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The DMCA Is Just The Beginning
dr. greenthumb writes: "With the Sklyarov-case still fresh in memory, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wants to rally up against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in order to preserve privacy and freedom of speech. The FTAA is currently negotiating agreements with several countries in the Western hemisphere concerning, among other issues, intellectual property rights. According to the EEF, the FTAA organization is considering treaty language that mandates nations pass anti-circumvention provisions similar to the DMCA, except the FTAA treaty grants even greater control to publishers than the DMCA."
When you think about it, people are behind these corperations and they are screwing themseleves as well as us. I just don't understand why these people keep passing tougher and tougher laws. I suppose they must not obey them. This is all obvious I imagine, but it's a slow day. :)
What is good for Microsoft is good for America. At least, better than for the rest for the world.
If an organization calls itself ??AA, it's gonna take away you freedom... MPAA, RIAA, FTAA... makes you wonder what comes next :-)
Excellent reply to WIPO, Congress, FTAA, and anyone who wants to support the DMCA and its offspring.
BTW, lame first post
Only if you can prove the music being played during said table dance is in compliance will all relevant licensing, and the use of the table is in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the TPAA (Table Producers Association of America),
Perhaps it is time to join The National Alliance
Civil disobedience, anyone? This kind of legislation is equivalent to the police smashing down your door because you pop open the TV set you bought labeled "Do not open, refer to authorized service center" on the back. If they're going to sell it to me, there is no one on this Earth that can say what I can and cannot do with it. Oh, I know, they're only "leasing" you the software bits. Uh-huh. I'm all for action. If it gets bad enough, I say we resort to busting crackers out of jail and straight-out open resistance. You can't step on people with laws like this forever.
I fear that these type of laws and treaties will become more common in the next few years. The "content industry" is struggling to reclaim the territory they slowly lost over the years. Napster made it painfully obvious to them that the whole industry has been asleep at the wheel.
Unfortunately, by blinding lashing out at the community we are just that much further from reaching a compromise between consumers and companies.
The DMCA is twisted! and wrong! Twisted and wrong!
Dang, this means moving to canada will not make me safe.
In fact, I might be stuck in another country that has no free speech, and no human rights, and a stricter DMCA.
I read that as "In order to preserve piracy"... double take. ahh!!! :)
Pointing out opportunities for anal rape since nineteen 'aught six.
First Seattle, then Quebec City. Boring. Protestors can't come up with any more interesting arguments.
Even older news: Most of the industrialized world's leaders signed treates in 1996 (!) to enforce copyright law and property law. The FTAA has little to do with these treaties that were signed yonks ago.
I wish the Jihad here would find a way to quash the myth that the open source movements are about taking property rights away. You are behaving exactly like they say you are and it isn't helping you any.
Use Evolution instead of Outlook? Bewa
The link should point to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is different that the Eisenhower Fellowships.
Cheers,
RP
Now it's too late to send in our opinions... The EFF could have gotten a lot of support if this had posted on Slashdot a few days ago (article was issued Aug. 16).
everyone needs to go to http://www.congress.org, or better yet kill a tree.but its not hard at all to go there, enter your zip code, and write ALL your elected reps and tell them what a piece of shit the dmca and all its kin are.
please be polite, congressmen dont like being flamed.
tell your family and friends and coworkers and anyone else who will listen to do the same(i do).
also make sure NOT to vote for the asswads that passed this irrehensible piece of garbage and make sure TO vote for whoever runs against them.also then send them a letter(if they win) telling them the reason they got you vote is because thier opponent voted for the dmca.
and if you dont...well dont come bitch at me when we have no rights anymore...i do my part
Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community
It's times like this you just have to feel hopeless. We (meaning the good ol' US of A) have captured a Russian giving a speech showing that some 'industry quality' encryption was nothing more than a XOR with a constant byte, and passed laws that give harsher penalties to programmers than to some murderes! And the worst part is that nobody else seems to CARE!
(And watch as I am moderated to -1 for this comment)
:wq
Fascism is the only way to enforce IP laws. They must have control over what you see and what you download. In other words, the government is going to be spying on you big time, not a little bit like before. The FTAA is also a way for the have nations to economically dominate (i.e., enslave) the have-nots since most IP in the western world is owned by Europe and North America.
There is no stopping it. They are armed to the teeth and they own the mass media. We're all shit out of luck. Goodbye liberty! I will miss you.
I think that the DMCA and similar legislation shouldn't be too worried about, and will work itself out in time. All that happens when they ban, for instance, publishing flaws in encryption schemes, is that people can no longer do it legally. This empowers those who disregard the law, and gives them profit.
I will be called an idealist, but I believe there's enough brains in our government and the companies involved to figure this out over time. Companies like Adobe will realize that it is better to have law abiding college professors publishing your errors (and contibuting to a fix) than to have inheritly illegal hackers explioting them for their own gain.
