Looking at the current government's track record over here, the 'if the US think it's good then it must be good' mindset means that if it gets through over there, something similar will get through over here.
Problem is that in practice no-one (on the legislature) may even be competant to render an opinion. IIRC the US DMCA was passed without the people concerned understanding (or mostly even having read) it.
And don't kid yourself into thinking that laws that daft won't get through over here. Basically the a large part of the SSSCA is just the same as our disasterous RIP bill, except that they've taken it a bit further and they want to be able to spy on you electronically. Under the SSSCA the makers of OS's etc need to build in back doors so that the law enforcement services (read NSA, CIA, FBI) can secretly get into your PC.
Or more likely read any "script kiddie"... In other words we have something supposedly mandating security the most likely effect of which would be to mandate zero security. -- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763