Slashdot Mirror

you can send him email at Ninthnet@mail.house.gov or you can contact him via phone or mail at:

188 East Main Street
Abingdon, Virginia 24210
276-628-1145

112 North Washington Avenue
Pulaski, Virginia 24301
540-980-4310

1 Cloverleaf Square, Suite C-1
Big Stone Gap, Virginia 24219
276-523-5450

2187 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-3861

finally, you can visit his web site at http://www.house.gov/boucher

you can send him email at Ninthnet@mail.house.gov or you can contact him via phone or mail at:

188 East Main Street
Abingdon, Virginia 24210
276-628-1145

112 North Washington Avenue
Pulaski, Virginia 24301
540-980-4310

1 Cloverleaf Square, Suite C-1
Big Stone Gap, Virginia 24219
276-523-5450

2187 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-3861

finally, you can visit his web site at http://www.house.gov/boucher

Indeed. The honorable gentleman could only become geekier through the use of a propeller hat.

• Every weekday, at 6PM, they have "The Angelus". I have never seen an official explanation of what this is, but it appears to be a Catholicism-inspired "minute of silence", featuring images of crosses and the "virgin mary", interspersed with shots of people oberdiantly stopping whatever they're doing, even crossing the street.
• This is followed by the News, after which they show commercials for "psychic" hotlines.
• Sometimes, not just on Sundays, they will have programs about some old catholic fart carrying some saint's jawbone around Ireland, or swanning off to Lourdes on a pilgrimage. Last night I saw about 10 seconds of some missionary dragging women out of Bangkok brothels and preaching at them, after which (I presume) they carried on as before - this guy is a hero worthy of endorsement by a state broadcaster!

You want my opinion? Three words: Education, Education, Education! The Irish Constitution, like the US Constitution, mandates freedom of religion, and I take that to mean that people are free to do without religion. So, why are schoolchildren taught to believe in unprovable assertions? From theistic religion to aliens and ESP is but a short step, if you do not have a grounding in scientific principles.

Dear Representative ________________:

I understand that on Tuesday 23 April, representatives from the
Recording Industry Association of America asked the Appropriations
Committee for additional funding to prosecute copyright-related crimes.
I feel that copyright disputes ought to be the realm of civil law, not
criminal law, and that is not appropriate for my tax dollars to support
the recording studios' disputes. Therefore, I urge you to resist this
industry request to subsidize their work.

Sincerely yours,

________________

Time to get out your keyboards/pen&paper and write to your Congresscritter on the Appropriations Committee.

Remember to be polite when explaining why you disagree with this.

Congress - Office of Clerk Roll Call Votes

I would write my congressman, but,uh, well, there's a problem.
According to this page:
You are in Ohio's 17th district and are represented by The Honorable James A. Traficant Jr.

Which, if you guys follow the news, is a Bad Thing (tm). My congressman was just convicted on all 10 counts of charges against him; charges including but not limited to several counts of receiving bribes, obsruction of justice, and (best of all) violating the RICO act.

So as much as I'd like to ask him to do something about this passport situation, something tells me he won't be reading my e-mail.

Poor Ole' Jim...

1. Go here and get your ZIP+4 code.
2. Go here and identify your Congressperson.
3. When you click on the "Contact My Representative" button, you will be taken to a form. Ignore it. Instead, click on the link for your Representative and go to their homepage. Hopefully, they will have contact information someplace where you can find it. Copy it into your favorite word-processor.
4. Go here and identify your Senators. Again, we hope that they make it easy to find their contact information.
5. If you are thinking ahead, save three "empty" letters, addressed to each of the above. This will save time the next time you need to write.
6. Use your word processor to write an essay explaining your position. Be verbose. Copy this into each of the three letters you prepared above.
7. If you found any fax numbers (and your computer can print-to-fax!) send copies of your letter that way. Otherwise, print it out and send it by regular mail.

Click here for contact info.