-The art of programming is the pursuit of absolute simplicity.
Each new law seems to shave away another form of the consumer actually owning anything. What's next..building all our towns around the corporate castle so we can run inside if we're the target of a hostile takeover...
Every year we move closer and closer to a true corporate feudalism... Funny thing is, we're very willing to give them the power to do it if they throw a free toaster or the equivalent our way...
Can someone please unclick the "repeat button" on the history maker.... At the very least put it on shuffle!
eff.org != eef.org
I love it!
The EFF is not opposed to the FTAA because they're trying to extend the DMCA. Instead is the JLA who have allied with MSFT in an attempt to subvert NASA into not using CDA so the RIAA falls because as we all know MSFT is trying to capture all 3 and 4 letter domains so they can patent all abbrivations of names. The is SWC signing out.
Hit it the gut.
..then kicked.
Ideas are unique in that I may freely share my ideas with you without diminishing my own knowledge. The digital age has made it so that many other media are also reproducible at neglible cost to the individual.
By constrast, Intellectual Property Law serves the legitimate purpose of attempting to guarantee that the originator of an idea or creative work can earn income based on his creation without competing with others who grasp what it is he has done. Unfortunately quite often digital technology circumvents this process my allowing people free access to music, art, books, software, etc. without ever compensating the inventor.
Ultimately fair use comes from the principal that people should be able to use portions of a work when doing so is not for financial gain and to do so does not cause a lost of income to the property rights holder. As long as people percieve that they are losing money, they are not going to be happy about technologies that allow for copying and sharing.
This is something that the world will have to confront. I don't think the answer is to shut down the development and use of technology. Clearly when people are using technologies for illegal financial advantages, they can be targetted with existing law. The question is what to do with all the small time players who only "steal" a few MP3s or a little software?
What I would like to see is a paradigm shift in how we think about digital information and creative works. A world where music, movies, software, etc. are entirely free and subsidized by the government could be a wonderful place to live. Of course with fewer or no economic incentives the produce these works, one might lose quality people who value the huge profits of today. Trnasitioning to such a world would be a hard sell and lengthy process. Perhaps if subscription services become the norm then we can progress until everyone pays a flat tax for "entertainment & software services".
It could happen...
mefus
In Open Society, GPL Software frees YOU!
lol. Definately true dat. That was a total waste of a first post.
The needed adjustment won't occur without your involvement. I tried to use the slashdot search engine but it's down... I wanted to point to a recent article in which the primary (republican) backer claimed there was no opposition when the DMCA bill came out of committee (and to hide their votes they used a voice vote... you can't know how your congresscritter voted.)
mefus
In Open Society, GPL Software frees YOU!
By the way, the article's first link to the EFF is wrong (points to eef.org instead).
nothing the "Redmond Washington-based software giant" does is good for anyone! Windows is just a piece of crap that good ol Bill knew he could make money off. Windows is the only OS out there (as far as most people are concerned) and Mac. Linux is gaining ground!! But, Windows never helps anyone.
http://www.mistersampo.com
It is time for protest in the streets..
A handful of people protesting for Dmitry managed
to get this into CNN. It is time for more of
the same.. I suggest Ben Franklin's Birthday
as a day of protest (not sure when it is, anyone know?), as he as a politician who understood
technology and its potential misuses (IP controls/patent bogosity..etc) and reminded us
to fight against it.
We also need a website (or a GNU political party
or something), that lists out in plain english
what these congress people are voting for and
who is giving them the bribe money to do so (and
link it from all over, so everyone knows what
they are up to, and will call them on it).
Corporate fascism is definately taking over, and
I am starting to be not proud to be an American
anymore.. we must take to the streets.. banners
& protest.. its a whole civil rights movement,
and it involves all of us to stop this
corporate techno fascism before it goes any
further...
This is 1984.. in real life...
It won't stop unless we get out there, and make
it stop...
[Re: Dmitry..sigh, the day that the US arrests
someone for thoughtcrime... I thought I'd never
see it in real life.. we should all stop being
so naive]
A true free trade agreement is one for liberalization allowing for the free flow of goods. Certainly IP should be covered, but not to this extent. DMCA is anti-liberalization and hampers the development of technological advances.
Given the importance of this issue, it seems having lobbying/communication is required in Latin American nations regarding this subject.
How can this issue be communicated to those in Latin America with potential interest/influence of local governments? Has someone forward this information to Miguel de Iczara? I understand he has connections to the current administration in Mexico. Perhaps there are technological associations in Latin America who may be communicated this issue and rallied?
Given the effect of the DMCA in the US, American citizens probably have little influence --- maybe those in Latin America can make a difference.
