Letter To TL Walls
Regarding HB457/SB213
Dear TL Walls,
This is very complex legislation, and I am attempting to get a better
understanding of the issues therein. Partially because of my concerns, the
bill was delayed for two weeks when initially presented in Senate Judiciary
Committee.
I will continue to look at this with a questioning mind unless I can be
convinced that it is the right thing to do, in that it prevents theft as
distinguished from infringing on people's freedoms. However, unless I am
convinced that it is a "theft" bill, I will not support the bill. I
appreciate your bringing this matter to my attention as it's people such as
you who have presented information to counter that presented by the
lobbyists on behalf of the cable companies and the Motion Picture industry.
Most Sincerely,
Stephen I. Cohen
State Senator
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 1:23 PM
To: sen.stephen.cohen@legislature.state.tn.us;
sen.doug.jackson@legislature.state.tn.us;
sen.joe.haynes@legislature.state.tn.us;
sen.tommy.kilby@legislature.state.tn.us;
sen.micheal.williams@legislature.state.tn.us;
sen.larry.trail@legislature.state.tn.us;
sen.mark.norris@legislature.state.tn.us;
sen.curtis.person.jr@legislature.state.tn.us;
sen.david.fowler@legislature.state.tn.us
Subject: Regarding HB457/SB213:
Dear Honorable Senators,
Regarding HB457/SB213:
While it may not the intention of the bill's sponsor, no legislation should
be passed that allows the cable monopolies to further restrict what is
connected inside customer locations.
There is a burgeoning industry to make use of broadband, such as consumer
set-top boxes, firewalls, routers, video players, games, conferencing, etc,
that utilize the fast Internet via broadband cable, but is not currently
controlled by the cable companies. I suspect this is in fact the real
reason
the cable industry is pushing for this new bill.
If you increase the monopolistic power of the cable companies, this huge
potential market will be destroyed at the expense of the citizens of
Tennessee, and every other state foolish enough to enact similar
legislation.
The costs to the consumers (and sales tax revenue) under passage of
HB457/SB213 could be in the billions, when you consider the number of
consumer products to be sold into the digital home of the future (all of
which could be forbidden or controlled by your ISP under HB457/SB213) .
HB457 passage would mean increased regulation for the consumer and would
basically re-create an AT&T monopoly via your ISP (Comcast, BellSouth,
AOL).
I personally know of several new technologies that may be destroyed by the
proposed HB457.
Thanks for your time.
TL Walls, Ph.D (pending), MSEE, BSEE
Member APS, American Physical Society
Member IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
PH: 615-876-6155
POB 200, Nashville, TN, 37189
http://tndf.net/digitalforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=56