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If you want to stop this bill, you have to write to your members of congress.
House members can be looked up here.
Senate members can be found here.

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If God Dropped Acid, Would he see People???

I'm not so sure. That process was employed during the battle for direct election of senators (the constitution originally had them appointed by the legislature of their state), so presumably the Supreme Court thought it was ok, at least at one time. There's an essay on the battle for direct election of senators here. Unfortunately, that particular essay doesn't talk about the "black mark on the ballot" that some states employed.

Don't just contact your congressman or senator, contact your local legislative representatives. Local representatives respond (usually) to pressure from their constituents. The best thing to do is to write a letter. Followed by calling them up. And last (and least) drop them an email message. Find your local representatives at the Nationcal Conference of State Legislatures site. Or try one of these other two directories: here and here.

Some day I hope to have a .plan.

As I noted earlier, the President must sign and the Senate (NOT "Congress" -- the House of Representatives has no voice on treaty ratification) ratify this treaty before it would have the force of law. However, given the current climate in Washington (and, I might add, recent comments by presidential candidates as well) against networked technologies, I have little doubt that ratification is likely unless people like us make our voices heard in the House and Senate.

Just download it, make a few changes, sign it, and send it to your senators. You can find their addresses here.

No more excuses. Print it out and send it in today.

Trains stop at a train station. Buses stop at a bus station.

You can also write to your Senator. Look them up here.

I also sent the above letter to Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison.

I have gone and done something about it. I wrote a letter and sent it to both my Senators. You can as well. I've put the letter up for download here. Sorry about it being a word doc, but I wrote it at work and our network admin is a M$ nut.

Just download it, make a few changes, sign it, and send it to your senators. You can find their addresses here.

No more excuses. Print it out and send it in today.

Trains stop at a train station. Buses stop at a bus station.

Testimony from other witnesses at the hearing is available here.

Fellow Slashdotters, the time to act is now! This is no joke (please don't mod this post as funny). If you ever wanted to make a change in the world you live in, if you ever felt powerless that greedy corporations were stripping you of your rights, here is a golden opportunity for you to fix things.

Why? Because this bill is very important. It needs to get passed. But it takes people like you and me to pass it. How? Like this:

• First, read the bill. You'll make a fool out of yourself if you don't do this first. Unfortunately, as another posted noticed, it's not currently available on Thomas, so you'll have to find another source or wait.
• Send a letter to Representatives Rick Boucher and Howard Berman. Tell them that you applaud them for submitting the Bill, and that you support it wholeheartedly. Tell them that you're going to write your local Representative (if neither Boucher nor Berman is your Representatives) and Senators, asking them to approve the Bill if it comes before them (or whatever the exact phrase is). It's late at night for me now, so I'll be posting my letter as a reply to this post, once I write it.
• Write your Representative and Senators. You can find their web pages here and here.
• If you want, post your letters as a reply to this post, for other people to use as a guide.
• About 1-2 weeks after writing your Representative and/or Senators, call them. Ask them if they've gotten your letter and heard of the Bill. Make sure you've thoroughly read and understood the Bill yourself before you call!. Ask them what their position is. If you think they don't agree with it, try to change their minds. Tell them that this Bill is so important to you, that it is the first time you've written and/or called a Congressmen (if it's true).
• Spread the word! Ask your geek neighbors to do the same as you have.

If 10% of the people who read Slashdot were to follow this advice, that Bill will become Law.
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On a couple of occasions I've sent my legislators e-mail (you can find the email address of your senator at http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cf m. While I've never sent snail mail to them I can confirm that I've gotten a snail mail response back from them every time I've sent them something. It's never been in a timely manner, (the response for my inquiry about allowing local channels on sattelite tv took about 2-3 months) it was at least a response and I knew someone had read the e-mail. -Dan

Your rights as a music buying consumer are at stake. If you think the recording industry has entirely too much power, tell Congress! If you think Hemos should be banned from the internet, tell Congress!

Most issues before congress are decided by members voting in the way they think will get them re-elected, without any input from the constituency. The saddest thing about this is how easy it is to let your views be known.

People all over the world participate in their own governments at levels we in the U.S. are privileged to but don't. Participation in the governing process is a privilege. Failure to use it could be failure to keep it.

If you think G.W. is the greatest thing since sliced bread, register to vote before October 8 and vote in November. Similarly, if you think G.W. is a cocaine snorting, S&L crashing, frat boy weasel, register and vote. If you don't vote you have no right to complain when the candidate you loathe most gets elected.

Code commentary is like sex.
If it's good, it's VERY good.

Having worked on the Hill over the summer, here's some advice for those of you planning on contacting your elected official:

a) Write them a snail-mail letter. There's a sneaking suspicion that one person is sending them all those form emails.

b) If you do want to write an email, include your NAME and ADDRESS. Without your NAME and ADDRESS, you might not be a constituent, they don't really waste the time to figure out the difference.

To contact your representative: Write-rep

That would be great if they would make it a patent issue, because the constitution was not intended to have one play off the other, creating a "super monopoly" The arrogance of the MPAA is stupefying though, because that's exactly what they are trying to do.

There was a discussion about this on openlaw. Not so much that they have patents (I'm sure somebody does, knowing how the PTO is patenting the time of day now), but that they are using their copyright in a patent like manner,

But this is just the beginning folks. Next week the MPAA is holding their crypto-warez meeting in LA. To see what kind of fun they have in store for us, go here.

One aarguement for the new batch of software players is that software patents can't preempt mathematical algorithyms, which the new brute forcing dvd player does now. (In fact the DeCSS code doesn't work on new disks as the Xing key was revoked). See here.

In other less than stellar news Senator Leahy made this statement today:

In 1998, the Chairman and I worked closely together on the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, "DMCA," to advance the complementary goals
of protecting intellectual property rights in a digitally-networked
world and promoting the continued growth of electronic commerce and
development of innovative technologies. As new online services are
launched and new websites created, the DMCA is helping order the
online environment. For example, earlier this year a federal court
relied on the DMCA to shut down websites that were used to post a
computer program permitting users to break the encryption used to
protect copyrighted motion pictures on DVDs, and copy the movies
without permission. See Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes,
82 F. Supp.2d 211 (S.D.N.Y. 2000).

All this makes me feel pissy allover. Go to openlaw to feel even more pissy.

Most laws aren't really fleshed out until there's a legal precedent, and Kaplan couldn't have reached his decision in this civil case without the existence of the DMCA.

Excellent point. And precicely why I hate legislation like that. I suggest writing your representative or senator about it as I have.

