Slashdot Mirror

I have corrected in in my copy.

SCO's executives may be personally guilty of violating securities law. I understand its executives have engaged in questionable insider trading, possibly to take advantage of the artificial inflation in SCO's stock price resulting from its allegations. The quantities of stock being sold off by SCO executives does not suggest they really believe they are about to win a billion dollar lawsuit. For insiders to trade based on information that is not available to the general public is an offense for which they may be subjected to stern punishment by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The stock of companies offerring Linux products and services may have been unfairly devalued as well. Stockholders in any of the affected companies - either SCO or its competitors - may wish to avail themselves of the Security and Exchange Commission's Investor Complaint Form to ask that something be done about this. You may not even be aware that you have standing to complain: if you invest in any mutual funds that hold shares in SCO, IBM, Red Hat or any other company that offers Linux products or services, then you have a right to ask the SEC to investigate. Check with your mutual fund to fund out which securities are in its portfolio.

SCO's executives may be personally guilty of violating securities law. I understand its executives have engaged in questionable insider trading, possibly to take advantage of the artificial inflation in SCO's stock price resulting from its allegations. The quantities of stock being sold off by SCO executives does not suggest they really believe they are about to win a billion dollar lawsuit. For insiders to trade based on information that is not available to the general public is an offense for which they may be subjected to stern punishment by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The stock of companies offerring Linux products and services may have been unfairly devalued as well. Stockholders in any of the affected companies - either SCO or its competitors - may wish to avail themselves of the Security and Exchange Commission's Investor Complaint Form to ask that something be done about this. You may not even be aware that you have standing to complain: if you invest in any mutual funds that hold shares in SCO, IBM, Red Hat or any other company that offers Linux products or services, then you have a right to ask the SEC to investigate. Check with your mutual fund to fund out which securities are in its portfolio.

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

• Run for Elected Office

• http://www.goingware.com/notes/prosecute-sco.html

While the lawsuits being defended by IBM and filed by Red Hat are likely to put an end to The SCO Group's menace to the Free Software community, I don't think simply putting the company out of business is likely to prevent us from being threatened this way again by other companies who are enemies to our community. I feel we need to send a stronger message.

If we all work together, we can put the executives of the SCO Group in prison where they belong.

If you live in the U.S., please write a letter to your state Attorney General. If you live elsewhere, please write your national or provincial law enforcement authorities. Please ask that the SCO Group be prosecuted for criminal fraud and extortion.

Stockholders in any of the affected companies - either SCO or its competitors - may wish to avail themselves of the Security and Exchange Commission's Investor Complaint Form to ask that something be done about this. You may not even be aware that you have standing to complain: if you invest in any mutual funds that hold shares in SCO, IBM, Red Hat or any other company that offers Linux products or services, then you have a right to ask the SEC to investigate. Check with your mutual fund to fund out which securities are in its portfolio.

Thanks for your help.

• http://www.goingware.com/notes/prosecute-sco.html

While the lawsuits being defended by IBM and filed by Red Hat are likely to put an end to The SCO Group's menace to the Free Software community, I don't think simply putting the company out of business is likely to prevent us from being threatened this way again by other companies who are enemies to our community. I feel we need to send a stronger message.

If we all work together, we can put the executives of the SCO Group in prison where they belong.

If you live in the U.S., please write a letter to your state Attorney General. If you live elsewhere, please write your national or provincial law enforcement authorities. Please ask that the SCO Group be prosecuted for criminal fraud and extortion.

Stockholders in any of the affected companies - either SCO or its competitors - may wish to avail themselves of the Security and Exchange Commission's Investor Complaint Form to ask that something be done about this. You may not even be aware that you have standing to complain: if you invest in any mutual funds that hold shares in SCO, IBM, Red Hat or any other company that offers Linux products or services, then you have a right to ask the SEC to investigate. Check with your mutual fund to fund out which securities are in its portfolio.

Thanks for your help.

• articles by MichaelCrawford at Kuro5hin
• GoingWare's Bag of Programming Tips (note - they cover a lot more than programming by now)
• Articles at The Linux Quality Database
• Musings on Good C++ Style - published at K5 under my old username
• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads
• Writing Cross-Platform Software - Getting Started
• Freeing the Developer from OS Vendor Shackles

I write about the importance of speaking your mind, and give some tips on how I am able to write so well on this page.