Funny how you call Bush and his associates "ecoterrorists" when the actual terrorists come from the more extreme believers on YOUR side of the issue.

The Senate passed it 99-0.

The House held a voice vote, near as I can tell. My search ("digital millennium copyright" in the Word/Phrase search field) returned:

1. H.R.2281 : To amend title 17, United States Code, to implement the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty and Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
Sponsor: Rep Coble, Howard- Latest Major Action: 10/28/1998 Became Public Law No: 105-304.
Committees: House Judiciary; House Energy and Commerce; House Ways and Means

The Senate passed it 99-0.

The House held a voice vote, near as I can tell. My search ("digital millennium copyright" in the Word/Phrase search field) returned:

1. H.R.2281 : To amend title 17, United States Code, to implement the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty and Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
Sponsor: Rep Coble, Howard- Latest Major Action: 10/28/1998 Became Public Law No: 105-304.
Committees: House Judiciary; House Energy and Commerce; House Ways and Means

Remember them? I think we're all still using them in our GPS satellites.

The radiation-hardened 1802 was the de facto standard for satellites and other spacecraft for years.

See the House Subcommittee report on Y2K in Orbit: Impact on Satellites and the Global Positioning System which states:

The flight software for our Series 3000, 4000 (Astra-1A) and 5000 (Astra-1B) satellites uses ... the RCA 1802-based flight computers.

That criminals use the internet for 'identifty teheft' is not news Even the US government is on the case:

The proliferation of identity theft crimes has been fueled in some measure by the Internet, where Social Security numbers and other personal identifying information are widely available for a fee.

The original article seemed very alarmist. Is it really such a problem? My skimming of a US government report from some years ago revealled the following interesting information (emphasis added):

Officials at VISA U.S.A., Inc., and MasterCard International, Inc., indicated that overall fraud losses from their member banks are in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually, but these losses constitute a small part (about 0.1 percent) of the banks' overall billing transactions processed. Nevertheless, an official from MasterCard told us that dollar losses relating to identity fraud represented about 96 percent of its member banks' overall fraud losses of $407 million in 1997.

Buckley v. Valeo also found that restrictions on contributions are constitutional. The reform opposition in D.C. loved to frequently leave that part out of their press releases.

"There is no constitutional right to immediate, anonymous access to speech, for free, in a public library," Justice Department Attorney Rupa Bhattacharyya said...

As wiser /. readers than I have pointed out recently, something doesn't need to be in the Constitution to make it a right. The Constitution explicitly says that the Bill of Rights is an incomplete list, and that any and all rights and powers not explicitly enumerated in the Constitution are reserved for the jurisdiction of the States.

Note how it begins, "All legislative powers herein granted..." That means anything not explicitly mentioned is not granted to the federal government. Again, those wiser than myself also cite the 9th and 10th Amendments:

Article [IX.]

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Article [X.]

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Therefore, our Constitutional rights, by construction, include rights not named in the Constitution. :-)

"There is no constitutional right to immediate, anonymous access to speech, for free, in a public library," Justice Department Attorney Rupa Bhattacharyya said...

As wiser /. readers than I have pointed out recently, something doesn't need to be in the Constitution to make it a right. The Constitution explicitly says that the Bill of Rights is an incomplete list, and that any and all rights and powers not explicitly enumerated in the Constitution are reserved for the jurisdiction of the States.

Note how it begins, "All legislative powers herein granted..." That means anything not explicitly mentioned is not granted to the federal government. Again, those wiser than myself also cite the 9th and 10th Amendments:

Article [IX.]

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Article [X.]

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Therefore, our Constitutional rights, by construction, include rights not named in the Constitution. :-)

Next they'll go after little "Evil Inside" logos that constitute fair use in free speech (as satire, political protest) as laid down by Falwell v. Flint and the First Amendment. Heck, one can make a completely valid argument that the same would apply to "Linux Inside. How can someone own a trademark on the expression of one object being within another?

