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- From: rkarlqu@scd.hp.com (Richard Karlquist)
- Newsgroups: rec.audio
- Subject: Re: Defeating SCMS
- Date: 18 Nov 1992 23:18:40 GMT
- Organization: Hewlett Packard Santa Clara Division
- Lines: 49
- Message-ID: <1eej0gINN1i4@hpscdf.scd.hp.com>
- References: <1992Nov15.215144.12449@nntpd2.cxo.dec.com>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: hpscrj.scd.hp.com
- X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.4 PL6]
-
- : |>>In article <1992Nov13.185500.20300@nntpd2.cxo.dec.com>
- : |>>winalski@adserv.enet.dec.com (Paul S. Winalski) writes:
- : |>>
- : |>>> The biggest problem is that it soon will be illegal to build or use such
- : |>>> devices in the US. The Home Recording Rights Act is now law.
- : |>
- : |>So....all this isn't meant to flame anyone, I intent is to just
- : |>show that while the HRRA may make a "defeat SCMS" black box
- : |>illegal, they'll likely show up anyway. Heck, they could be sold
- : |>to anyone as a "PRO" device. There's no legal definition as to
-
- Two other possible reasons for SCMS:
- *conspiracy theory mode on*
-
- 1. SCMS and the copy guard system that preceeded it (the one with the
- 3800 Hz. notch filter) were actually Trojan Horses to divert attention
- away from the real issue, which is the tape tax. The RIAA *knows* that
- SCMS will not stop anyone but the great unwashed ignoramuses, but they
- also know that there is no easy workaround for the tape tax, which is
- a Trojan Horse inside a Trojan Horse. Just like the federal income tax
- which started out as 1% tax on income over $10,000 (big time salary in
- 1913!), we all know the rest of that story. The RIAA will gradually
- increase the tax the way you cook a frog alive by sloooowly bringing the
- water to a boil. Pretty soon, the tax will be so high, they will actually
- encourage people to make copies. This threshold is only when the tax is
- equal to the record company's profit (not the list price) on a CD.
-
- 2. Anyone (especially non-Japanese companies) who tries to compete with
- DAT/DCC gets snarled up in government red tape. Remember that the same
- companies who make DAT also own record companies (Sony=CBS, etc.).
- Also, it is not clear that some independent record companies who want
- to issue prerecorded DAT's will be able to get out of paying the tape
- tax. If they complain, they will be told that their royalty check from
- the Copyright agency that distributes the tax back the copyright holders
- will compensate. Of course, in reality, they will be below the threshold
- cutoff and receive nothing.
-
- I think I'll go buy some Sony stock and send a thank you letter to
- my Congressman for voting for this bill :-(.
-
- -------------------------------------------------
- | Rick Karlquist |
- | Hewlett-Packard Santa Clara Division |
- | Precision Time and Frequency R&D |
- | |
- | email: rkarlqu@scd.hp.com |
- | landline: (408)-553-2194 |
- | radio: N6RK |
- ------------------------------------------------
-