The current process that is being undertaken by the U.S. Government affecting many computer entusiasts.
This phrase came about in a conversation with a fellow
Open Source Advocate. We were talking about the
DMCA,
UCITA and some "anti-hacker" laws, and realized that if some of these laws are passed we could very well end up as criminals.
And it's not as cut and dry as "well they outlawed murder, I'm going to have to stop shooting people now" it's much more subtle and devious than that. It occurs as the government gives over power to corporations (as in the
DMCA), and slowly restricts our freedom.
Laws are quickly moving from people "right to do X" but to (for example) a "child's right not to ever see X". Now I don't mean to go off on a
rant here, but this whole family values legislation
bullshit has really got to go. Last time I was told (back before I turned 18) was that as a minor I had no constitutional rights to begin with, so why now must the government be so set on passing
legislation in order to "protect the children" and not just protecting them from abuse or mistreatment, that wasn't enough. Now we must protect them from graphic displays of
sex and
violence on
television and the
internet. More and more working families are giving up the duties of raising their children and relying on law to keep an eye on their children, but they sacrifice their own rights in the process. Between overly protective parents who don't have the time to do their own parenting (please now people, this does not apply to ALL
parents), to companies that want laws passed in order to ensure higher
profit margins, the rights of the average adult american are being stripped down to nothing, and those of us who value our freedom, are becoming
criminals. I don't want to be jailed because some
intelligent individual finds a nefarious use for a piece of
software that I've written. I don't want every channel on my cable box to be "child appropriate". I don't want to go back to television of the "
Donna Reed" era, and I definitley don't want the
government telling me what my personal life should be like.
---{end rant}---