"There ought to be limits to freedom"
I wrote representative Bentsen (D) and senators Gramm (R) and Hutchison (R). Who did YOU write to? (all of you, not just the parent author)
More practically, I got a reply from Bentsen yesterday. While his wording was the "politically correct" middle of the road drivel the average politician spouts, it seemed a little on the intelligent side. I am slightly encouraged by this letter, though it is fairly certainly a stock letter, and I know he's aware of one constituent's view of the issue.
I'm still waiting to hear from my senators, but mainly just for confirmation. As they're republican, I expect less acceptable view on the issue (with them leaning toward big money interests), but at least they'll know MY opinion, and I'm responsible, in part, for their job security. You people (well, the americans in the audience) should try writing the people whose salaries you pay. It gives you a short-lived feeling of power at the very least, you may even get warm-fuzzies.
funny munging
Now, laws like the DMCA can be taken to the supreme court and declared unconstitutional and we can be rid of them. Now for a somewhat basic question for some:
Can the same be done for signed treaties? or are with stuck with them even if they are determined unconstitutional?
I've heard that the US and most other nations ignore a lotta the things that the UN does, but I don't know if we could ignore something like this, nor get out of it.
-DrkShadow
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
-Revelation 13:16-17 (KJV)
Not that many Slashdotters are the Bible reading type, but passages like these become scarier and scarier to me whenever I hear about these types of laws that put more control on the marketplaces being proposed world-wide. Seems like DMCA and similar laws being thrown about there could just be the beginning of total control over the consumers. Could we one day see laws that not only say HOW we can use our purchased goods, but also say WHO can purchase in the first place?
The idea is scary, even if one doesn't believe in such scriptures.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
I say we all put down our keyboards and run for public office. We have the smarts to write sensible laws. Hell, most of it is common sense, really. But the old farts in Washington seem hellbent on keeping things "old world" nowadays, a fact which sucks.
First thing that needs to happen: Strom Thurmond needs to either retire or just expire. He's what, 90something? I'm sure he was a good man back in days when that mattered, but now it's differant. He's obsolete.
We, the young (and not-that-young-but-still-not-old), should weasel our ways into the system slowly and quietly. Then, when enough of us hold important offices, we change the system. It can happen, we just have to get off of our a$$es and try to make a differance...
My uncle, a State Rep here in PA, is getting me started. I plan on making whatever dent I can...
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
There have already been large protests against the FTAA. In Quebec City, Canada a few months ago they had a huge protest. There is a growing global anti-corporate movement. In case you haven't noticed, there has been a series of large protests over the past few years throughout the world against corporatization/capitalism/neoliberalism. The next big protest is S30 (September 30) against the IMF/World Bank in D.C. Some websites you might be interested in:
. ht ml
http://www.stopftaa.org/
http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/gattwto/gatthome
http://www.indymedia.org/
http://www.zmag.org/ZNETTOPnoanimation.html
definitely. as in de-finite.
(1) does not apply to CmdrTaco and other admitedly poor spellers
Windows is a very nice software product (and with each iteration it's getting better), and at some point you'll realize that fighting the "good fight" through FUD just doesn't achieve anything other than short-term victories at the expense of long-term saturation. It just tends to be that open-source zealots tolerate a lot more without complaining, while the same faults would incite riots in Windows.
I found this on Alan Cox's site. I can't verify it's truth but it was an interesting read.
Imagine Dmitry Sklyarov had been a US citizen seized in eastern europe.
That which does not kill me only makes me whinier
You must mean a waste of a 2195711th post.
Kudos to the EFF for jumping on this and drawing negative publicity to it before it becomes as big a thorn in the collective side of the public as the DMCA. Of course, signed treaties are an order of magnitude harder to overcome than laws.
BUT...
Those who care have been fighting this sort of thing on an emergency basis. We have to shoot down ever single encroachment on our rights in response to those encroachments.
Instead, why don't we do the same thing that those trying to take away our freedoms are doing and start sponsoring treaties or laws that protect those freedoms. Seriously, the EFF is in prime position to start this kind of lobbying! Let's just get a few legal hotshots to start authoring 'sponsored' legislation like the RIAA, MPA, and BSA have done. Let's start contacting other governments and get them to start thinking about treaties that protect public domain and fair use.
The idea here is to fight fire with fire. Treaties can often 'trump' laws, but with the right treaty in place...
C'mon, if I'm gonna pay a membership fee to the EFF, I'd like to see some of it used for proactive work like this.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
right, i'm so glad taco changed that. as we can clearly see it has eliminated almost all of the crapflooding faggotry around here.
Free Anne Tomlinson!!
I think something has to be done about this 'ubertroll' guy. look at all of his posts. I'm not saying kick him off, but add a '-2 ubertroll' threshold choice. :)
There is a problem with that argument. There is a fundamental difference between physical and intellectual property. If someone steals my car, my car is gone. If someone copies my music CD, I still have my CD.