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The Really Big Point in the article is that the rights we Americans have are much, much easier to legislate away than to protect. Could you imagine an America in which the only 'free speech' is that which the corporations allow? DeCSS is the tip of the iceberg. As mentioned in a previous /. article, The Right To Read is inching closer to a reality. The two best things I can suggest at this point in spacetime are the following: 1. Support the EFF. They are the spearhead, and unlike the ACLU are not entrenched in the public consciousness. Donate something.. ANYTHING. (If you're paranoid, send 'em a money order.)
2. Vote For Ralph Nader and Against ALL Incumbent Senators. The first link takes you to the site of the only candidate who has been and is willing to take on the corporations and the two major parties, the Democritans and the Republocrats, who are all sleeping together like some incestuous menage-a-trois. He takes NO PAC money, NO soft money. He is the only candidate to have visited all 50 states. (So donate a few bucks, huh? :)And w/r/t the senators: The second link takes you to the website with the roll-call vote which passed the DMCA. S. 2037 (1998) was the number of the bill which became the DMCA. (Check it out. You'll see it's true.)

1. Become a member of EFF at https://www.eff.org/support/joineff.html
   They are one of the few folks who are putting their time and money where their mouth is and fighting back.
2. Buy some "stop the MPAA" stuff at http://store.yahoo.com/2600hacker/a ntimpaa.html
3. Order a DVD player with country codes disabled at http://www.codefreedvd.com/dvd_dvdpla yers.htm
4. Write to your Representative in the United States House at http://www.house.gov/writerep
5. Write to your Senators at http://www.senate.gov
   

William Clinton President The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, District of Columbia 20500 United States of America phone 1-202-456-1414 fax 1-202-456-2886 or 1-202-456-2461 (busy, keep trying) e-mail president@whitehouse.gov webpage http://www.whitehouse.gov/

House Majority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

House Minority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Speaker, House of Representatives House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Senate Majority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Senate Minority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Governor Don Seigelman State Capitol, 600 Dexter Ave. Montgomery, Alabama 36130 United States of America phone 1-334-242-7100, fax 1-334-242-4541 webpage http://www.state.al.us/

Governor Tony Knowles P.O. Box A Juneau, Alaska 99811 United States of America phone 1-907-465-3500, fax 1-907-465-3532 e-mail office_of_the_governor@gov.state.ak.u s webpage http://www.gov.state.ak.us/

Governor Jane Dee Hull State House Phoenix, Arizona 85007 United States of America phone 1-602-542-4331, fax 1-602-542-7601 webpage http://www.state.az.us/

Governor Mike Huckabee 250 State Capitol Bldg. Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 United States of America phone 1-501-682-2345, fax 1-501-682-1382 e-mail mike.huckabee@state.ar.us webpage http://www.state.ar.us/governor/gover nor.html

Governor Gray Davis State Capitol Sacramento, California 95814 United States of America phone 1-916-445-2841, fax 1-916-445-4633 e-mail hometeam@ca.gov webpage http://www.ca.gov/s/

Governor Bill Owens 136 State Capitol Denver, Colorado 80203-1792 United States of America phone 1-303-866-2471, fax 1-303-866-2003 webpage http://www.state.co.us/

Governor John Rowland State Capitol, 210 Capitol Ave Hartford, Connecticut 06106 United States of America phone 1-860-566-4840, fax 1-203-524-7396 e-mail governor.rowland@po.state.ct.us webpage http://www.state.ct.us/governor/

Governor Thomas Carper Legislative Hall Dover, Delaware 19901 United States of America phone 1-302-739-4101, fax 1-302-577-3118 e-mail ssnyder@state.de.us webpage http://www.state.de.us/governor/index.htm

Governor Jeb Bush State Capitol Tallahassee, Florida 32399 United States of America phone 1-850-488-4441, fax 1-850-487-0801 e-mail page http://www.state.fl.us/eog/govmailform. html webpage http://fcn.state.fl.us/gsd/

Governor Roy Barnes State Capitol Building, Room 203 Atlanta, Georgia 30334 United States of America phone 1-404-656-1776, fax 1-404-657-7332 e-mail governor@gov.state.ga.us webpage http://www.state.ga.us/

Governor Benjamin Cayetano State Capitol, Executive Chambers Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 United States of America phone 1-808-586-0034, fax 1-808-586-0006 e-mail gov@gov.state.hi.us webpage http://gov.state.hi.us

Governor Dirk Kempthorne State Capitol PO Box 83720, 700 West Jefferson, Fl. 2 Boise, Idaho 83720-0034 United States of America phone 1-208-334-2100, fax 1-208-334-2175 e-mail governor@gov.state.id.us webpage http://www.state.id.us/gov/govhmpg.htm

Governor George Ryan 207 Statehouse Springfield, Illinois 62706 United States of America phone 1-217-782-0244, fax 1-217-524-4049 e-mail governor@state.il.us webpage http://www.state.il.us/gov/

Governor Frank O'Bannon Statehouse, Rm. 206 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 United States of America phone 1-317-232-4567, fax 1-317-232-3443 e-mail page http://www.ai.org/gov/gov_mail.html webpage http://www.ai.org/gov/index.html

Governor Thomas Vilsack State Capitol Des Moines, Iowa 50319 United States of America phone 1-515-281-5211, fax 1-515-281-6611 e-mail general.office@igov.state.ia.us webpage http://www.iowaccess.org/

Governor Bill Graves State House Topeka, Kansas 66612 United States of America phone 1-913-296-6240, fax 1-913-296-7973 e-mail page http://www.state.ks.us/public/g overnor/comment.html webpage http://www.state.ks.us/public/governor/

Governor Paul Patton State Capitol, 700 Capitol Ave. Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 United States of America phone 1-502-564-2611, fax 1-502-564-2517 e-mail governor@mail.state.ky.us webpage http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/go v/govmenu6.htm

Governor Murphy Foster, Jr. State Capitol, P.O. Box 94004 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804 United States of America phone 1-504-342-7015, fax 1-504-342-7099 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.la.us/governo r/contact2.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.la.us/

Governor Angus King, Jr. State House Station 1 Augusta, Maine 04333 United States of America phone 1-207-287-3531, fax 1-207-287-1034 e-mail page http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ gov_form.htm webpage http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ homepage.htm

Governor Parris Glendening State House Annapolis, Maryland 21401 United States of America phone 1-410-974-3901, fax 1-410-974-3275 e-mail governor@gov.state.md.us webpage http://www.gov.state.md.us/

Governor Paul Cellucci State House, Room 360 Boston, Massachusetts 02133 United States of America phone 1-617-727-6250, fax 1-617-727-9725 e-mail goffice@state.ma.us webpage http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/gov/gov.htm

Governor John Engler State Capitol, PO Box 30013 Lansing, Michigan 48909 United States of America phone 1-517-335-7858, fax 1-517-335-6863 email page http://www.state.mi.us/MIGOV/ gov/ContactGovernor.shtm webpage http://www.state.mi.us/migov/

Governor Jesse Ventura 130 State Capitol, 75 Constitution Avenue St. Paul, Minnesota 55155 United States of America phone 1-651-296-3391, fax 1-651-296-2089 e-mail Governor.JesseVentura@state.mn.us webpage http://www.mainserver.state.mn.us/gover nor/

