed the passage of the SSSCA.  Please 
give generously as starving artists need your support.

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This starts to sound a bit like those countries where the use of software
such as SSH as prohibited because it uses high-level encrypting (which the
government is unable to crack).

-- 
#macro N(D,I)#if(I<6)cylinder{M()#local D[I]=div(D[I],104);M().5,2pigment{
rgb M()}}N(D,(D[I]>99?I:I+1))#end#end#macro M()<mod(D[I],13)-6,mod(div(D[I
],13),8)-3,10>#end blob{N(array[6]{11117333955,
7382340,3358,3900569407,970,4254934330},0)}//                     - Warp -

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Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in news:3b9b25f7@news.povray.org:

> This starts to sound a bit like those countries where the use of
> software such as SSH as prohibited because it uses high-level encrypting
> (which the government is unable to crack).

Agreed.  The lengths that the Americans are prepared to go to protect 
absolute copyright are bringing them perilously close to a police state.

American legislators must be looking enviously at such admirable countries 
as China, Belarus, Pakistan and Singapore as their legislation is certainly 
bringing the United States much closer to autocracy than democracy.

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QQ wrote:
> 
> Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in news:3b9b25f7@news.povray.org:
> 
> > This starts to sound a bit like those countries where the use of
> > software such as SSH as prohibited because it uses high-level encrypting
> > (which the government is unable to crack).
> 
> Agreed.  The lengths that the Americans are prepared to go to protect
> absolute copyright are bringing them perilously close to a police state.
> 
> American legislators must be looking enviously at such admirable countries
> as China, Belarus, Pakistan and Singapore as their legislation is certainly
> bringing the United States much closer to autocracy than democracy.

To be fair, it's not "the people" who are asking for draconian copyright
protection, it's the companies. Being an American, I'm rather disgusted
at the direction the country is going.

-Xplo

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"Xplo Eristotle" <inq### [at] unforgettablecom> wrote :
>
> To be fair, it's not "the people" who are asking for draconian copyright
> protection, it's the companies. Being an American, I'm rather disgusted
> at the direction the country is going.

    We are all outlaws in the eyes of America.

    I knew those old slogans would come back into use one day... I am glad I
saved them.

Post a reply to this message

Xplo Eristotle <inq### [at] unforgettablecom> wrote in
news:3B9BD4F8.40A88F24@unforgettable.com: 

> To be fair, it's not "the people" who are asking for draconian
> copyright protection, it's the companies. Being an American, I'm rather
> disgusted at the direction the country is going.

I think most Americans are guilty through inaction.  These kind of bills 
only get tabled because there aren't millions of people demonstrating to 
_demand_ campaign finance reform and legislative accountability. 

Give to the EFF and ACLU.  Write to your unelected president and 
representatives to *demand* campaign finance reform.  In twenty-five years 
you and your fellow citizens might make a difference.

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"QQ" <now### [at] nowhereno> wrote :
>
>  Write to your unelected president and


    If you cannot get this right, why should we trust your opinion on other
things?

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On Sun, 9 Sep 2001 20:58:54 -0400, Bill DeWitt wrote:
>
>"QQ" <now### [at] nowhereno> wrote :
>>
>>  Write to your unelected president and
>
>
>    If you cannot get this right, why should we trust your opinion on other
>things?

What he said.  Much as I might not like him, Bush is the legally elected 
president of this once-fair nation.  Anyone who says otherwise is just trying
to make trouble.  Even Gore gave up on flaggellating that particular deceased
equine.

By the way, when a bill gets "tabled" here, it's effectively dead.  Another 
one of those leftpondian-vs.-rightpondian things.

--
#macro R(L P)sphere{L __}cylinder{L P __}#end#macro P(_1)union{R(z+_ z)R(-z _-z)
R(_-z*3_+z)torus{1__ clipped_by{plane{_ 0}}}translate z+_1}#end#macro S(_)9-(_1-
_)*(_1-_)#end#macro Z(_1 _ __)union{P(_)P(-_)R(y-z-1_)translate.1*_1-y*8pigment{
rgb<S(7)S(5)S(3)>}}#if(_1)Z(_1-__,_,__)#end#end Z(10x*-2,.2)camera{rotate x*90}

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Ron Parker wrote:
> By the way, followups to off-topic, please.  This whole thread should have
> been there, as it's only tangentially related to POV.

Actually, when I first saw this thread subject, I thought they were talking
about modelling actual watermarks with POV...

...

*cough*

While not exactly something one encounters every day, it would be kinda
neat to do one.  Make a semitransparent piece of a texture map?

Oh yeah, that's something else...shouldn't an object (other than a plane
which doesn't exist in realspace) with any given material become transparent
as its thickness decreases to micrometres?

*wanders off aimlessly*

- T. Cook
http://empyrean.scifi-fantasy.com

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[Xplo Eristotle <inq### [at] unforgettablecom>]
| To be fair, it's not "the people" who are asking for draconian copyright
| protection, it's the companies. Being an American, I'm rather disgusted
| at the direction the country is going.

The sad thing is that SSSCA only makes life more difficult for the average
consumer, not for the big "professional" copyright breakers.

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