"Yoga Inside" has no chance of diluting the Intel brand; however, Intel's behaviour does. Nobody's going to run around and say that they're computer is a "Yoga Inside". Your rant is spurrious.

I'm deeply suspicious of changes to trademark law. Got to love the recent changes that have been made to copyright law.

<sarcasm>Thanks, Disney!</sarcasm>. If this trademark stuff gets as out-of-whack, maybe we'll be using XPortholes instead of XWindows a few years down the road.

Because there's at least one Democrat on our side.

Really, there's no point in turning this into a partisan issue.

In a piece written by Rep. Schiff, he refers to his own election as "the most costly race for the U.S. House of Representatives in history." The piece promotes the recently passed law regarding campaign finance reform.

Apparently he's not as cheap as that $19,000 figure would have us believe.

In another piece by Schiff about campaign finance reform, he describes soft money's use:

Soft money ads do not use the "magic words." They don't tell you to vote for or vote against Adam Schiff, they tell you to call him. And, believe it or not, it is generally no more than this ethereal difference that allows contributors of soft money to avoid disclosure and accountability, and to spend as much at it takes - millions if they choose - to influence federal elections. As long as they don't use the magic words, they can do, say and spend as they please.

Schiff even basically says, if you read between the lines, that he was as bad as the other guy in this election. But now that he's in, he changed the law so no one else can use the same tactics against him, thus making it harder to oust him from office.

I'm not sure what this has to do with the actual bill. Maybe I'm just trying to understand how someone could end up being so anti-freedom, anti-creativity, anti-information.

The only motivation I can come up with is basically greed. Eisner wants to keep making $700 million every five years (that's even more than Barry Bonds!). Schiff wants to stay elected.

Sigh.

In a piece written by Rep. Schiff, he refers to his own election as "the most costly race for the U.S. House of Representatives in history." The piece promotes the recently passed law regarding campaign finance reform.

Apparently he's not as cheap as that $19,000 figure would have us believe.

In another piece by Schiff about campaign finance reform, he describes soft money's use:

Soft money ads do not use the "magic words." They don't tell you to vote for or vote against Adam Schiff, they tell you to call him. And, believe it or not, it is generally no more than this ethereal difference that allows contributors of soft money to avoid disclosure and accountability, and to spend as much at it takes - millions if they choose - to influence federal elections. As long as they don't use the magic words, they can do, say and spend as they please.

Schiff even basically says, if you read between the lines, that he was as bad as the other guy in this election. But now that he's in, he changed the law so no one else can use the same tactics against him, thus making it harder to oust him from office.

I'm not sure what this has to do with the actual bill. Maybe I'm just trying to understand how someone could end up being so anti-freedom, anti-creativity, anti-information.

The only motivation I can come up with is basically greed. Eisner wants to keep making $700 million every five years (that's even more than Barry Bonds!). Schiff wants to stay elected.

Sigh.

In a piece written by Rep. Schiff, he refers to his own election as "the most costly race for the U.S. House of Representatives in history." The piece promotes the recently passed law regarding campaign finance reform.

Apparently he's not as cheap as that $19,000 figure would have us believe.

In another piece by Schiff about campaign finance reform, he describes soft money's use:

Soft money ads do not use the "magic words." They don't tell you to vote for or vote against Adam Schiff, they tell you to call him. And, believe it or not, it is generally no more than this ethereal difference that allows contributors of soft money to avoid disclosure and accountability, and to spend as much at it takes - millions if they choose - to influence federal elections. As long as they don't use the magic words, they can do, say and spend as they please.

Schiff even basically says, if you read between the lines, that he was as bad as the other guy in this election. But now that he's in, he changed the law so no one else can use the same tactics against him, thus making it harder to oust him from office.

I'm not sure what this has to do with the actual bill. Maybe I'm just trying to understand how someone could end up being so anti-freedom, anti-creativity, anti-information.

