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[Bush2000]

"I hope the rest of the creative and technological communities get on board with a unifying message and ... we can tone down the divisive rhetoric that has otherwise predominated many copyright and technology debates," Berman said in a statement.

Hey! He's talking about you!

[TechJunkYard]

The agreement was negotiated among the Recording Industry Association of America, the Business Software Alliance and the Computer Systems Policy Project.

That's nice... the RIAA, BSA (that's basically Microsoft) and CSPP (a consortium of OEMs). Who's representing the walletsconsumers?

[per loin]

Officials with those organizations declined Monday to discuss the agreement in any detail, except saying they had achieved "landmark consensus." Industry executives and others described its provisions on condition of anonymity for The Associated Press.

What are they trying to hide?

[Dimensio]

The agreement could affect a controversial bill by Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., that would prohibit the manufacture or distribution of "digital media devices" -- such as handheld music players -- unless they include government-approved copy restriction technology

This is inaccurate, unless Ernest Hollings, D-Disney, has rewritten his bill since its last incarnation. It was written to prohibit manufacture or distribution of any "digital electronic device" that did not contain federally-approvide DRM-controlling hardware. This would affect the cost of almost any electronic device, even ones that could never be used for digital piracy, and it would possibly make 'non-approved' operating systems (like Linux) illegal because it would be unlikely that the 'approved' DRM management scheme would fit with the Linux development method (likely closed-source, and the user wouldn't be able to remove it from the OS).

[Right Wing Professor]

In other news, the foxes and the coyotes today reached a historic accord on how to protect the chicken coop.

[Buckwheats]

If you've been around here for long, you realize that Bush-Boy is a certain type of troll. He (It?) doesn't troll everything and anything just to get some weird sexual rise out of sincere folks taking his (it's) bait. He's (It's?) in a certain sub-category of trolldumb; kind of like some of the WOsD trolls. He's (It's?) obviously got a financial vested interest. Bush-Boy's interest is Microsoft. Maybe it's actually Bill himself; he does have a lot of time on his hands these days (nah, he'd just have some low-level wanker doing that). Anyway, DO NOT respond to trolls of any persuasion. While that may not make them go away, it'll save you from being played for a fool by an idiot (unless you enjoy talking to telemarketers, or S&M or something like that).

[k2blader]

Bump for later read.

[LibKill]

Ho-hum. Another copy protection scheme.

Another 15-year old hacker will break it.

The only way for the media hacks to survive is to provide great content at cheap prices.

They should take a lesson from WalMart. Cheap pays.