The founding fathers of the US recognized this distinction, and indeed argued both sides. In the end they gave Congress the power to "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;". Clearly they did not intend to give authors and inventors unlimited control over their writings and discoveries in perpetuity, but merely some control for a limited time. I think a reasonable man could argue that the life of the author plus 90 years is not a "limited time".
Let's say Ford invents a new device that allows cars to drive on auto-pilot. Should GM be allowed to reverse engineer the thing and use it as their own?? Of course not.
Why? If Ford patents their device, then they do have some Constitutional protection for their invention. But if they don't patent it and GM reverse engineers it, why can't GM use it? There's no Constitutional protection for trade secrets.
The United States is the country of business and will rightly or wrongly do anything to defend corporations.
I would differ. I would point out the first seven words of the Constitution, "We the People of the United States, ...". Not business, not corporations, not the government, but the People. And that is the true danger of the DMCA and FTAA, it places the rights of the corporations above those of the People.
// TODO: fix sig
Dear Ms. Blue, Trade Policy Staff Committee, and Negotsiatin' Grodown on Intellectual Propuh'ty Rights, dig dis:
Ah' scribble t''spress mah' grave concern regardin' de draft FTAA treaty's 'estreme intellectual propuh'ty provisions
Dese measho' nuffs, based on de US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) give far too much powa' to publishers, at da damn 'spense uh indivdiuals' rights. De DMCA itself be already unda' legal challenge in de US, gots'ta gravely chilled scientists' and clunker security researchers' freedom uh 'spression around da damn wo'ld fo' fear uh bein' prosecuted in de US, and resulted in de arrest uh a Russian honky codemer. Ah be baaad... De FTAA provisions, which serve no one but American co'po'ate copyright interests, are even mo'e over-reachin' dan dose uh de DMCA.
Dese provisions would require signato'y nashuns t'pass new DMCA-style laws dat ban, wid few o' no 'sepshuns, software and oda' tools dat allow copy prevenshun technologies t'be bypassed. Dis would violate da damn U.S. Constitushun's guarantee uh freedom uh speech unda' de First Amendment, and similar guarantees in oda' nashunal constitushuns and laws and in de UN Universal Declarashun uh Human Rights, since such tools are necessary t'exercise lawful uses, includin' fair use, reverse engineerin', clunker security research and many oders.
Ah' urge ya' t'remove dese controversial and anti-freedom provisions fum de FTAA treaty language. What it is, Mama! De DMCA be already an internashunal debacle. What it is, Mama! Its flaws - and wo'se - should not be 'espo'ted and fo'ced on oda' countries.
Tyrone
These arguments won't have any impact on our Congress because for the most part, our elected officials lack the intellectual ability to comprehend them, and in any case, they can be considered employees of the content providers.
What's left? Figuring out how to make the anti-democratic behavior of the content providers unprofitable by whatever means necessary.
Economic boycott against targeted content providers would be a good start.
Tech Public Policy stuff
If an organization calls itself ??AA, it's gonna take away you freedom... MPAA, RIAA, FTAA...
I guess I better look for a new insurance provider...
That's why we have to organize where we are most powerful. If programmers at Adobe had made it clear to management that they would not tolerate this sort of thing, it would not have happened. As programmers, we create the "intellectual property" these corporations are trying so hard to protect and monopolize. We have the power to create this software, so we have the power to bring it all to a halt.
And power is the only thing they are going to listen to. It's time we stood up for ourselves.
A better approach would be to lobby against the inclusion of DMCA-like elements in the FTAA.
If the true majority of the population in this country actually followed these headlines and knew what they were going on about surely (I like to hope at least) the DMCA would not be in existence and this FTAA thing would get shutdown faster than a all you can eat when that sumo guy from the Am. Ex. commercial is in town.
I digress.
No sig for you!!
As time passes, it becomes more and more difficult to retain focus in addressing the Freedom of Speech and Privacy rights infringement of the DMCA, the WIPO treaties (which are an expansion of the Berne Convention Treaty) and now the potential for indevidual national legislation in each of the countries of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). This newest development makes a consolidated stand against such over reaching legislation, substancially more difficult, and all but garentees the passage if DMCA-like legislation in countries other than the United States.
It looks like a strategy of divide and conquer will work for content providers in their quest to get this sort of legislation passed in countries throughout the world. The already fragmented opposition to this legislation stands to be further fragmented by the requirement that their efforts be divided accross (in the case of the FTAA) the countries of the Americas in order that there be no discrepency between countries' approaches to Intellectual Property.