• articles by MichaelCrawford at Kuro5hin
• GoingWare's Bag of Programming Tips (note - they cover a lot more than programming by now)
• Articles at The Linux Quality Database
• Musings on Good C++ Style - published at K5 under my old username
• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads
• Writing Cross-Platform Software - Getting Started
• Freeing the Developer from OS Vendor Shackles

I write about the importance of speaking your mind, and give some tips on how I am able to write so well on this page.

• articles by MichaelCrawford at Kuro5hin
• GoingWare's Bag of Programming Tips (note - they cover a lot more than programming by now)
• Articles at The Linux Quality Database
• Musings on Good C++ Style - published at K5 under my old username
• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads
• Writing Cross-Platform Software - Getting Started
• Freeing the Developer from OS Vendor Shackles

I write about the importance of speaking your mind, and give some tips on how I am able to write so well on this page.

I'll know in a few days if people are finding it independently with search engines, and what keywords they are using. I think it will work out well, though, because my article links to its original copy, and because my website is already regarded highly for google, for reasons I discuss in this other article.

• http://www.goingware.com/notes/prosecute-sco.html

While the lawsuits being defended by IBM and filed by Red Hat are likely to put an end to The SCO Group's menace to the Free Software community, I don't think simply putting the company out of business is likely to prevent us from being threatened this way again by other companies who are enemies to our community. I feel we need to send a stronger message.

If we all work together, we can put the executives of the SCO Group in prison where they belong.

If you live in the U.S., please write a letter to your state Attorney General. If you live elsewhere, please write your national or provincial law enforcement authorities. Please ask that the SCO Group be prosecuted for criminal fraud and extortion.

Thanks for your help.

• http://www.goingware.com/notes/prosecute-sco.html

While the lawsuits being defended by IBM and filed by Red Hat are likely to put an end to The SCO Group's menace to the Free Software community, I don't think simply putting the company out of business is likely to prevent us from being threatened this way again by other companies who are enemies to our community. I feel we need to send a stronger message.

If we all work together, we can put the executives of the SCO Group in prison where they belong.

If you live in the U.S., please write a letter to your state Attorney General. If you live elsewhere, please write your national or provincial law enforcement authorities. Please ask that the SCO Group be prosecuted for criminal fraud and extortion.

Thanks for your help.

• http://www.goingware.com/notes/prosecute-sco.html

While the lawsuits being defended by IBM and filed by Red Hat are likely to put an end to The SCO Group's menace to the Free Software community, I don't think simply putting the company out of business is likely to prevent us from being threatened this way again by other companies who are enemies to our community. I feel we need to send a stronger message.

If we all work together, we can put the executives of the SCO Group in prison where they belong.

If you live in the U.S., please write a letter to your state Attorney General. If you live elsewhere, please write your national or provincial law enforcement authorities. Please ask that the SCO Group be prosecuted for criminal fraud and extortion.

• http://www.goingware.com/notes/prosecute-sco.html

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../tips/article.css">

• http://www.goingware.com/notes/prosecute-sco.html

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../tips/article.css">

Copyright could be abolished tomorrow if you could just get the votes in Congress required to pass a bill to repeal it. Sure, Dubya might veto it, but if you can get a two thirds majority in Congress, you can override a veto.

If you don't think this can happen, consider that more Americans are trading files today than voted for George Bush. Yes, many if not most file traders are under eighteen, but political upheavals usually take time. The sort of time that would allow most of today's youthful peer-to-peer users to come of age.

My new piece Change the Law explains this in more detail. It recommends several specific steps you can take to repeal copyright. The recommendations I give are:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, Should Copyright Even Exist? considers the question of whether the ability of computers to make faithful copies of digital data without significant cost so outweighs any benefit that copyright may have to society, that we would be better off if copyright were eliminated entirely.

Copyright could be abolished tomorrow if you could just get the votes in Congress required to pass a bill to repeal it. Sure, Dubya might veto it, but if you can get a two thirds majority in Congress, you can override a veto.

If you don't think this can happen, consider that more Americans are trading files today than voted for George Bush. Yes, many if not most file traders are under eighteen, but political upheavals usually take time. The sort of time that would allow most of today's youthful peer-to-peer users to come of age.

