HOLLINGS' HOWLS WILL HAVE TO

HOLLINGS’ HOWLS WILL HAVE TO WAIT: Wired News says:

Sen. Patrick Leahy says a controversial proposal to embed copy protection in electronics gear will not become law this year.

Since Leahy is the powerful chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, his opposition instantly boosts the difficulty Hollywood studios will encounter in their attempts to enact sweeping copyright legislation.

The Vermont Democrat said through a spokesman that he “does not” support the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA), which Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina) introduced this month.

Leahy had said during a hearing March 14 that he would block an earlier measure — the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act — that Hollings had circulated privately. But that was before Hollings had introduced the revised CBDTPA, which is not as far-reaching.