I made this same argument with respect to the Open Source Community response to Craig Mundie and Microsoft with respect to the legitimacy of the GPL. There must be a focused response. The EFF has provided good leadership thus far, but in order to be an effective leader you must have followers. This is antithetical to the OSS mentality of independant developers (who seem to be the only ones focusing in this issue in any depth at the moment). This tendency, as evidenced by the response by some members of the community to the EFF request to discontinue protests in the Skylarov case durring negotiations with Adobe - where some members of the community basically told the EFF to stuff it and "You Can't Control Me". As a community, we need to realize that we need to follow leaders - not any leader, but those who have proven themselves - for our mutual benefit.
Additionally, I think it's worth spending a moment considering why the issues around the DMCA and similar legislation have recieved so little coverage in the popular media. I know it sounds paranoid, but since the deregulation of the communications industry, (we all know) conglomorates have been allowed to emerge which represent both the news media and content owners. I would not presume to make accusations that the popular news media has interests other than informing the public, but it's disappointing that we havnen't seen these issues addressed in the popular media. Their lack of coverage, leaves us with the responsibility of making others aware of Intellectual Property issues. IP is a complex subject, even explaining limited aspects of it in a comprehensive way is difficult, but we must begin focusing our efforts in this area as well.
--CTH
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
http://www.ftaa-alca.org/ftaadraft/eng/draft_e.doc
Sacred cows make the best burgers.
If you don't like the laws of the US then move elsewhere
Unfortunatly if the US has its way all other contries will enact the same laws (trade agreements). Hence the decisions that the US makes are important for everyone- there is no where to go that the US won't have an influence over in some manner or other. (if nothing else the influence will be a mammoth effort not to be influeced which is still and influence)
In the 19th century, small farmers and landless farmers were forced off their land and into the factories. Now, software patents and other IP nonsense is making it more and more difficult for independent programmers and small businesses. Since we can't afford enough lawyers to own the patents for the software we create, we will be left with less and less choices. And already we're working 10+ hours a day.
It's time we stood up for ourselves and starting looking out for our own interests. It's time we started fighting back where we have the most power -- in our workplaces. As individuals, we can't change much, but at all the Microsofts, Adobes, AOLs, and IBMs, there are thousands of programmers that keep these companies running, that create the "intellectual property" these corporations value so highly. If we join together, we can take back some of our power and turn things around.
Since /.'s new lameness filter is, well, lame, and won't let me just post this list of email addresses, I'll post a link instead.
Those of us in Canada should write concise, polite emails to these people, outlining your objections to the expansion of draconian copyright legislation to our country.
Make your voice heard, but do it in a civil way. Spam and mail bombs will not win people over to our side.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The DMCA is soooo silly.
Of course, we have to fight it and the EFF is right. Also, folks like Aimster are proving that the DMCA can just as effectively be used to defend piracy. They assume that the "software publishers" will necesarily be large corporations. Thankfully, subversives can also publish software and manipulate the BS that is the DMCA.
Of course, folks like RMS might argue that this is so they can then pass new legislation to stop subversives from publishing software, as he describes in The Right to Read. This is why it's still totally necesary to fight these restrictions to our rights. Still. The DMCA is sooooo silly.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
Hurray!! About time.
I heard there were aliens visiting DT .
EFF is a donor-supported organization that needs our help. They protect our fundamental rights regardless of technology; to educate the press, policymakers and the general public about civil liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a defender of those liberties. Consider making a tax-deductible donation to EFF. Don't assume someone else will. Take this opportunity to make a difference that really matters.
--- Fox
www.opensourcelobby.org
Open Source Lobby.org will try to do just that. Help out any way you can...
Meanwhile, the world turns foolishly on and ants tickle his butt.
And when the US invokes a trade treaty to "standardize" all nations to "share" the US laws regarding clean air/water, and consumption of that "public resource," administered by a US appointed monopoly, what then?
Will you simply leave the planet? Where will you get a permit to build your spacecraft? Where will you go? Or will you tell your grandchildren that they don't have to breaht the governments air and drink it's water?
It _is_ foreseeable that this WILL come to pass within the next hundred years. A 1 liter/16 oz bottle of water already costs more than a bottle of gasoline. Time is running out.
Anyone else have a problem with the use of the word Free in the name of their organization ?
I don't see any irony here. Perhaps we should
have them remove America from the name as well,
unless America is no longer the land of the Free...
Don't these people have anything better to do than to create offensively stupid laws and then insist on enforcing them?
However the other countries (who don't have such strong protections on Freedom of Speech, or Fair Use) are still stuck with the FTAA.
So Americans are no long affected - but not those in the countries foolish enough to sign the FTAA. And the American software wins big time.
This seems like a con-job to me. The question is - are the other countries dumb enough to fall for it?
Glad to know that your congressman has an intern that cares about the issues. Don't delude yourself that it will have reached the (wo?)man himself unless it comes in bulk, and from many constituents.