Governor Kirk Fordice P.O. Box 139 Jackson, Mississippi 39205 United States of America phone 1-601-737-9540, fax 1-601-737-9507 e-mail governor@govoff.state.ms.us webpage http://www.state.ms.us/

Governor Mel Carnahan Missouri Capitol Building, P.O. Box 720 Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0720 United States of America phone 1-573-751-3222, fax 1-573-751-1495 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.mo.us/guest.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.mo.us/

Governor Marc Racicot State Capitol Helena, Montana 59620 United States of America webpage http://www.mt.gov/governor/governor.htm

Governor Mike Johanns State Capitol, Executive Suite, PO Box 94848 Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-4848 United States of America phone 1-402-471-2244, fax 1-402-471-6031 e-mail jodee@mail.state.ne.us webpage http://www.state.ne.us/

Governor Kenny Guinn State Capitol Carson City, Nevada 89710 United States of America phone 1-702-687-5670, fax 1-702-687-4486 webpage http://www.state.nv.us/

Governor Jeanne Shaheen State House Concord, New Hampshire 03301-4990 United States of America phone 1-603-271-2121, fax 1-603-271-2130 e-mail nhgov@nh.com webpage http://www.state.nh.us/

Governor Christine Todd Whitman Office of the Governor State House, 125 West State St., CN-001 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0001 United States of America phone 1-609-292-6000, fax 1-609-292-5212 e-mail page http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.nj.us/governor/officeo .htm

Governor Gary Johnson State Capitol Santa Fe, New Mexico 87503 United States of America phone 1-505-827-3000, fax 1-505-827-3026 e-mail gov@gov.state.nm.us webpage http://www.state.nm.us/

Governor George Pataki State Capitol Albany, New York 12224 United States of America phone 1-518-474-8390, fax 1-518-474-1513 e-mail gov.pataki@chamber.state.ny.us webpage http://www.state.ny.us/governor

Governor James Hunt, Jr. State Capitol Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 United States of America phone 1-919-733-4240, fax 1-919-733-2120 webpage http://www.sips.state.nc.us/

Governor Edward Schafer 600 E. Blvd, State Capitol, Fl. 1 Bismark, North Dakota 58505 United States of America phone 1-701-328-2200, fax 1-701-328-2205 webpage http://www.ehs.health.stat e.nd.us/gov/governor/index.htm

Governor Bob Taft State House Columbus, Ohio 43215 United States of America phone 1-614-466-3555, 1-614-466-9354 webpage http://www.state.oh.us/gov/

Governor Frank Keating State Capitol Bldg., Rm. 212 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 United States of America phone 1-405-521-2342, fax 1-405-521-3353 e-mail governor@oklaosf.state.ok.us webpage http://www.state.ok.us/

Governor John Kitzhaber State Capitol Salem, Oregon 97310 United States of America phone 1-503-378-4582, fax 1-503-378-4863 webpage http://www.governor.state.or.us/

Governor Tom Ridge 225 Main Capitol Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120 United States of America phone 1-717-787-2500, fax 1-717-772-8284 e-mail governor@state.pa.us webpage http://www.state.pa.us/PA_Exe c/Governor/overview.html

Governor of the Commonwealth Commonwealth of Puerto Rico San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936 United States of America webpage http://fortaleza.govpr.org

Governor Lincoln Almond State House Providence, Rhode Island 02903 United States of America phone 1-401-277-2080, fax 1-401-273-5729 webpage http://www.doa.state.ri.us/info/exec.htm

Governor James Hodges State House, PO Box 11369 Columbia, South Carolina 29211 United States of America phone 1-803-737-9540, fax 1-803-737-9507 webpage http://www.state.sc.us/

Governor William Janklow State Capitol, 500 East Capitol Ave Pierre, South Dakota 57501-5070 United States of America phone 1-605-773-3212, fax 1-605-773-5844 e-mail sdgov@gov.state.sd.us webpage http://www.state.sd.us /state/executive/governor/governor.htm

Governor Don Sundquist State Capitol Nashville, Tennessee 37243 United States of America phone 1-615-741-2001, fax 1-615-532-9711 e-mail dsundquist@mail.state.tn.us webpage http://www.state.tn.us/governor/

Governor George W. Bush State Capitol, P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711 United States of America phone 1-512-463-2000, fax 1-512-463-1849 webpage http://www.governor.state.tx.us/

Governor Michael Leavitt 210 State Capitol Salt Lake City, Utah 84114 United States of America phone 1-801-538-1000, fax 1-801-538-1528 e-mail governor@state.ut.us webpage http://www.governor.state.ut.us/

Governor Howard Dean 109 State St. Montpelier, Vermont 05609 United States of America phone 1-802-828-3333, fax 1-802-828-3339 e-mail governor@state.vt.us webpage http://www.state.vt.us/

Governor Jim Gilmore State Capitol Richmond, Virginia 23219 United States of America phone 1-804-786-2211, fax 1-804-371-6351 e-mail page http://www.state.va.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.va.us/governor/

Governor Gary Locke State Capitol, P.O. Box 40002 Olympia, Washington 98504-0002 United States of America phone 1-360-902-4111, fax 1-360-753-4110 e-mail governor.locke@governor.wa.gov webpage http://www.wa.gov/governor

Governor Cecil Underwood State Capitol Charleston, West Virginia 25305 United States of America phone 1-304-558-2000, fax 1-304-342-7025 e-mail governor@state.wv.us webpage http://www.state.wi.us/governor/default .htm

Governor Tommy Thompson State Capitol, Room 115 East Madison, Wisconsin 53707 United States of America phone 1-608-266-1212, fax 1-608-267-8983 e-mail wisgov@mail.state.wi.us webpage http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/

Governor Jim Geringer State Capitol Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 United States of America phone 1-307-777-7434, fax 1-307-632-3909 e-mail governor@missc.state.wy.us webpage http://www.state.wy.us/gove rnor/text_governor_home.html

William Clinton President The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, District of Columbia 20500 United States of America phone 1-202-456-1414 fax 1-202-456-2886 or 1-202-456-2461 (busy, keep trying) e-mail president@whitehouse.gov webpage http://www.whitehouse.gov/

House Majority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

House Minority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Speaker, House of Representatives House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Senate Majority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Senate Minority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Governor Don Seigelman State Capitol, 600 Dexter Ave. Montgomery, Alabama 36130 United States of America phone 1-334-242-7100, fax 1-334-242-4541 webpage http://www.state.al.us/

Governor Tony Knowles P.O. Box A Juneau, Alaska 99811 United States of America phone 1-907-465-3500, fax 1-907-465-3532 e-mail office_of_the_governor@gov.state.ak.u s webpage http://www.gov.state.ak.us/

Governor Jane Dee Hull State House Phoenix, Arizona 85007 United States of America phone 1-602-542-4331, fax 1-602-542-7601 webpage http://www.state.az.us/