My new piece Change the Law explains this in more detail. It recommends several specific steps you can take to repeal copyright. The recommendations I give are:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, Should Copyright Even Exist? considers the question of whether the ability of computers to make faithful copies of digital data without significant cost so outweighs any benefit that copyright may have to society, that we would be better off if copyright were eliminated entirely.

Copyright is not a constitutional right, like free speech. While Congress is empowered to legalize copyright, it is not required to do so. Filesharing could be legalized tomorrow if Congress just passed a bill to repeal copyright.

Change the Law explains this in more detail, and suggests some steps to take to legalize filesharing. You can take these steps in almost any country, not just the US:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Thank you for your attention.

The very fact that shareholders cannot be sued for investing in a company is one of the cornerstones of the entire world's economy.

The worst you can do to the shareholders is to sue the corporation so that it has to dissolve in bankrupcy, so that the shareholders lose their investment.

There are only a few ways to "pierce the corporate veil". One of those is for the corporation to not pay its taxes. If the corporation does that, the tax authorities can levy the money from the personal assets of anyone with a fiduciary interest in the corporation.

There are other ways the corporate veil can be pierced, which all more or less involve the attempt to use the corporation as an attempt to protect yourself from being prosecuted for illegal activity.

IANAL, but I own a corporation, and I'm pretty sure no form of civil tort provides for piercing the corporate veil.

There are peer to peer networks for the sharing of legal music. In some cases they use digital signatures to ensure the files are legit. Here's the ones I've found so far:

• Furthur Network
• konspire[2b]
• Monotonik's BitTorrents - zip files with ~300 MB of MP3s

I'd wager that most people know exactly what they're doing with Kazaa, rendering this meager info page utterly useless.

The reason I wrote this article was that a friend quite seriously told me that the money she paid to purchase Kazaa went to compensate the musicians whose music she was downloading. She had no idea she was violating anyone's copyright. I suspect people like her are not uncommon among p2p users.

Other slashdot users have repeatedly mentioned that their less computer literate siblings and friends who use p2p were quite unaware that any of the songs they downloaded were immediately made available for sharing. While you can usually disable this, most of the p2p apps are configured to automatically share by default, and I don't think they always make an effort to inform the user of that fact, or of its legal implications.

There are peer to peer networks for the sharing of legal music. In some cases they use digital signatures to ensure the files are legit. Here's the ones I've found so far:

• Furthur Network
• konspire[2b]
• Monotonik's BitTorrents - zip files with ~300 MB of MP3s

This site also contains links for a bunch of sites where you can get freely distributable music.

And don't forget you can also buy non-RIAA music.

--
Karma whore turn on!

Also, thanks for the link. You'll see that I have given you a reciprocal link.

But there are p2p networks for downloading legal music. Some of them use digital signatures to authenticate the legality of the files. Here's the ones I've found so far:

• Furthur Network
• konspire[2b]
• Monotonik's BitTorrents - zip files with ~300 MB of MP3s

Many unsigned and independent musicians provide free downloads of their music on their websites as a way to attract more fans. Here's some from my friend Oliver Brown for example. Many such musicians, while relatively unknown, are as good as any major label band and certainly an improvement over the pablum they serve up on ClearChannel.

You can find many more examples in my new article:

• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads

If you're a musician who offers downloads of your music, I can link to your band's website from the article if you give my article a reciprocal link. Please follow the instructions given here

And yes I have been posting this to Slashdot repeatedly for several days, because I think it's important for people to understand there's a way to get quality, free music without breaking any laws, while at the same time benefiting the many talented, hardworking musicians who aren't signed with a major label.

Many unsigned and independent musicians provide free downloads of their music on their websites as a way to attract more fans. Here's some from my friend Oliver Brown for example. Many such musicians, while relatively unknown, are as good as any major label band and certainly an improvement over the pablum they serve up on ClearChannel.

You can find many more examples in my new article:

• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads

If you're a musician who offers downloads of your music, I can link to your band's website from the article if you give my article a reciprocal link. Please follow the instructions given here

And yes I have been posting this to Slashdot repeatedly for several days, because I think it's important for people to understand there's a way to get quality, free music without breaking any laws, while at the same time benefiting the many talented, hardworking musicians who aren't signed with a major label.

Many unsigned and independent musicians provide free downloads of their music on their websites as a way to attract more fans. Here's some from my friend Oliver Brown for example. Many such musicians, while relatively unknown, are as good as any major label band and certainly an improvement over the pablum they serve up on ClearChannel.