I've known senate interns, some of the more crackpot letters become forwarded emails.
There is a nerd running in the US. His name is Ralph Nader. And I don't know his views on DMCA, but he's been condemning Microsoft before it was popular, and he's spent 40 years as a consumer advocate, fighting the power of big corporations. If you really want to run for office, talk to the US Green party.
The Green Party - it's not just tree-hugging hippie crap, you know.
-- This post is about truth, beauty, freedom, and above all things, Karma
Beware of the man that calls another a zealot.
-- Another senseless waste of fine bytes.
I wasn't asked to vote for this, the only democratic element in the US is elections. Then you have your oligarchy-element (congress) and your monarch-element (president).
Fortunately, this isn't a goverment design problem as much as it is a soft-money, "government is the shadow cast by big business" type problem - which is true of all governments. We simply don't have enough protections or an acknowledged voice that let us seperate business from government.
You're right, the majority does rule but only in elections, err in theory. Almost forgot about Mr. Bush and company.
Opposition to the FTAA is hardly a new thing. Many will remember the recent Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, where the FTAA was a major issue. There, a throng of protesters, estimated between 25,000 and 35,000 in number clashed with 6,000 riot police over the agreement.
Trying to oppose something as big as the FTAA, however, can be less than a walk in the park. I was walking down a street in the Quebec City centre where a circle of demonstrators were sitting, making speeches and singing protest songs, just before they were hit by a volley of tear gas cannisters from riot police. Political repression ain't just an American phenomenon. America saw it in Seattle, but the rest of the free world is getting the benefit of the experience these days.
Just how serious expressing ones political opinion can get these days became obvious to me as I watched the rubber-coated bullets fire and the tear gas fly. A Canadian Member of Parliament, Svend Robinson, who attended the protest, was shot with a rubber bullet, himself.
For more info on where opposition to the FTAA began, see the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's report on police actions and main page on the summit.
What really matters is the ability of people who aren't caught up in the IP hysteria to publish and disseminate information. And that is what these laws really threaten. The reason is that if you must use devices and formats sanctioned and patented by a few large corporations to distribute and access content, your ability to publish is artificially controlled.
And that is what all of this is really about. Publishers and "content providers" had a nice, cushy world in which the high cost of entry for things like transmitters, spectrum, printing presses, tape replication, and CD/DVD authoring kept the small fry out of their market. Now that the cost of authoring and distribution has gone to nearly zero, these interests feel threatened, and they are trying to erect artificial barriers to entry.
As I've stated before, I believe the US has been becoming less free since 1933, when our first "king" came in to power (FDR) and single handedly removed all Constitutional restraint on the federal government. All in the name of "empowering government to do more FOR you".
ALL Constitutional restraint? So you're actually claiming no private citizen has won a court case against the US government on Constitutional grounds? That the protective powers of the Constitution aren't invoked every day?
so as to fund "bread and circuses" which both buys votes and keeps the majority cowed.
Then leave. The United States doesn't have anti-emigration laws, you're free to go.
See, now *that's* how you generate media coverage. Especially if there's a cigar involved.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Because of the censorship, they had to hide their messages, using creative images and fables. The people knew instinctively that these messages were important and they craved them.
Then Glasnost came about, and eventually the Iron Carpet came down. Suddenly the people were free. Starved of free speech, there was a short flurry of popular political activity, with large political meetings, marches and what not.
Then things settled down, and one day they woke up. All this new stuff they had been denied all these years was now available. What a disappointment it must have been to them to discover that although the political messages in the western press might be of a different color, most of the stuff was ads, tabloid reporting on celebrities, porn, worthless fiction, stupid game shows, and soap operas. We fought all these years to hear the message from the other side, and all they have to tell us is "Drink Coca Cola?"
If I was Russion, I'd drown myself in vodka, too.
And what has this to do with the DMCA? Just the fact that it will force U.S citizens to be vigilant (break the DMCA laws) in order to have their free speech. By being in opposition to the ruling regime (the megacorps), U.S citizens can enjoy the excitement of getting their free speech, in spite of the regime. Now it's worth something. Hard to come by free speech is valuable. Gratis free speech is worthless.
-- Another senseless waste of fine bytes.
It's probably time to look harder at taxing intellectual property, especially copyrights and trade secrets. (Patents are less of a problem. Patents are easy for taxation authorities to identify. But taxing a trade secret can be tough.)
Since copyrights cause governments to incur costs in their enforcement, they should be taxed to a level such that governments recover all the costs of enforcement.
I believe that their strategy is not divide and conquer--it is an "omnibus strategy." They negotiate agreements which are huge-- with all the countries signing, no government wants "to be left behind" so they will sign and the media companies will hijack the procedings to their own ends. Enough about them...