Governor Mike Huckabee 250 State Capitol Bldg. Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 United States of America phone 1-501-682-2345, fax 1-501-682-1382 e-mail mike.huckabee@state.ar.us webpage http://www.state.ar.us/governor/gover nor.html

Governor Gray Davis State Capitol Sacramento, California 95814 United States of America phone 1-916-445-2841, fax 1-916-445-4633 e-mail hometeam@ca.gov webpage http://www.ca.gov/s/

Governor Bill Owens 136 State Capitol Denver, Colorado 80203-1792 United States of America phone 1-303-866-2471, fax 1-303-866-2003 webpage http://www.state.co.us/

Governor John Rowland State Capitol, 210 Capitol Ave Hartford, Connecticut 06106 United States of America phone 1-860-566-4840, fax 1-203-524-7396 e-mail governor.rowland@po.state.ct.us webpage http://www.state.ct.us/governor/

Governor Thomas Carper Legislative Hall Dover, Delaware 19901 United States of America phone 1-302-739-4101, fax 1-302-577-3118 e-mail ssnyder@state.de.us webpage http://www.state.de.us/governor/index.htm

Governor Jeb Bush State Capitol Tallahassee, Florida 32399 United States of America phone 1-850-488-4441, fax 1-850-487-0801 e-mail page http://www.state.fl.us/eog/govmailform. html webpage http://fcn.state.fl.us/gsd/

Governor Roy Barnes State Capitol Building, Room 203 Atlanta, Georgia 30334 United States of America phone 1-404-656-1776, fax 1-404-657-7332 e-mail governor@gov.state.ga.us webpage http://www.state.ga.us/

Governor Benjamin Cayetano State Capitol, Executive Chambers Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 United States of America phone 1-808-586-0034, fax 1-808-586-0006 e-mail gov@gov.state.hi.us webpage http://gov.state.hi.us

Governor Dirk Kempthorne State Capitol PO Box 83720, 700 West Jefferson, Fl. 2 Boise, Idaho 83720-0034 United States of America phone 1-208-334-2100, fax 1-208-334-2175 e-mail governor@gov.state.id.us webpage http://www.state.id.us/gov/govhmpg.htm

Governor George Ryan 207 Statehouse Springfield, Illinois 62706 United States of America phone 1-217-782-0244, fax 1-217-524-4049 e-mail governor@state.il.us webpage http://www.state.il.us/gov/

Governor Frank O'Bannon Statehouse, Rm. 206 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 United States of America phone 1-317-232-4567, fax 1-317-232-3443 e-mail page http://www.ai.org/gov/gov_mail.html webpage http://www.ai.org/gov/index.html

Governor Thomas Vilsack State Capitol Des Moines, Iowa 50319 United States of America phone 1-515-281-5211, fax 1-515-281-6611 e-mail general.office@igov.state.ia.us webpage http://www.iowaccess.org/

Governor Bill Graves State House Topeka, Kansas 66612 United States of America phone 1-913-296-6240, fax 1-913-296-7973 e-mail page http://www.state.ks.us/public/g overnor/comment.html webpage http://www.state.ks.us/public/governor/

Governor Paul Patton State Capitol, 700 Capitol Ave. Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 United States of America phone 1-502-564-2611, fax 1-502-564-2517 e-mail governor@mail.state.ky.us webpage http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/go v/govmenu6.htm

Governor Murphy Foster, Jr. State Capitol, P.O. Box 94004 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804 United States of America phone 1-504-342-7015, fax 1-504-342-7099 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.la.us/governo r/contact2.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.la.us/

Governor Angus King, Jr. State House Station 1 Augusta, Maine 04333 United States of America phone 1-207-287-3531, fax 1-207-287-1034 e-mail page http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ gov_form.htm webpage http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ homepage.htm

Governor Parris Glendening State House Annapolis, Maryland 21401 United States of America phone 1-410-974-3901, fax 1-410-974-3275 e-mail governor@gov.state.md.us webpage http://www.gov.state.md.us/

Governor Paul Cellucci State House, Room 360 Boston, Massachusetts 02133 United States of America phone 1-617-727-6250, fax 1-617-727-9725 e-mail goffice@state.ma.us webpage http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/gov/gov.htm

Governor John Engler State Capitol, PO Box 30013 Lansing, Michigan 48909 United States of America phone 1-517-335-7858, fax 1-517-335-6863 email page http://www.state.mi.us/MIGOV/ gov/ContactGovernor.shtm webpage http://www.state.mi.us/migov/

Governor Jesse Ventura 130 State Capitol, 75 Constitution Avenue St. Paul, Minnesota 55155 United States of America phone 1-651-296-3391, fax 1-651-296-2089 e-mail Governor.JesseVentura@state.mn.us webpage http://www.mainserver.state.mn.us/gover nor/

Governor Kirk Fordice P.O. Box 139 Jackson, Mississippi 39205 United States of America phone 1-601-737-9540, fax 1-601-737-9507 e-mail governor@govoff.state.ms.us webpage http://www.state.ms.us/

Governor Mel Carnahan Missouri Capitol Building, P.O. Box 720 Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0720 United States of America phone 1-573-751-3222, fax 1-573-751-1495 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.mo.us/guest.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.mo.us/

Governor Marc Racicot State Capitol Helena, Montana 59620 United States of America webpage http://www.mt.gov/governor/governor.htm

Governor Mike Johanns State Capitol, Executive Suite, PO Box 94848 Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-4848 United States of America phone 1-402-471-2244, fax 1-402-471-6031 e-mail jodee@mail.state.ne.us webpage http://www.state.ne.us/

Governor Kenny Guinn State Capitol Carson City, Nevada 89710 United States of America phone 1-702-687-5670, fax 1-702-687-4486 webpage http://www.state.nv.us/

Governor Jeanne Shaheen State House Concord, New Hampshire 03301-4990 United States of America phone 1-603-271-2121, fax 1-603-271-2130 e-mail nhgov@nh.com webpage http://www.state.nh.us/

Governor Christine Todd Whitman Office of the Governor State House, 125 West State St., CN-001 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0001 United States of America phone 1-609-292-6000, fax 1-609-292-5212 e-mail page http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.nj.us/governor/officeo .htm

Governor Gary Johnson State Capitol Santa Fe, New Mexico 87503 United States of America phone 1-505-827-3000, fax 1-505-827-3026 e-mail gov@gov.state.nm.us webpage http://www.state.nm.us/

Governor George Pataki State Capitol Albany, New York 12224 United States of America phone 1-518-474-8390, fax 1-518-474-1513 e-mail gov.pataki@chamber.state.ny.us webpage http://www.state.ny.us/governor

Governor James Hunt, Jr. State Capitol Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 United States of America phone 1-919-733-4240, fax 1-919-733-2120 webpage http://www.sips.state.nc.us/