The only motivation I can come up with is basically greed. Eisner wants to keep making $700 million every five years (that's even more than Barry Bonds!). Schiff wants to stay elected.

Sigh.

Where are the telescreens?
FBI and CIA spyware in the forms of Magic Lantern, Carnivore and Echelon just for starters. Your computer may not be forced to be on all the time, but it sure is two-way and it sure is possible for it to be used to spy on you and probably is via carnivore every time you send or receive email.

The secret police everywhere? The most obvious example of the increased powers of the secret police is the mendaciously named "USA PATRIOT Act" which has been criticized from the right, the left and just about every other leaning as well.

The cameras that monitor my every move?
Tampa, Boston, Orlando, Washington DC are all places with cameras in public areas like sports arenas, streets and airports watching and recording everyone that passes in their field of view. Then there are the traffic cameras that have been installed all across the nation from DC to Hawaii. Plus, don't forget, big business's contribution to Big Brother's campaign - the survelliance camera which you can count on recording your every move inside (and out) of almost any corporate owned retail establishment. That one doesn't even need a link they are so ubiquitous.

So, you see see, even your vain attempt to set up a strawman does not do the problem justice. We are a nation of cowards who long ago sacrificied our liberties for a few ineffective promises of security - if anything the terrorist attack on 9/11 is proof of that. So what do we let our government do? Even more of the same ineffective, yet terribly stiffling, practices that hurt the common man and do so very little to prevent further attacks. Previously each sacrifice was just one small change, hardly anything to be concerned about, but since 9/11 in the degree of the slope has taken a huge curve downward.

P.S. If you think the class of politicians and lawyers are even close to being equal citizens of the state with the average Joe, you are the raving lunatic. Either that, or a member of the privilged elite yourself with a blind eye towards the real state of the nation. If you can't believe that, just take a look at the benefits of being a member of the ruling class in Washington - no mandatory social security - they have their own plan with better returns and more guarantees - they are exempt from the federal fair labor practices laws - they have (good!)health insurance for life as well as a huge pension for life, even after serving only one term. It's a nice gig if you can get it.

The key things to include are YOUR name and address.

Send something to YOUR representatives. A blast-faxed generic letter to someone you cannot vote for is NOT taken seriously AT ALL.

If you can't remember who represents you, you can double-check using the geographical search tool on House of Representatives web site.

It will have MORE weight if you also customize it by articulating why YOU think XYZ, the impact it will have on YOU and your family/friends/neighbors, and if you are both polite and not patronizing.

BTW, for great examples of the negative impact of some Digital Rights Management technologies on ordinary non-techie people, check out Joe Kraus's very funny testimony about his parents' use of technology. This was presented before the Senate Judiciary committee a couple of weeks ago.

Liza

I'd suggest that before you write your congresscritter that you find out where they are likely to stand on the issue.

In which case, it would be the perfect time to call your Senators and Representatives. I know that in my case, I've never looked around for my Congressman/woman's opinion on this issue. Dialing up the office to ask for their stance (or at least an aide's knowledge of that stance) would be an excellent way to communicate that this is an issue that drives people to call, comment, and question...all followed by a strongly-written letter.

"CBDTPA" only has one vowel and it's in the MIDDLE. It can't be pronounced and I'll wager that a good percentage can't even remember it correctly.

But in all seriousness, I *WILL* do my part in writing against this legislation. I remember when I wrote in protest of the DMCA. It had already been passed and yet to be enforced at the time. My representative said plainly to the effect of "...you shoulda said something BEFORE we passed it... it's too late now buddy!" Of course, the DMCA was passed the way of submarines which should be illegal as hell.

Anyway, we can't let this one get away. Your rights are WORTH spending 20 minutes and a postage stamp.

Write your senator and your representative and say what needs to be said. Maybe they are already "paid for" and then again, maybe they aren't... This is important stuff.