Our response is what is important. The response cannot be focused. The economic argument of the benefits of DMCA-like legislation will overwealm any argument the open source movement or consumers can put forward. Just as the BSA claims that every pirated byte of software would have been purchased, the media owners will claim that every shared or recorded DVD is one that is not purchased. The huge dollar sums thrown around means that our beliefs in the freedoms will not be able to compete as long as these numbers are believed.
Since civil disobediance is no longer legal on the 'net, for the same economic derived reasons as it is no longer legal to link to decss. We must find other ways to get our message across.
I am afraid that our legal rights to reverse-engineer protocols, sell used software/content, and record content will eventually be eroded.
I am at a loss however, for any effective means to counter these trends. Does the EFF have the means to fend off international agrements? Perhaps in the US. Not everywhere. Do the street protesters succeed in changing internationally negotiated policy? Certainly the window dressing changes--- Leaders state "we are meeting to help the poor nations!" But there is no major debt relief for poor nations. So what is a geek to do when media lawyers enter our realm? What legal avenues of attack or protest are there left that are even marginally effective?
Any original suggestions? I mean most geeks don't buy CD's anyways anymore. I sure won't buy any soon, but that won't affect Sony in a material way. I've sent a polite email to my country's representitives at WIPO but never even got a response. Many here could build a DDOS attack system based upon a worm which propagates often but sends only few RND source packets per instance and gets a nightly victim from freenet. Unstoppable, but illegal and it may not have the desired results, besides making our adversaries look like victims. (Albeit extremely wealthy monopolist victims.)
I do not know of an answer to this problem, other than to say "uncle."
-B.
The battle for control over the freedom of information and the right to use digital information with the same 'fair use' conventions as those of the analog versions is over. The corporations have already won, we havent even realised it yet.
We, slashdot readers, are the minority of people who actually care about such issues. The average person, the majority of the population, does not care and has been dumbed down by years of propaganda. Joe Blow doesnt have time to care about the rights he has for using and watching his DVD, he just wants to be able to see them. The corporations behind such digital control acts have done their work well. They have consistently portrayed all those opposing such works as pirates seeking to rip off honest companies. They have been working behind the scences, lobbying governments to put in place laws and structures restricting copyright. Indeed, earlier laws introduced by the USA, has merely 'softened up' the public for subsequent ones.
Any lobbying by the EFF or other freedom organisation will be portrayed in the media as the work of extremists and ignored as such. I have repeatedly written polite letters to members of parliment about important issues (I live in Australia, sigh) and I usually get a 'thank you for your interest' response.
Now, the EU is issuing a Directive to other Eurpoean states to pass laws similar to the DMCA, while not binding, you can bet that the states will be pressured to comply. With millions of consumers living under such laws, the rest of the world will a)be subject to the rule of those laws (Skarlov (sp?)case in point) b)be pressured by the companies to introduce similar laws.
Game Over!
Beware the man who tells you to beware the man who calls someone a zealot.
IANAL, nor do I play one on /., but, if memory serves correct, treaty's supercede the constitution. Believe it or not. I suspect this is why the powers that be are trying so hard to get DMCA recognized by treaty. Once that happens, we'll all screwed. If I'm wrong on this point, please correct me! Damn, I hope I am.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Yep,
Just leave it to work itself out...Just like people iun the US thought Hitler was good, you know he kind of kept those Communists at bay. Never mind the fact that he wanted a nice living area for his master race
Unfortuantly most large corps by their nature think bottom line all the time. A Prof. may well be very annoying, but you cannot martyr him, so how about a pesky Russian? Oh yeah, thats ideal. His Government needs cash, so we can ignore it. Oh yeah the mainstream media will not touch this.
If you are an idealist maybe you need this:
http://www.despair.com/pessimistmug.html
A few doses of that and you're going to be back on track my friend.
StarTux
So what we get is the dictatorship of the majority.
Look, it's not as though jubilant throngs are filling the streets, demanding anti-circumvention laws. What's going on here is that most people are either unaware or indifferent, and there is a power vacuum -- where there is no popular interest, vested interests have full sway. The solution to this is not griping about democracy, but rather taking action to make your opinion known, and to educate others.
The technology community (i.e. us) shares a lot of blame for the DMCA's passage. Discussion of technology issues in legislatures, courts, and media is confused and uninformed. And here we are, the people with the information that would inform this debate, and what do we do? Do we work to spread the word? Do we lobby our representatives? Do we provide simple, clear, explanations of the issues to the public? Do we work to communicate with non-technology people of all kinds, on their own terms, finding ways of educating and informing instead of simply looking down on their ignorance?
Well, the EFF does some of this. Yay for them!
But most of us just sit on our asses and tap away little flames about political philosophy for other members of our little geek ghetto to read. Great.