You can find many more examples in my new article:

• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads

If you're a musician who offers downloads of your music, I can link to your band's website from the article if you give my article a reciprocal link. Please follow the instructions given here

Many unsigned and independent musicians provide free downloads of their music on their websites as a way to attract more fans. Here's some from my friend Oliver Brown for example. Many such musicians, while relatively unknown, are as good as any major label band and certainly an improvement over the pablum they serve up on ClearChannel.

You can find many more examples in my new article:

• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads

If you're a musician who offers downloads of your music, I can link to your band's website from the article if you give my article a reciprocal link. Please follow the instructions given here

Many unsigned musicians provide free downloads of their music on their websites as a way to attract more fans. Here's some from my friend Oliver Brown for example. Many such musicians, while relatively unknown, are as good as any major label band and certainly an improvement over the pablum they serve up on ClearChannel.

You can find many more examples in my new article:

• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads

If you're a musician who offers downloads of your music, I can link to your band's website from the article if you give my article a reciprocal link. Please follow the instructions given here

Many unsigned musicians provide free downloads of their music on their websites as a way to attract more fans. Here's some from my friend Oliver Brown for example. Many such musicians, while relatively unknown, are as good as any major label band and certainly an improvement over the pablum they serve up on ClearChannel.

You can find many more examples in my new article:

• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads

If you're a musician who offers downloads of your music, I can link to your band's website from the article if you give my article a reciprocal link. Please follow the instructions given here

Copyright is not a Constitutional right - the Constitution gives Congress the power to create copyright but does not require it to do so. Copyright could be ended tomorrow if Congress just passed a bill that repealed it.

The following are links to sections of my new article that explains the steps you can take to make file sharing legal:

• Change the Law
  • Speak Out
  • Vote
  • Write to Your Elected Representatives
  • Donate Money to Political Campaigns
  • Support Campaign Finance Reform
  • Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Practice Civil Disobedience

Copyright is not a Constitutional right - the Constitution gives Congress the power to create copyright but does not require it to do so. Copyright could be ended tomorrow if Congress just passed a bill that repealed it.

The following are links to sections of my new article that explains the steps you can take to make file sharing legal:

• Change the Law
  • Speak Out
  • Vote
  • Write to Your Elected Representatives
  • Donate Money to Political Campaigns
  • Support Campaign Finance Reform
  • Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Practice Civil Disobedience

Copyright is not a Constitutional right - the Constitution gives Congress the power to create copyright but does not require it to do so. Copyright could be ended tomorrow if Congress just passed a bill that repealed it.

The following are links to sections of my new article that explains the steps you can take to make file sharing legal:

• Change the Law
  • Speak Out
  • Vote
  • Write to Your Elected Representatives
  • Donate Money to Political Campaigns
  • Support Campaign Finance Reform
  • Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Practice Civil Disobedience

Copyright is not a Constitutional right - the Constitution gives Congress the power to create copyright but does not require it to do so. Copyright could be ended tomorrow if Congress just passed a bill that repealed it.

The following are links to sections of my new article that explains the steps you can take to make file sharing legal:

• Change the Law
  • Speak Out
  • Vote
  • Write to Your Elected Representatives
  • Donate Money to Political Campaigns
  • Support Campaign Finance Reform
  • Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Practice Civil Disobedience

Copyright is not a Constitutional right - the Constitution gives Congress the power to create copyright but does not require it to do so. Copyright could be ended tomorrow if Congress just passed a bill that repealed it.

The following are links to sections of my new article that explains the steps you can take to make file sharing legal:

• Change the Law
  • Speak Out
  • Vote
  • Write to Your Elected Representatives
  • Donate Money to Political Campaigns
  • Support Campaign Finance Reform
  • Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Practice Civil Disobedience

Copyright is not a Constitutional right - the Constitution gives Congress the power to create copyright but does not require it to do so. Copyright could be ended tomorrow if Congress just passed a bill that repealed it.

The following are links to sections of my new article that explains the steps you can take to make file sharing legal:

• Change the Law
  • Speak Out
  • Vote
  • Write to Your Elected Representatives
  • Donate Money to Political Campaigns
  • Support Campaign Finance Reform
  • Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Practice Civil Disobedience

Copyright is not a Constitutional right - the Constitution gives Congress the power to create copyright but does not require it to do so. Copyright could be ended tomorrow if Congress just passed a bill that repealed it.