Governor Edward Schafer 600 E. Blvd, State Capitol, Fl. 1 Bismark, North Dakota 58505 United States of America phone 1-701-328-2200, fax 1-701-328-2205 webpage http://www.ehs.health.stat e.nd.us/gov/governor/index.htm

Governor Bob Taft State House Columbus, Ohio 43215 United States of America phone 1-614-466-3555, 1-614-466-9354 webpage http://www.state.oh.us/gov/

Governor Frank Keating State Capitol Bldg., Rm. 212 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 United States of America phone 1-405-521-2342, fax 1-405-521-3353 e-mail governor@oklaosf.state.ok.us webpage http://www.state.ok.us/

Governor John Kitzhaber State Capitol Salem, Oregon 97310 United States of America phone 1-503-378-4582, fax 1-503-378-4863 webpage http://www.governor.state.or.us/

Governor Tom Ridge 225 Main Capitol Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120 United States of America phone 1-717-787-2500, fax 1-717-772-8284 e-mail governor@state.pa.us webpage http://www.state.pa.us/PA_Exe c/Governor/overview.html

Governor of the Commonwealth Commonwealth of Puerto Rico San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936 United States of America webpage http://fortaleza.govpr.org

Governor Lincoln Almond State House Providence, Rhode Island 02903 United States of America phone 1-401-277-2080, fax 1-401-273-5729 webpage http://www.doa.state.ri.us/info/exec.htm

Governor James Hodges State House, PO Box 11369 Columbia, South Carolina 29211 United States of America phone 1-803-737-9540, fax 1-803-737-9507 webpage http://www.state.sc.us/

Governor William Janklow State Capitol, 500 East Capitol Ave Pierre, South Dakota 57501-5070 United States of America phone 1-605-773-3212, fax 1-605-773-5844 e-mail sdgov@gov.state.sd.us webpage http://www.state.sd.us /state/executive/governor/governor.htm

Governor Don Sundquist State Capitol Nashville, Tennessee 37243 United States of America phone 1-615-741-2001, fax 1-615-532-9711 e-mail dsundquist@mail.state.tn.us webpage http://www.state.tn.us/governor/

Governor George W. Bush State Capitol, P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711 United States of America phone 1-512-463-2000, fax 1-512-463-1849 webpage http://www.governor.state.tx.us/

Governor Michael Leavitt 210 State Capitol Salt Lake City, Utah 84114 United States of America phone 1-801-538-1000, fax 1-801-538-1528 e-mail governor@state.ut.us webpage http://www.governor.state.ut.us/

Governor Howard Dean 109 State St. Montpelier, Vermont 05609 United States of America phone 1-802-828-3333, fax 1-802-828-3339 e-mail governor@state.vt.us webpage http://www.state.vt.us/

Governor Jim Gilmore State Capitol Richmond, Virginia 23219 United States of America phone 1-804-786-2211, fax 1-804-371-6351 e-mail page http://www.state.va.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.va.us/governor/

Governor Gary Locke State Capitol, P.O. Box 40002 Olympia, Washington 98504-0002 United States of America phone 1-360-902-4111, fax 1-360-753-4110 e-mail governor.locke@governor.wa.gov webpage http://www.wa.gov/governor

Governor Cecil Underwood State Capitol Charleston, West Virginia 25305 United States of America phone 1-304-558-2000, fax 1-304-342-7025 e-mail governor@state.wv.us webpage http://www.state.wi.us/governor/default .htm

Governor Tommy Thompson State Capitol, Room 115 East Madison, Wisconsin 53707 United States of America phone 1-608-266-1212, fax 1-608-267-8983 e-mail wisgov@mail.state.wi.us webpage http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/

Governor Jim Geringer State Capitol Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 United States of America phone 1-307-777-7434, fax 1-307-632-3909 e-mail governor@missc.state.wy.us webpage http://www.state.wy.us/gove rnor/text_governor_home.html

Senate Vote 99-1-0, Gregg (NH), No Vote.

House Legislative Action

House Legislative Action

Well, either Ralph is moving forward rapidly with his agenda, or he didn't look very hard for on-line voting records:
Senate Roll Call votes
House Roll Call votes

As usual, Slashdot comments are heavy on hyperbole, light on fact. To help swing the balance towards rationality, here are some links to the actual bill that (I think) Katz is referring to.

Amendment 3610 to H.R. 4577 as proposed by Senator McCain
Vote 149 - amendment agreed to

Amendment 3635 to H.R. 4577 as proposed by Senator Santorum
Vote 150 - amendment agreed to

Some discussion in the Senate about the two amendments (search for "Internet")

I think this is the final version:
H.R. 4577, TITLE VI--CHILDREN'S INTERNET PROTECTION
Full text of H.R. 4577--FY 2001 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill
Vote 273 in the House - passed
Vote 171 in the Senate - passed

As usual, Slashdot comments are heavy on hyperbole, light on fact. To help swing the balance towards rationality, here are some links to the actual bill that (I think) Katz is referring to.

Amendment 3610 to H.R. 4577 as proposed by Senator McCain
Vote 149 - amendment agreed to

Amendment 3635 to H.R. 4577 as proposed by Senator Santorum
Vote 150 - amendment agreed to

Some discussion in the Senate about the two amendments (search for "Internet")

I think this is the final version:
H.R. 4577, TITLE VI--CHILDREN'S INTERNET PROTECTION
Full text of H.R. 4577--FY 2001 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill
Vote 273 in the House - passed
Vote 171 in the Senate - passed

As usual, Slashdot comments are heavy on hyperbole, light on fact. To help swing the balance towards rationality, here are some links to the actual bill that (I think) Katz is referring to.

Amendment 3610 to H.R. 4577 as proposed by Senator McCain
Vote 149 - amendment agreed to

Amendment 3635 to H.R. 4577 as proposed by Senator Santorum
Vote 150 - amendment agreed to

Some discussion in the Senate about the two amendments (search for "Internet")

I think this is the final version:
H.R. 4577, TITLE VI--CHILDREN'S INTERNET PROTECTION
Full text of H.R. 4577--FY 2001 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill
Vote 273 in the House - passed
Vote 171 in the Senate - passed

It's interesting to note the disconect that exists between the so called internet or technology culture, and the rest of society. The tech culture of the US very often seems to ignore the rest of the country because it's "not advanced enough," "ignorant," or simply "stupid." All because they don't share our ability and fascination with technology, because they get their news from the local paper rather than /. Not only is this arrogant of us, it's also personally destructive. Regardless of what you think of the role of government, political parties, and politicians; they are how the US is run. The United States, and it's model of government is one of the most successful in the world: simply look at our Constitution, we're only on our second and even that document has only been ammended some 20 times; while many other countries have gone through a great number of systems.

The tech culture needs to recognize that the government is there, it always has been, and it isn't going to go away any time soon. We need to deal with government rather than simply looking at it and grumbling about it. When you post your opinion on Carnivore, the DMCA, or Echelon CC it to your Senator or Congressman or the head of one of the technology committees. While he might not know or care what that "Napster thing" is he'll certainly begin to care after enough constituents e-amil him. Because when it comes down to it, that's his job, and not all politicians are corrupt.