Infortunately, our legislators still do not heed email and faxes to the degree they should. This is probably because such technological marvels facilitate communication to a degree that promotes a deluge of mindless mailings that represent to effort or forethought on the part of the sender.

For this reason, our legislators tend to pay far more attention to writen letters sent by snail mail, not least because mailings are limited to some minor degree by the cost of stamps, and it is currently illegal to impersonate others via postal mail, whereas the same is not true via email.

Faxing your well thought out objections to this bill, might be a good compromise, but I recommend postal mail as the most effective means of communicating with your senators.

If you are unsure of how to contact the senators from your state, Look Here. Also, it would be useful to begin to address this issue in the house as well. The house of representatives has a far more convenient contact mechanism. You can Lookup your Representatives Here.

Remember, do your research, and make coherent arguments. Don't waste the time of our elected oficials. They are not stupid, but simply need to be better informed of the problems with this legislation.

--CTH

This case might make industry think twice about the DMCA if the copyright work in question were owned by, say, Bertelsmann or another AOL-Time-Warner competitor. But as the suit was brought by some puny individual (no offense, Mr. Ellison, but you're not a mega-media conglomerate) and the Right Side won, this won't change the opinions of Anyone That Matters.

Great comment, mod this guy up.

I use e-gold. The problem is (as told by the greatest Congressman in U.S. history) that the U.S. Government messes with fiat money as well as buys and sells gold in order to hide the terrible inflation (20%+) we're experiencing right now.

We're in a terrible recession but because of the government's holdings in gold, you can't tell because they prevent the price of gold from skyrocketing as it does in an inflation. This is the government you want regulating the banking industry?

If best sounding name mattered, how did Anthony Weiner (D,NY) get elected? Is the 9th district of New York packed with gays?

Actually writing officials is one of the BEST ways to support issues you believe in. I encourage people to write to Boucher if you believe in things like this. Sending email is too easy to delete, and issues like these are ones where any support is desired and most likely needed.

Kudos to you for writing.

How about this: "Once I found a woman who was 9 months pregnant, but did not have a birth-allowed certificate. According to the policy, she was forced to undergo an induced abortion. In the operating room, I saw the child's lips were moving and how its arms and legs were also moving. The doctor injected poison into its skull and the child died and it was thrown into the trash can. Afterwards the husband was holding his wife and crying loudly and saying, what kind of man am I? What kind of husband am I? I can't even protect my wife and child. Do you have any sort of humanity?"

I was watching meet the press this past Sunday, Sens. Tom Daschle and Trent Lott were on and there were discussions about how to eliminate US dependency on Iraqi oil.Daschele apparently wants to force auto manufacturers to change the average fuel efficiency for automobiles (which I think is a good thing) in order to reduce importing "about two million barrels of oil per week."

Interestingly, or not, Trent Lott, said, rather predictably I suppose, "I guess there's some people that think we ought to all be driving Honda Civics." His point, and he went on to say, as part of the Republican creedo, we don't need government in our lives to dictate how and what we should drive.

The point being, it is very interesting that people who would be on the side of government installing some sort of copy protection are the Dem's and it follows almost from their ideology, it would seem. I would be interested if Lott, and his ilk, would stick to their ideology in saying that govt shouldn't meddle in this. In fact, it is other people like Bob Barr (and let me say I find Lott and Barr as a particularly vile strain of politician) who speak out against surveillance cameras.

It would be interesting to know, or to hear some of the "keep govt out of my life," "let the market rule" Repub's speak out on this issue. Especially if Hollings keeps this up. Maybe it is just in my mind that I still imagine Dem's as being progessive, but the truth is that people like John Perry Barlow and Lawrence Lessig are more Liberterian than anything. The dem's are poised to lose a lot of consumers/citizens on this one, via pissing off the voter. I wonder if any of the other party's are poised to pick it up and run with it?

Here's a link to a testimony concerning some researchers outrage to the SSSCA - (I don't think this was directly linked to or discussed as of yet)

As an aside, what this is turning into is like a hybrid of Brave New World/1984/Grapes of Wrath/etc...