The following are links to sections of my new article that explains the steps you can take to make file sharing legal:

• Change the Law
  • Speak Out
  • Vote
  • Write to Your Elected Representatives
  • Donate Money to Political Campaigns
  • Support Campaign Finance Reform
  • Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Practice Civil Disobedience

Copyright is not a Constitutional right - the Constitution gives Congress the power to create copyright but does not require it to do so. Copyright could be ended tomorrow if Congress just passed a bill that repealed it.

The following are links to sections of my new article that explains the steps you can take to make file sharing legal:

• Change the Law
  • Speak Out
  • Vote
  • Write to Your Elected Representatives
  • Donate Money to Political Campaigns
  • Support Campaign Finance Reform
  • Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Practice Civil Disobedience

one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

• Practice Civil Disobedience

The Constitution grants Congress the power to create intellectual property, but does not require it to do so. Congress could do away with copyright in a single day, simply by passing a bill that eliminated it. They wouldn't even need the President's signature, if they had enough votes to override a veto.

From Article 1, Section 8 of The Constitution of the USA:

The Congress shall have power to... promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

I discuss this at some length in the section called Change the Law which is part of Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.

If you don't think it's within your power to change the law, consider that there are more Americans sharing files on peer-to-peer networks than there were Americans who voted for George Bush.

My article explains some steps you can take to change the law. The following are links to the explanation of each one, just to pique your interest:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, if you're an American slashdot reader, you need to carefully read and thoroughly understand your Constitution. It is the highest law of the land, and the finest expression there is of the principles upon which our country was founded. If everyone did so, it would raise the level of the discussion here considerably.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to create intellectual property, but does not require it to do so. Congress could do away with copyright in a single day, simply by passing a bill that eliminated it. They wouldn't even need the President's signature, if they had enough votes to override a veto.

From Article 1, Section 8 of The Constitution of the USA:

The Congress shall have power to... promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

I discuss this at some length in the section called Change the Law which is part of Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.

If you don't think it's within your power to change the law, consider that there are more Americans sharing files on peer-to-peer networks than there were Americans who voted for George Bush.

My article explains some steps you can take to change the law. The following are links to the explanation of each one, just to pique your interest:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, if you're an American slashdot reader, you need to carefully read and thoroughly understand your Constitution. It is the highest law of the land, and the finest expression there is of the principles upon which our country was founded. If everyone did so, it would raise the level of the discussion here considerably.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to create intellectual property, but does not require it to do so. Congress could do away with copyright in a single day, simply by passing a bill that eliminated it. They wouldn't even need the President's signature, if they had enough votes to override a veto.

From Article 1, Section 8 of The Constitution of the USA:

The Congress shall have power to... promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

I discuss this at some length in the section called Change the Law which is part of Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.

If you don't think it's within your power to change the law, consider that there are more Americans sharing files on peer-to-peer networks than there were Americans who voted for George Bush.

My article explains some steps you can take to change the law. The following are links to the explanation of each one, just to pique your interest:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, if you're an American slashdot reader, you need to carefully read and thoroughly understand your Constitution. It is the highest law of the land, and the finest expression there is of the principles upon which our country was founded. If everyone did so, it would raise the level of the discussion here considerably.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to create intellectual property, but does not require it to do so. Congress could do away with copyright in a single day, simply by passing a bill that eliminated it. They wouldn't even need the President's signature, if they had enough votes to override a veto.

From Article 1, Section 8 of The Constitution of the USA:

The Congress shall have power to... promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

I discuss this at some length in the section called Change the Law which is part of Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.

If you don't think it's within your power to change the law, consider that there are more Americans sharing files on peer-to-peer networks than there were Americans who voted for George Bush.

My article explains some steps you can take to change the law. The following are links to the explanation of each one, just to pique your interest:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, if you're an American slashdot reader, you need to carefully read and thoroughly understand your Constitution. It is the highest law of the land, and the finest expression there is of the principles upon which our country was founded. If everyone did so, it would raise the level of the discussion here considerably.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to create intellectual property, but does not require it to do so. Congress could do away with copyright in a single day, simply by passing a bill that eliminated it. They wouldn't even need the President's signature, if they had enough votes to override a veto.

