I learned in the news today of the introduction of HR4569 "The Digital Transition Content Security Act of 2005" If I understand the news properly this would outlaw unsecured analog outputs on all new digital media players when it takes effect.

The idea behind this is that digital content could be stolen by placing a recoding device on the analog output.

I am writing to impress on Rep. Kelly that this law should not be supported.

I have several problems with the whole idea of such a law.

People who buy such a limited device will need to buy extra equipment to use it. (You could not use your existing TV to connect to it.) This will very likely result in many angry and confused customers.

This puts the government, not the consumer, in the role of choosing what the best technology is. Should the laws have been passed to require that we use BetaMax video tapes instead of the current standard of VHS ?

This law attempts solve a problem that does not exist. I do not believe that pirates of digital media will be interested in the analog output. They will continue to find ways to unlock and reprocess the digital content. Once established such methods yield much higher quality results and typically are less complicated than recording the output.

The net result of such a law is that law-abiding customers will be put at a greater inconvenience (because of troubles getting equipment to work together) and people will need to spend more money the reach the same level of experience.

I believe this law is supported by lobbyists from the Media companies and the equipment manufactures. Neither of these groups have the best interests of the public in mind.