[kwlug-disc] Your country needs you (or "Our MP is on the C-32 committee") and the Long Census

[Russell McOrmond]

On 10-11-21 01:13 PM, L.D. Paniak wrote:
> The mantra of "not making criminals out of law abiding citizens" is a
> long standing one in conservative lore.  It was certainly front and
> center in arguments against a gun registry 10+ years ago and even
> further back against medicare.

Suggested reading:

The long computer registry and IT control
http://BillC32.ca/5209


   I first used the analogy between computer control and gun control in 
2005 with then Heritage critic Bev Oda http://BillC32.ca/728

   I asked her what she would think of a gun control law that locked up 
all guns, and hunters required permission from an animal rights activist 
in order to fire a gun.

   While this is IMHO a valid analogy to DRM, Bev Oda didn't buy it. The 
reason was because she didn't understand what locks on *content* had to 
do with locks on *devices*.  In other words, I needed to to a mini 
TPM-101 course before I could use any analogy to explain the real-world 
impacts of digital locks.

   And thus I came up with http://flora.ca/own

 > The question for a conservative politician is what public interest is
> served by the government intruding on the privacy of my home for the
> purposes of checking on how I am watching a DVD that I legally purchased
> (the right to view)?


   Answer from average MP or lawyer:  digital locks on DVDs stop you 
from making illegal copies of the DVD, they don't impact your privacy or 
your hardware/software choices.


   This is factually incorrect (both that it stops copying, as well as 
its impact on interoperability, privacy and hardware property rights), 
and relies on a science-fiction view of TPMs.  It is what many (most?) 
non-technical people in this debate believe.


Note: I mention this not to discourage anyone, but to try to jump you 
all past the mistakes I made in the past.   As a technical community you 
need to make use of your technical knowledge, recognising that many 
(most) in the debate are in dire need of your expertise.

-- 
  Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
  Please help us tell the Canadian Parliament to protect our property
  rights as owners of Information Technology. Sign the petition!
  http://fix.billc32.ca/petition/ict/

  "The government, lobbied by legacy copyright holders and hardware
   manufacturers, can pry my camcorder, computer, home theatre, or
   portable media player from my cold dead hands!"