From Article 1, Section 8 of The Constitution of the USA:

The Congress shall have power to... promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

I discuss this at some length in the section called Change the Law which is part of Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.

If you don't think it's within your power to change the law, consider that there are more Americans sharing files on peer-to-peer networks than there were Americans who voted for George Bush.

My article explains some steps you can take to change the law. The following are links to the explanation of each one, just to pique your interest:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, if you're an American slashdot reader, you need to carefully read and thoroughly understand your Constitution. It is the highest law of the land, and the finest expression there is of the principles upon which our country was founded. If everyone did so, it would raise the level of the discussion here considerably.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to create intellectual property, but does not require it to do so. Congress could do away with copyright in a single day, simply by passing a bill that eliminated it. They wouldn't even need the President's signature, if they had enough votes to override a veto.

From Article 1, Section 8 of The Constitution of the USA:

The Congress shall have power to... promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

I discuss this at some length in the section called Change the Law which is part of Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.

If you don't think it's within your power to change the law, consider that there are more Americans sharing files on peer-to-peer networks than there were Americans who voted for George Bush.

My article explains some steps you can take to change the law. The following are links to the explanation of each one, just to pique your interest:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, if you're an American slashdot reader, you need to carefully read and thoroughly understand your Constitution. It is the highest law of the land, and the finest expression there is of the principles upon which our country was founded. If everyone did so, it would raise the level of the discussion here considerably.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to create intellectual property, but does not require it to do so. Congress could do away with copyright in a single day, simply by passing a bill that eliminated it. They wouldn't even need the President's signature, if they had enough votes to override a veto.

From Article 1, Section 8 of The Constitution of the USA:

The Congress shall have power to... promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

I discuss this at some length in the section called Change the Law which is part of Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.

If you don't think it's within your power to change the law, consider that there are more Americans sharing files on peer-to-peer networks than there were Americans who voted for George Bush.

My article explains some steps you can take to change the law. The following are links to the explanation of each one, just to pique your interest:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, if you're an American slashdot reader, you need to carefully read and thoroughly understand your Constitution. It is the highest law of the land, and the finest expression there is of the principles upon which our country was founded. If everyone did so, it would raise the level of the discussion here considerably.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to create intellectual property, but does not require it to do so. Congress could do away with copyright in a single day, simply by passing a bill that eliminated it. They wouldn't even need the President's signature, if they had enough votes to override a veto.

From Article 1, Section 8 of The Constitution of the USA:

The Congress shall have power to... promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

I discuss this at some length in the section called Change the Law which is part of Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.

If you don't think it's within your power to change the law, consider that there are more Americans sharing files on peer-to-peer networks than there were Americans who voted for George Bush.

My article explains some steps you can take to change the law. The following are links to the explanation of each one, just to pique your interest:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, if you're an American slashdot reader, you need to carefully read and thoroughly understand your Constitution. It is the highest law of the land, and the finest expression there is of the principles upon which our country was founded. If everyone did so, it would raise the level of the discussion here considerably.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to create intellectual property, but does not require it to do so. Congress could do away with copyright in a single day, simply by passing a bill that eliminated it. They wouldn't even need the President's signature, if they had enough votes to override a veto.

From Article 1, Section 8 of The Constitution of the USA:

The Congress shall have power to... promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

I discuss this at some length in the section called Change the Law which is part of Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.

If you don't think it's within your power to change the law, consider that there are more Americans sharing files on peer-to-peer networks than there were Americans who voted for George Bush.

My article explains some steps you can take to change the law. The following are links to the explanation of each one, just to pique your interest:

• Speak Out
• Vote
• Write to Your Elected Representatives
• Donate Money to Political Campaigns
• Support Campaign Finance Reform
• Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Practice Civil Disobedience

Finally, if you're an American slashdot reader, you need to carefully read and thoroughly understand your Constitution. It is the highest law of the land, and the finest expression there is of the principles upon which our country was founded. If everyone did so, it would raise the level of the discussion here considerably.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

Many unsigned musicians provide free downloads of their music on their websites as a way to attract more fans. Here's mine for example. Many such musicians, while relatively unknown, are as good as any major label band and certainly an improvement over the pablum they serve up on ClearChannel.

You can find many more examples in my new article:

• Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads

If you're a musician who offers downloads of your music, I can link to your band's website from the article if you give my article a reciprocal link. Please follow the instructions given here