The fact that Hollings is behind this bill should be the first clue about the real agenda it serves. Hollings is also a sponsor of the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA, formerly known as the SSSCA), a bill that requires all new computers and other digital information devices to come with copy protection software and/or hardware installed on them. It would also outlaw any effort to reverse-engineer or disable any copy-protection format -- a measure that some observers believe will cripple software development -- particularly in the open-source and free-software communities. CBDTPA is ostensibly based on the premise that consumers won't sign up for broadband ISP access until Hollywood puts its content online, and Hollywood won't do that until its sure its intellectual property will be safe. But the bill isn't really about the "promotion" of broadband at all. Hollings is one of the Senate's largest recipients of entertainment industry campaign contributions, and the bill is squarely aimed at protecting that industry's interests.
Salon
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