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See Jim Bell's Assassination Politics. Beware, the government does not have a sense of humor. Jim Bell is currently in federal prison, serving a 10 year sentence for "stalking" an IRS agent. For details, see here.

You'd better alert Vint Cerf, then.

It's nice that you know what Hatch would do if he could. Can you also tell what I am thinking?

Hatch supposedly has changed his mind about IP law, as he sees the media companies as being way too greedy about the whole thing.

http://www.cluebot.com/articles/00/10/12/2055227.s html

My friend Rob is organizing meetings to "get the word out about the importance of civil liberties, and start the process of producing some credible and even-minded articles and letters to be sent to local newspapers, TV stations, and community groups. "

If you're in the Baltimore area please help out with flameless, populous minded articles on the current threat to our civil rights. If you cant get there - email.

What happened on Tuesday was and is an atrociuos act. In our response to this incident we cannot wear away at what originally and even now makes this nation great - our personal freedom. Don't let that be destroyed.

There will be a meeting the evening of Saturday, September 15, 2001 in the Baltimore/Washington area to discuss the implications of the recent tragedy as it affects our civil and privacy rights, specifically impending legislation against unbreakable encryption.

For more information please see my article, "Post-WTC Privacy Rights Discussions in Baltimore/DC" on cluebot.com or contact me via e-mail with any questions.

There will be a meeting the evening of Saturday, September 15, 2001 in the Baltimore/Washington area to discuss the implications of the recent tragedy as it affects our civil and privacy rights, specifically impending legislation against unbreakable encryption.

For more information please see my article, "Post-WTC Privacy Rights Discussions in Baltimore/DC" on cluebot.com or contact me via e-mail with any questions.

Just another example of the TRIPS side of so-called "free trade" (note that IP policies are specifically designed as artificial restrictions on trade): in response to US complaints lodged with the World Trade Organization, Denamrk has changed their search-and-seizure law to make it easier to go after copyright violators. Summary available at cluebot.

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Poliglut

- Ever been to a large protest or demonstration? Groups with axes to grind are typically under-funded, and habitually rely on tinny Radio Shack megaphones to "get the word out" - a marginal improvement over shouting, given ambient street noise. With these speakers, a dissident group could easily seed a crowd with plastic amplifiers taped to their ubiquitous posterboard placards.

- Pack a stack of these piezo-electronic sheets in your backpack, find an abandoned warehouse and a tube of super-glue and voila! Instant rave!

- Promotional companies that currently wheat-paste metropolitan walls with repetitous movie/concert fliers might find a way to paint their advertisements on sheets of the aforementioned plastic film with a flat EEPROM backing, thereby augementing their garish displays with short bursts of sound. Wait, I should patent that idea.

Sincerly,

Vergil
Cluebot.
Vergil Bushnell

Hi David, glad to see you're better now (or at least posting).

I disagree (reluctantly, I get to see the mayhem that some "average users" manage to inflict upon themselves every working day) that users won't understand -- and indeed WANT -- moderation. Indeed, I think that moderator-points on /. are what could be termed a quickly-expiring online "currency," although with limited value due to the lack of an exchange marketplace and I'm not sure the word currency is right in this case (hence the quotes).

Everyone here has probably seen a comment that they'd like to mod up (or down, I guess) and not had any points to do so. I'm not proposing this for Slashdot itself (I'm not against it, either) but it might be nice if the "SlashCode" were modified so that mod points could actually be purchased, if a site owner chose to sell them. Obviously, I stand to gain from widespread adoption of one currency in particular (which seems ideally suited for the job, IMO) but I'd of course want to let all flowers bloom if this happens.

I don't write code, and I have no idea how hard this would be to do. The sites I've seen operating the Slashcode (Cluebot and Fairtunes) seem not to have user-moderation enabled at all, so I'm not sure that's an option in the publicly available version. I think that if average users more-quickly (well, ok, slowly) saw reputation as a valuable thing -- one that should be guarded and handled with care, the 'net might benefit. I agree that it won't be an easy job trying to teach them, but in the end it might be worth it -- even for others besides greedy-old Jim Ray. :)

Of course, for those who don't know me, I'm tremendously self-interested and biased. I'm also ready to admit that "moderation-for-the-rich" might not improve some sites, but I'm not convinced that it's never "worth it" to sell mod points. For example, I'd have paid half a gram or so to moderate this comment up this morning. I could not, so I didn't, but look at the comment and see if that would have been a good thing for yourself. The green-eyeshades types at Andover.net just *might* want to look into how many clickthrus that single transaction would equal...Or maybe not, I don't know.
JMR

Citizens should feel free to vote for the candidate that most represents their positions. Instead, we're seeing a spate of websites taking advantage of America's flawed and disparate Electoral College system.

Why should one citizen's vote be more/less valuable than another citizen's residing in a different state?

Clearly, proportional Electoral College representation (as opposed to the "winner-take-all" representation used by some states) would end any perceived need for vote-swapping.

I saw a Green Party t-shirt today that summed it succinctly:
Vote your conscience, not your fear

Here's a cluebot article (Will Vote Trading Website Be Shut Down?) that briefly discusses the dubious legality of vote trading.

Sincerely,
Vergil

Citizens should feel free to vote for the candidate that most represents their positions. Instead, we're seeing a spate of websites taking advantage of America's flawed and disparate Electoral College system.

Why should one citizen's vote be more/less valuable than another citizen's residing in a different state?

Clearly, proportional Electoral College representation (as opposed to the "winner-take-all" representation used by some states) would end any perceived need for vote-swapping.

I saw a Green Party t-shirt today that summed it succinctly:
Vote your conscience, not your fear

Here's a cluebot article (Will Vote Trading Website Be Shut Down?) that briefly discusses the dubious legality of vote trading.

Sincerely,
Vergil

In fact, when you actually look at the record of the debates so far, it's interesting to notice the other times the word "Internet" has been uttered.

In the first debate (3 Oct 00), the word "Internet" was used three times, all by Governor Bush:

• "Look. [Al Gore] is a man who's got great numbers. He talks about numbers. I'm beginning to think not only did he invent the Internet but he invented the calculator."

• "Testing is the cornerstone of [educational] reform... and we ask them to post the results on the Internet." (Does he mean "we will" ask them? I'm unsure.)

• "I believe there needs to be instant disclosure [of campaign contributions] on the Internet as to who is giving to whom."

And that's it! Neither of the vice presidential candidates mentioned the word "Internet" in their debate, and in Wednesday night's debate, the word "Internet" was only used in the instance which inspired (if that is the right word for Katz's repetitious drumming) this discussion.

So in all, four mentions of the Internet, all by Gov. Bush: once in a joke, once in a cultural criticism, and twice in useful applications of information technology.

Yours,
A. Keiper
The Center for the Study of Technology and Society
Washington, D.C.