I don't think this shall end well... but we can do more than hope - we can do something about it

Here is some more information on Boucher's stance.

Listen, I know many of us are cynical, and we believe that most people in Washington are owned by corporate dollars. However, I still have a glimmer of hope for our country. Visit the U.S. House of Representatives website and the U.S. Senate website, find your representatives' e-mail addresses, and give them your opinion. Voice your concerns! If you sit idly by, and these laws get passed, then you have only yourself to blame. We sent 15,000 letters to the DOJ regarding the Microsoft antitrust settlement, and people noticed. Numbers speak to these people.

Instead of posting to slashdot, write to your representatives. We can make a difference if we all do it this weekend. You have nothing better to do.

See how your representative voted here. Fortunately, my representative (The Honorable James Moran of Virginia's 8th District - that is, northern Virginia) voted against Tauzin-Dingell. If you don't know who your congresscritter is, you can find out here.

See how your representative voted here. Fortunately, my representative (The Honorable James Moran of Virginia's 8th District - that is, northern Virginia) voted against Tauzin-Dingell. If you don't know who your congresscritter is, you can find out here.

Did *your* representative sell out? Check the voting record here .

The article says:

The House did come together to vote 427-1 in favor of an amendment that would increase fines for telecom companies that violate competition law.

But, according to this page, the vote was 421-7. By the way, the seven who are firmly in the Bell's pockets are:

• Richard Baker (LA)
• Joel Hefley (CO)
• Jones (NC)
• Butch Otter (ID)
• Ron Paul (TX)
• Mike Simpson (ID)
• Joe Skeen (NM)

I live in Louisiana (Tauzin's state) and called his office to oppose the bill. When I called Tauzin's office, the staffer didn't take any information down and didn't seem terribly interested in hearing my opposition. I voiced it anyway, then put a call in to my representative. When I called Jim McCrery's office, the staffer was very interested in hearing what I had to say and took down a ton of information. I'm surprised considering the lukewarm reception my infrequent calls usually get. I'm pretty left-field politically-speaking. Anyway, on to the call:

Questions and answers:
---SNIP---

How is this going to affect you?

I'm going to have to replace my hardware with BellSouth hardware, adding $200. And my monthly fee will increase by $40 a month for a static IP that is already included in my current ISP's service. It's going to bring my choice for broadband down from 2 to 1 company. I won't be able to run a web server from my home anymore, which means an increase of $100 or more per month to replace that service.

So this is going to kill your current ISP?

Yes, mine and a lot of others. My ISP is bayou.com, by the way. You can get the address information from their web site. I telecommute to work at least once a week and being forced to switch is going to cause some issues there too. I'm the IT Director for my company and I'm not happy about this. I have branch offices set up on DSL and our company is going to have to go through this too. And it's going to cause problems for our employees.

What company do you work for? Are you in Louisiana? How will this affect your business?

Yes, we're [company name] based in [rural town], Louisiana. We install [major brand satellite] systems for [major brand satellite company] in [multistate market] and have about 250 employees and contractors. [Major brand satellite] also competes with BellSouth in the DSL market. We've been looking into providing a wireless/DSL installation service. If this bill passes - well, it shuts everyone out except BellSouth.

---SNIP---
Anyway, this screws a lot of the little guys and a couple of the big guys too. The Mom & Pop ISP that we use will be SOL, we'll be screwed, and it will hurt everyone except BellSouth and other baby bells. This on the heels of the HDTV debacle has put a major dark cloud over my week.