Even so, reading the news it is also clear that the people in government (especially those making the laws) have just as equally as great a tendency to ignore the tech-community. In a recent interview Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Dick Cheney was asked what he thought of the Napster trial. Cheney condecendingly replied that he "hasn't been following it." It's this attitude that new issues in technology are beneith the attention of politicians that is dangerous - this is how, almost by accident, dangerous precidents can be set now that will affect and perhaps damage things like personal privacy or intellectual property for decades.

In short I see an almost parallel disconnect between the tech culture and the rest of the population. We often don't want to deal with the political process that exists, which seems ponderous and corrupt compared to the fast, merit-based pase on which technology operates. At the same time politicians and the rest of the population seem to ignore advances in technology and their implications. I think we all need to meet somewhere in the middle, with the tech culture working within the political process (I already know of one CS person running for Congress in my district - I'm voting for him) and the government realizing the importance of technology and the internet. I belive that this is what will happen as the current batch of technological innovations and the Internet matures. We'll see...

PGP and GPG are a great technical solution, and I demand -- not recommend -- that you start encrypting your email. Set PGP up for your friends on their Windows boxen. Show them how to use it. Tell everyone to make it a habit to encrypt everything, but also do it yourself.

But also WRITE TO YOUR CONGRESSMEN and elected officials!! Tell them how you feel!
http://www.house.gov/
http://www.senate.goov/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
Do it! Get off your butt and do it now! Now! It can't get too much easier, anyway. Just fax or email or snailmail or call -- your choice. "Hi, could you relay a message to Mr. Gore about an issue that's important to me." Then be short, concise, to the point. Just do it!

I heard somewhere that politicians believe for every person who writes to them about an issue, there are 20 others who feel the same way but didn't write.

MAKE YOURSELF COUNT -- RIGHT NOW!!

t_t_b
--

Number one is getting out and convincing others. Number two is letting Congress know that, yes, this is something you want tax dollars spent on. And remember - snail mail letters make a much bigger impact than emails. Don't know who or where to write to? Check here for the House of Representatives and here for the Senate

That is utterly untrue.

The CD's that the MP3's were ripped from were lawfully purchased, they were neither shoplifted nor stolen off some loading dock.

"You mean set the tone that artists actually have some right not to have their work ripped off for free?"

You utterly ignore the issue that most music artists will strongly state that it is they who are being ripped-off by the RIAA.

Read Roger McGuinn's Senate Testimony

"In most cases a modest advance against royalties was all the money I received for my participation in these recording projects."

"The only money I've received for these albums was the modest advance paid prior to each recording."

"Even though the song "Don't You Write Her Off" was a top 40 hit, the only money I received from Capitol Records was in the form of a modest advance."

"My performing work is how I make my living. Even though I've recorded over twenty-five records, I cannot support my family on record royalties alone."

This is from someone who knows what he's talking about.

The RIAA has been ripping-off musicians for decades and decades.

Napster users are not!

t_t_b
--

To me, this is the crux of Napster's case: they should demonstrate that the RIAA, by refusing to embrace on-line distribution, is denying the Artists the legitimate opportunity to earn income from their work.

(Yes,I have purchased from both mp3.com and Emusic.com, as well as managed to "back-up" ~75% of my vinyl collection from Napster)

to whom does the NSA answer?

The NSA, like every agency in the Executive Branch, answers to the President, and to one or more oversight committees in Congress.

In this case, the NSA's oversight committees are The Senate Select Committee On Intelligence and the House Committee on National Security.


Help

I think it's important to be a little more careful in our speech about this issue. As Roger McGuinn's testimony reveals, it is common for artists to get nothing from the sale of a CD.

If you believe that artists get a fraction of a penny from CD sales, then you have to conclude that people who use gnutella, etc. are in some sense stealing from the artists. Those fractions of a panny are the only moral ground the major labels have to stand on, and by not treating them as fictional, we play into the RIAA's PR campaign.

Artists get money from CD sales == Microsoft innovates

This post is probably going to end up big and fuzzy, and contain lots of little issues for all you copyright nazi's to nitpick me on for days on end. And I know that a preliminary injunction is not a preliminary-injunction-sustained-on-appeal is not a verdict is not a verdict-sustained-on-appeal, and that the end of Napster is not the end of peer-to-peer file sharing; that indeed, nothing this or any judge or government can do can ever erase what Napster has wrought.

But I'm writing this tonight because I'm genuinely saddened by this ruling--saddened even though I have no doubt it'll be overturned soon, and no doubt it won't really affect anything in the long run. I'm sad because, when you take out all the hype and special reports at ZDNet and Wall Street Journal attack jobs and photos of Lars Ulrich testifying in the Senate Chambers and YRO flamewars at /. and Metallica parodies and debates over whether the current record label business model is more like indentured servitude or outright slavery and cover articles of every PHB-oriented PC rag in the biz on how MP3 is revolutionizing...something! (sidebar: copyright law and you)...what will happen on Friday afternoon is that the largest art museum in history will be closed up, maybe for good. And that's sad.

The largest art museum in history??? That's a new one! But it's true--that's precisely what Napster is: a big place where one can go in, browse, and enjoy a decent portion of the musical art recorded on the planet. If you disagree, then it must be because you don't actually think music is an art form--in which case, well, you either have different tastes from most of humanity or you just haven't come across the music that really speaks to you yet. But rest assured, that music exists, and it's available for your perusal somewhere on Napster.

But...Napster's can't be an art museum! Napster is all about stealing, and pirates, and ripping off artists! See, at an art museum--unlike Napster, ho ho ho!--every time you look at a painting the artist is compensated by... Oh yeah--they're not. Indeed, it's not such a bad analogy after all... But at a museum the artist is the one who *decides* whether *their art* is shared with the public or not! Absolutely wrong. The typical painting available for free public viewing at an art museum is donated by a private donor, who has bought the painting from the artist. The typical recording available for free public listening on Napster is donated by a private donor, who has bought the CD from the artist. The artist has no say in either donation--which is arguably a bad thing. However, what cannot be argued is the fact that the free public sharing is a great benefit for all of society. And furthermore, just as common sense tells you that free public art museums stimulate rather than inhibit public consumption of paintings (and thus help out the oftentimes actually "starving" visual artists), study after study confirms that Napster stimulates public consumption of RIAA music--which, incidently, helps the record labels far more than the artists, although it does help the artists use their piddling royalties (we're talking under 5% of album sales, people) to pay off the hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt they have accrued with the record label.

