House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Dear Chairman, I write in opposition to the fantastic assaults upon the Internet now being attempted by the oligopoly of mass market music selling companies. The laws proposed by the oligopoly will not enable prosecution of copyright infringement cases, but will rather grant effective ownership of every home computer in the world to the oligopoly. If the SSSCA passes, computer manufacturers will be required to place spy machinery and remote control machinery in every computer sold in the United States. These machineries will not be under the control of the home user, but under direct control of the oligopoly, backed by United States law. The home computer and the Internet have today provided millions of people in the United States with whole music studios within their own homes, and also with means of collaboratively creating, presenting, and distributing music. It is this competition which the oligopoly fears. If the SSSCA and cognate laws are passed, the computer industry and the communications industries will be required to do the bidding of a small group of companies, whose revenues are insignificant compared with the computer and communications industries. Large scale economic damage will be done to these industries. And worse, our rights to own a printing press/music studio and to distribute our own works freely, without seeking permission of the music oligopoly, will come to an end. Please read and ask your staff to read Kevin Kelly's fine New York Times piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/17/magazine/17ONLINE.html For serious consideration of what the real economics of the Internet are see Andrew Odlyzko's "content is not king": http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/networks.html I thank you and the whole Subcommittee for this opportunity to comment upon the issue of copyright and the Internet. I remain, as ever, your fellow user of the Internet and your fellow believer in a free press and a free music, Jay Sulzberger PS. If you use the web or email you use free software. The Internet is built of and on free software. If the SSSCA passes free software will be outlawed. I vote in the city of Yonkers, New York. My address is 79 Lewis Parkway Yonkers, New York 10705-2525 My email address is jays@panix.com For purposes of identification only: Jay SulzbergerCorresponding Secretary LXNY LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization. http://www.lxny.org Co-winner of the 1999 Linus Torvalds Community service award