The staffer wouldn't tell me what the congressman's position was on this bill (big surprise) but assured me I'd be hearing from them and that my opposition would be passed along to the congressman - not a big surprise considering that it's election season and we're a business in his congressional district. Hopefully he'll do the right thing on this score - I can only hope...and call...and vote... :)

I live in Louisiana (Tauzin's state) and called his office to oppose the bill. When I called Tauzin's office, the staffer didn't take any information down and didn't seem terribly interested in hearing my opposition. I voiced it anyway, then put a call in to my representative. When I called Jim McCrery's office, the staffer was very interested in hearing what I had to say and took down a ton of information. I'm surprised considering the lukewarm reception my infrequent calls usually get. I'm pretty left-field politically-speaking. Anyway, on to the call:

Questions and answers:
---SNIP---

How is this going to affect you?

I'm going to have to replace my hardware with BellSouth hardware, adding $200. And my monthly fee will increase by $40 a month for a static IP that is already included in my current ISP's service. It's going to bring my choice for broadband down from 2 to 1 company. I won't be able to run a web server from my home anymore, which means an increase of $100 or more per month to replace that service.

So this is going to kill your current ISP?

Yes, mine and a lot of others. My ISP is bayou.com, by the way. You can get the address information from their web site. I telecommute to work at least once a week and being forced to switch is going to cause some issues there too. I'm the IT Director for my company and I'm not happy about this. I have branch offices set up on DSL and our company is going to have to go through this too. And it's going to cause problems for our employees.

What company do you work for? Are you in Louisiana? How will this affect your business?

Yes, we're [company name] based in [rural town], Louisiana. We install [major brand satellite] systems for [major brand satellite company] in [multistate market] and have about 250 employees and contractors. [Major brand satellite] also competes with BellSouth in the DSL market. We've been looking into providing a wireless/DSL installation service. If this bill passes - well, it shuts everyone out except BellSouth.

---SNIP---
Anyway, this screws a lot of the little guys and a couple of the big guys too. The Mom & Pop ISP that we use will be SOL, we'll be screwed, and it will hurt everyone except BellSouth and other baby bells. This on the heels of the HDTV debacle has put a major dark cloud over my week.

The staffer wouldn't tell me what the congressman's position was on this bill (big surprise) but assured me I'd be hearing from them and that my opposition would be passed along to the congressman - not a big surprise considering that it's election season and we're a business in his congressional district. Hopefully he'll do the right thing on this score - I can only hope...and call...and vote... :)

Visit the U.S. House representative list. Find your representative, and call. When I call, I usally do the following:

• Say my name, and what city I live in.
• Ask how Representative So-And-So plans to vote on the bill in question.
• If the person you're speaking to indicates that your rep is voting for the position you agree with, say "Great - that's what I was hoping".
• If you're told that your rep is voting the other way, say that you would urge them to support (or vote against, in this case) the bill in question, and give a sentence or two explaining why.
• If the person you're speaking to doesn't know how your rep is going to vote, say "I'd like to urge Representative So-And-So to support (or vote against) this bill" and explain why.

Basically, what you're trying for is to come across as a reasonable voter who has an opinion. Your call will be logged, and your rep will get a report that 5 people called today urging him (or her) to vote against a bill, and 1 person called urging him to support another bill, etc. If enough people voice disapproval of the rep's planned vote, he may investigate further. If he doesn't know much about the issue, he may just go with the suggestion of the 20 people who bothered to call.

The U.S. Senate is obliging and gives out the addresses in a convenient form: U.S. Senate. The U.S. House of Representatives is less so, but others have done the work: CongressMerge Contacting the Congress.

It wouldn't be difficult to comb The U.S. House of Representatives Locate Representatives' Web Sites Listed by Name for addresses.

When is someone going to stand up for the individual?

How about when we start doing our part and snail mailing our represenatives in congress and our state government just what we think of this?

And no form letters, be orginial!

House.gov's representative lookup site

Here's an interesting little snipped from Article VI of the US Constitution that most of you probably didn't know about (emphasis mine):

This Constitution... and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.

The Supreme Court has interpreted this to mean that international treaties hold the same weight as the Constitution. This means that if a WIPO treaty trumps the First Amendment, you're up a creek.