Yes, the shutting of Napster's doors would be a great public loss indeed. Now, of course, people will argue that Napster is just one of many peer-to-peer file sharing protocols, and that one can always get whatever music recording one wants via an OpenNap server using Napigator, or via Gnutella, Scour, iMesh, Hotline, IRC, FTP, the web... And they're right. But they're missing the point. While Napster may not be clearly the most technologically advanced of the peer-to-peer communities, it has (to my mind, at least) what none of the other options can quite match--a combination of convenience and community building features which make possible a truly new, and in some ways superior, way of getting one's music.

That is, using Napster (on a broadband connection) can sometimes evoke in me that singular experience which harkens back to the halcyon days of the web: surfing. While most of the other methods of getting music off the Internet only help if you know what you're looking for, Napster actually makes if easy (or reasonably easy; it could still stand some improvement, but then again, Mosaic and Netscape 0.9 had some kinks themselves, but in some ways they only added to the charm) to browse the MP3 collections of anyone on the system, searching for new artists and new music that you would have never otherwise heard. Just as a quick drill through the listings on Yahoo! (or a search on altavista once Digital brought it online) used to provide a starting point for my winding surfs across the nascent Web, a search for an artist I like but want to hear more of can provide a point of departure as I look through the shared files of those who already have that artist's music, finding new songs, live recordings, and artists new to me--both similar and entirely different from the one I started out searching for. Yeah, it's a tad cumbersome at the moment to start downloading something I've never heard of, fire up Winamp and stream the incoming song, and decide if I like it and want to look into more of this musician's work; but it often works alright, and it's certainly introduced me to some stuff which, while not quite earth-shattering, has been marginally life-enriching.

Unfortunately, it seems pretty difficult to imagine any for-pay model which could preserve and improve the wonderful surfing aspect of Napster. Or rather, it's not that difficult to imagine; it's just difficult to imagine the industry agreeing to a fair model for distribution--say, the first 3 listens of a particular song are free, then the song costs a cent/minute per listen for another 10 listens, after which point the user owns the song. (Cost for a typical 55 minute album, $5.50--a reasonably fair price, IMO.)

But no, it is difficult to imagine, because music is free now: Napster has made it free. Or really, the Internet made music free, just like it has made newspapers and encyclopedias free (note that you don't see the New York Times or Encyclopedia Britannica suing to shut down the Internet like the RIAA and MPAA are), just like it has made long-distance communications and negotiation buying free, just like it will make movies free, and hopefully (and already has to some degree) make political news and speech in oppressed countries free. Free music is considerably less important than some of these benefits (although arguably more important than others), but that's not the point: the point is that all of them and many others are inherent in what the Internet IS--a medium by which any human being can communicate with any other with no marginal cost.

The RIAA and others can whine all they want, but they won't be able to change the fact that the fundamental nature of the Internet, combined with a good idea some kid at Northeastern University had less than a single year ago, has broken their monopoly on recorded music forever. What they can do, however, is buy unconstitutional laws and gum up the US court system trying to get them enforced, using the power of US law to obtain injunctions against grass-roots Internet art museums left and right. To be fair, I was always a bit squeamish that Napster was desperately trying to think up a way to make money off its service--not because I don't think the service isn't incredibly valuable, but because it's just one of those things which inherently ought to be free, like an art museum. (I know many if not most public art museums aren't free. They should be, though.)

The ironic thing about all this is that a court win for the RIAA will probably be the worst possible outcome for their member labels in the long-run. It will only give the RIAA complacency they cannot afford, drive users to noncorporate peer-to-peer services like Gnutella (try getting an injunction against that!), antagonize the general public (20 million people already use Napster, and according to the RIAA itself, 70 million would have by the end of the year had the case not gone forward--that is, a very very substantial portion of Internet users and society as a whole) and inevitably delay the time when the record labels do what is obviously necessary: digitize their entire catalogs, and sell them, in open, standard, non-access-controlled MP3 format, for a fair price. As it stands now, I doubt I will ever pay an RIAA label again for recorded music, but many Internet users will be less idealistic or more forgiving than me. I would pay a fair fee direct to the artist to download his or her musical art in a heartbeat. (I'd sample it for free off Napster to see that I wanted it first, though.)

But all of that is for the future. Frankly, I've sort of had it with MP3's for a while--the sound quality out a pair of computer speakers isn't horrible, but it's not great either. I've been planning on getting a good stereo for a bit now (at the moment my only CD player is in my computer; dorm life...), and I suppose I'll go ahead with that anyways. Too bad I'll probably have to burn my own CDs. But for now I'll just go on exposing myself to as much music as possible, and mourning the potential end of one of the most incredible uses of the Internet for the betterment of society which has come around so far.

Perhaps Napster will end up like Netscape after all--gone but not forgotten, a company which changed the world for the better but then made the fatal flaw of trying to charge for something it had already made free, its spirit carried on in a community-owned open-source extension of its original promise.

Orrin Hatch is the man! (Pause. Tremble. Resume.) Let's make sure he knows that we like what he's doing:

Office of Senator Orrin Hatch
131 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5251
senator_hatch@hatch.senate.gov

Mr. McGuinn's very short and to the point testimony can be found here.

Burris

Whoops, that link should be here
---------
"There's no swimming in the heavy water, no playing in the acid rain.

In speaking about President Richard Nixon in 1974, a young Arkansas congressional candidate spoke to the need for high standards:

"Yes, the President should resign. He has lied to the American people, time and time again, and betrayed their trust. Since he has admitted guilt, there is no reason to put the American people through an impeachment. He will serve absolutely no purpose in finishing out his term; the only possible solution is for the president to save some dignity and resign."

The candidate, Bill Clinton, set his own perfectly understandable standard:

"If a President of the United States ever lied to the American people, he should resign." Arkansas, Democrat Gazette (8/6/74)

FTC Calls for Privacy Legislation to Protect Internet Users. On May 22, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report (PDF) on the results of its latest survey of website privacy policies. The survey documented that only 20% of a random sample of websites addressed basic elements of Fair Information Practices. Based on the findings of the survey, a majority of the FTC Commissioners have recommended that legislation is needed. On Thursday, the FTC will formally present its findings and recommendations in front of the Senate Commerce Committee. EPIC's latest survey, "Surfer Beware 3: Privacy Policies without Privacy Protection", also found that self-regulation provided an inadequate level of online privacy protection.

I just hope the EU doesn't fall for the same bait as did TrustE. Self-regulation isn't.

Sreeram.
----------------------------------
Observation is the essence of art.

wether or not the freedom of the Internet jeopardizes the freedom to USE the Internet "

Very eloquent and accurate.

On the other hand, your flame was rather insulting,

Whenever someone moans about "the Feds", I have to ask what the hell are YOU (yes, you) doing about it? Are you expecting someone else to step in and solve these problems?

