September 27, 2005 11:37 AM PDT
FBI to get veto power over PC software?
The Federal Communications Commission thinks you have the right to use software on your computer only if the FBI approves.
No, really.
In an obscure "policy" document
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-151A1.pdf
released around 9 p.m. ET last Friday, the FCC announced this remarkable decision.According to the three-page document, to preserve the openness that characterizes today's Internet,
"consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement." Read the last seven words again.The FCC didn't offer much in the way of clarification. But the clearest reading of the pronouncement is that
some unelected bureaucrats at the commission have decreeed that Americans don't have the right to use software such as Skype or PGPfone if it doesn't support mandatory backdoors for wiretapping. (That interpretation was confirmed by an FCC spokesman on Monday, who asked not to be identified by name. Also, the announcement came at the same time as the FCC posted its wiretapping rules for Internet telephony.) more...
http://news.com.com/2061-10804_3-5884130.html?tag=nefd.aon
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