Back in the 1950's there was a bill floating around Congress known as the Bricker Amendment that would have forbade Congress from ratifying a treaty (only requires 2/3 of the Senate) that would require a constituational amendment to do otherwise (which requires 2/3 of both houses and then 2/3 of the states). It didn't pass. Do a Google for more info.

This means that a group of people who we don't have any control over for six years at a time can trump the Constitution whenever 67 of them agree to. (Yet another reason to repeal the 17th, probably.)

There's been a new interest in the Bricker Amendment in recent years from the political right and other groups, but I don't think anything's been really done about it.

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Perhaps if we all wrote to our Congresscritters and Senators and bitched about the lack of such a law protecting us from abuses in WIPO and WTO something might get done about it.

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Please, Help Abolish The DMCA


The DMCA harms every American. It allows organisations and corporations to terrorize citizens of the United States with threats of jail time and fines for citizens, scientists and academians (a Princeton professor was threatened to not publish a paper) who perform math and science. The DMCA makes is a crime to "circumvent" copyright protection systems, on materials you bought and that you have a right to fair use of. Essentially the DMCA is a war on education. The DMCA, or Digital Millenium Copyright Act (United States Code, title 17, chapter 12, section 1201 http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/1201.html), can put you in jail for creating, using, or distributing software to playback the DVD's you legitimately purchased on a computer you paid for. It can put you in jail for reading electronic books you pay for without authorisation from the publisher! In fact, Dmitri Sklyarov was arrested and imprisoned for writing such a software program. It can put you in jail for making copies of music you purchased so that you can listen to it in your car.

The DVD consortium locks each DVD disc with a key, and then gives the key to manufacturers of DVD players. The key itself is a number. With this key, one can rightfully play the DVD's one owns on his equipment. However, the DMCA makes it illegal to speak about or distribute said number! It makes it illegal to do math and science. This is a flagrant violation of your first amendment rights, which reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."


Please, sign the Abolish the Digital Millenium Copyright Act: http://www.petitiononline.com/nixdmca/petition.htm l Please, write to your US senators and representatives and tell them you want abolishment of the DMCA. You can find out their mailing and e-mail addresses at http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov


The DMCA harms every American. It was bought by organisations that want to be able to completely control what, when, where, and how often you use media--television, books, music, and movies. The DMCA is not a valid exercise of Congress's enumerated powers. It is unconstitutional. Please show your support to strike down the DMCA. Please forward this notice along to your friends, family and co-workers.


For futher information please see http://anti-dmca.org

So write another book. Article I section 8 of the Constitution says "limited times" - the fact that you believe you're entitled to royalties from such a book for your entire life shows just how perverted this law has become.

By writing another book, you're doing your part to "promote the progress of science and useful arts" just as the authors of the constitution intended.

Speech and information are fundamental. They are so fundamental that The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution is Freedom of Expression. Not the second, not the tenth.

Two things that really have to be said here.

Firstly, you speak as if the United States Constitution is in some way 'right'. That it can be used as a yardstick for Human Rights Correctness. Is there any rational grounds for claiming this? It may be one (one) of the seminal works in the development of the modern concepts of human rights, but it is certainly not any kind of fount of divine and inviolable wisdom.

Secondly; when composing this did you not notice that Freedom of Speech was the first Ammendment to the Constitution? I.E, that it was clearly not sufficiently fundamental as to be included in the original document? That it was not considered as important as the rights of the Government (the intellectual elite, selected largely by default) to raise taxes, punish criminals and suppress Treason against the Government (ie, claim the old rights of the Aristocracy). It should also be noticed that the first ten Ammendments, ie. including the ammendment which dealt with free speech, was not ratified and made law within the states of Massachusetts, Georgia and Connecticut until 1939 [1].

Just had to point that out.

~cHris

[1] Specifically, Massachusetts, March 2, 1939; Georgia, March 18, 1939; and Connecticut, April 19, 1939. Source: The House