Who the hell am I? Well for starters I'm an over 40 PHB who lives in the US and has been on the net since the old days, pre 1980. My entire career for the last 20+ years has been the internet, starting long before GUIs.
What the hell am I doing about it? Plenty, you should be as well. All of us should, not just because it's our livelyhood, because it's our privacy and our basic freedoms as well. Personally, I have regular dialog with many elected officials on many different levels. I'm no stranger to the telecom lobbists or in my Representetive or Senators offices on capital hill and my state capital. I support the Electronic Frontier Foundation , Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC), Internet Free Expression Alliance (IFEA), Digital Future Coalition (DFC), and the TRUSTe Privacy Policy Certification Program as well as several others both monetarily and with my time. Do you?

Am I expecting someone else to step in and solve these problems? No, I am involved, are you?

Although you had a good point in your post, I feel the impact of it got lost in the flames, instead of flaming posters on /., try using some of that effort to get the laws and the policy changed, you might be surprised at what one person can do.

Now that we've done all the complaining about the law and the DCMA, next step is to get involved.Here's how, Constructive communication to the folks who can make a difference beats whining every time.

Electronic Frontier Foundation
US House of Representatives
US Senate
Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC)
Internet Free Expression Alliance (IFEA)
Digital Future Coalition (DFC)
TRUSTe Privacy Policy Certification Program

Electronic Frontier Foundation
US House of Representatives
US Senate
Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC)
Internet Free Expression Alliance (IFEA)
Digital Future Coalition (DFC)
TRUSTe Privacy Policy Certification Program

For information about current legislation in front of Congress, you may visit Thomas, the US Congress Internet site. You may find additional information on the House and Senate at their respective sites.

For State and Local information, you may want to refer to the Yahoo Government Politics Directory here and find your particular state or locality.

The MPAA has exploited the DMCA to architect CSS licensing in a way that completely manipulated and controlls the publishers and DVD player manufacturers. If the MPAA wins out over DeCSS, a precident will be set that will set back the MPAA a long way.

Also don't just submit one comment. They are public and you can respond to other comments already received and posted. (See the last /. story on this). Lastly don't stop at just the copyright office. Support EFF,and also write you elected represetatives and let them know how you feel, Make sure that in all your verbal or written communication to either an elected official, industry lobby or industry exec that you be nice. Elected officials really don't respond well to flames, spam, mail floods or harsh language. You will come off as a script kiddie and be completely ignored. For a loose reference, re-read the Linux Advocacy Guide, it will give you the right sort of flavor for your communications.

The house of representatives has a search facility to find your representative:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
The senates listing is here:
http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.c fm

Look, the current administration is not going to help. Clinton's policies surrounding this are all over the road. His administration is focusing on only two things, 1, ramp up the failing Clinton legacy and 2, get Gore in the White House. This needs to come from grass roots efforts, they do have impact if they are communicated effectively. This means politely, professionally and with out flame. Find out who your local congressional member or senator is and communicate with them that the DMCA is way off base and catering not to the general good of the citizens, but to specific industries.

Make sure that in all your verbal or written communication to either an elected official, industry lobby or industry exec that you be nice. Elected officials really don't respond well to flames, spam, mail floods or harsh language. You will come off as a script kiddie and be completely ignored. For a loose reference, re-read the Linux Advocacy Guide, it will give you the right sort of flavor for your communications. The bottom line is don't JUST bitch about how "big brothers keepin' us down man" do something about it!

The house of representatives has a search facility to find your representative:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
The senates listing is here:
http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.c fm

I agree with your sentiment wholeheartedly except for one key point. Several powerful representatives and senators (Barney Frank and Rod Grams are the two I remember), have lately come to embrace e-mail from constituents as just as valid as snail mail. The others are catching on. So go ahead and e-mail your representative and/or senators and let them know how you feel.

The house provides a search facility to make it easy to find your representative:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
The senate is not quite so helpful, but they also provide a list of members and e-mail links:
http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.c fm

There are some ultra orthodox religious conservatives in Utah, and considering that the state legislature is about 70% Republican, with so much control that the Democrats can't even stop a bill even if it is vetoed by the Governor. This tends to make legislative activity more like political platform actions, and some people have even suggested that most state legislative action actually occurs during the state Republican party convention, or at least during the party legislative caucus meetings.

Even with all of that kept in mind, it is still surprising how much erotic literature can be found in paper form, even at public libraries in a very conservative state like Utah. And don't think that the people in Utah are technically illiterate. Senator Bob Bennett chairs the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem (The Y2K Comittee), in fact he helped push the formation of the comittee in the Senate. Utah is also home to tech companies like Novell, Caldera, Thiokol(the makers of the space shuttle booster rockets), Iomega, and many others. To say that Utah is being backward in their decisions is not really taking notice of what happened. The state legislature took the considered opinions of many tech professionals, together with the screaming opinions of a strong conservative religious constituancy and came up with the legislation that could be considered "the will of the people" in a representative democracy.

This isn't to say that this is a one-way street either. If it turns out that net filtering will keep out politically sensitive sites (which it does), it will eventually prove to be a faulty technology.

There are some ultra orthodox religious conservatives in Utah, and considering that the state legislature is about 70% Republican, with so much control that the Democrats can't even stop a bill even if it is vetoed by the Governor. This tends to make legislative activity more like political platform actions, and some people have even suggested that most state legislative action actually occurs during the state Republican party convention, or at least during the party legislative caucus meetings.

Even with all of that kept in mind, it is still surprising how much erotic literature can be found in paper form, even at public libraries in a very conservative state like Utah. And don't think that the people in Utah are technically illiterate. Senator Bob Bennett chairs the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem (The Y2K Comittee), in fact he helped push the formation of the comittee in the Senate. Utah is also home to tech companies like Novell, Caldera, Thiokol(the makers of the space shuttle booster rockets), Iomega, and many others. To say that Utah is being backward in their decisions is not really taking notice of what happened. The state legislature took the considered opinions of many tech professionals, together with the screaming opinions of a strong conservative religious constituancy and came up with the legislation that could be considered "the will of the people" in a representative democracy.

This isn't to say that this is a one-way street either. If it turns out that net filtering will keep out politically sensitive sites (which it does), it will eventually prove to be a faulty technology.

Here's somthing strange. I decided to look at another political candidate's pages to get a sense of perspective.

I chose Mccain.

His Senate webpage has links to some very legnthy, detailed speeches which explain specificaly how Mccain has fought 'pork'. i.e. by opposing monetary expenditures which didn't receive congressional approval- often regional requests for educational grants or research funding.

The web page for his presidential campaign is far more stark. Any theories on why the difference in demographics? Apparently a senator can be much more explicit than a congressman can.

2. There have been occasionnal concerns in the French political world that reliance on foreign (read here: american) software could pose a security problem, since it can potentially contain backdoors left for US intelligence to spy on officials and industries.

There have already been attempts by the United States to influence the politics of France, as shown in this document from the US Senate. I guess American taxpayers won't be happy to learn that their tax money was used to fund an "union" of posh French students whose main activity is to put political stickers on just about every flat surface they can.

With this precedent in mind, it is therefore not sheer paranoia to think that US intelligence still tries to influence the politics of allied democratic governments, including France.