This is not a tyranny of the majority; it's a tyranny of those who are capable of taking effective action over those who aren't. And whose fault is that?
nothing the "Redmond Washington-based software giant" does is good for anyone!
This wasn't good for anyone? Just thought it was worth pointing out...
We already have the basis for an organization(s). They're called LUGS.
I know I haven't been to a meeting in about 6 months but I'm going to start making time again, and I'm going to bring this up.
The thing is, without an organized assault we can't win anything. If all of us who are reading slashdot start supporting our local LUGS by actually showing up to meetings and once in a while actually bringing donuts we could really do something. This might go as far as a political party.
If you think forming a political party is too strong/over-reacting then think a bit more. This is political. It's much more than just the DMCA etc. It's about individuals and small businesses being forever "locked out". It's about once again leveling the playing field so that to make tons of money you actually have to have some original ideas and be willing to sweat a little.
There are some "third parties" out there, but they seem to be blinded by the sparks flying off the grinding wheel. Imagine a political party formed of people who actually think. People who solve problems for a living. That's what we need now. If you don't do something now, you're children and grandchildren will suffer for you'r inaction.
I think the quote (anyone know the rest of it?) goes something like "...your children will be born penniless slaves on the continent they're grandfathers conquered". - Thomas Jefferson
Samsung took back my unlocked bootloader because Google wants me to rent movies. They're both evil.
Your opinion shows just how good the right wing propaganda machine is (especially in the US). They would like everyone to believe as you do, when it is much more likely that the DMCA and similar laws were fueled with the money of the distributors and publishers. These laws tend to favour (Canadian, eh?) a small elite rather than just any old individual.
Complexity Happens
It took the communists and capitalists to crush fascism in WW2. What is so bad about working with anarchists and socialists and whoever else wants to come along for the ride? If the result is a more free and just society I am willing to work with people who do not share my political philsophy. If anything it is BETTER to work with people of different philosphies, it leads to good debate and developes new ideas.
The corporations own the politicians.
We still pay for the government (in all the ways that may apply.)
mefus
In Open Society, GPL Software frees YOU!
"History shows that most republics don't last more than 30 generations, the United States being in fact, the LONGEST lasting one."
Most of your points are cogent, but I have to take issue with you on this one. Just to give one example, Iceland has been a parliamentary republic since it was settled back in the 900s.
I mean, dude, were you smoking crack during your entire educational career? If anything, his interventionist policies and the nature of the structures he put in place would label him as more of a socialist. A "king"? Hardly. Just extremely popular, enough to win four consecutive elections. Last I checked, kings aren't elected.
;-)
50% of your income? That's a suspiciously round number. Round numbers are usually that way because they came out of someone's ass.
Typical libertarian/conservative bleating about the bad old government peeking into their lives and siphoning money from their pockets. Wake up and smell the representative democracy! The US government is astonishingly open and non-intrusive compared even to other Western democracies (c.f. surveillance in the UK, police powers in the UK such as not having the right to remain silent, encryption laws in France, etc.). WRT taxes, would you like to personally pay for your own mirror of the public goods and services you use, if it would mean paying no taxes? Have fun affording an army/navy/air force to protect you, or police and firemen and EMTs to save you, or several teachers for your kids, or a set of roads for you to drive on, or regulatory people to check the quality of the water you drink, the food you eat, or the meds you take. You get a lot for what you pay, if you'd bother to enumerate it rather than whinge about the cost. I'm proud to pay my taxes, because it means I am contributing to the welfare of my fellow citizens as well as my own via supporting society as a whole.
Now, of course our society is far from perfect, and we have PLENTY of really, really fucking retarded laws. But I blame the corps for that, and all the other special interests that have warped our democratic processes with ca$h. The only way to fix these imbalances is to get involved with the system, or as was said (by whom I forget, politico from the early 20th iirc) "The only cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy."
Yeah, I know this is only tangently related to the main topic, but I couldn't bear to see tripe like that get modded up without a response. Mod me down, mod me up, I care not because a) it's only karma, and b) I've got way more than enough karma to not worry about it
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
> So what we get is the dictatorship of the majority
Theoretically you live in a democratic republic.
The republic-part should prevent exactly this.
A republic exists to grant the maximum protection
of the rights of individuals. Even if they belong
to a minority.
How ironic.
In the beginning Freedom first arose amongst the Greeks, but she was not fully fledged and was young and naive. She eventually left the minds of Humankind until she gently entered the minds of some Knights in 1215, who then put the seeds of Democracy into written Law at Runnymede. However, she was not content with this and yearned for a place and a time when Humankind would be of Free thought and Will.
Eventually, some bright scientific minds working in a large English colony on an Eastern Coast of a large land mass started to think up great and wonderful ideals, likes of which She had only ever dreamed of! Events took their stride and a land based upon the greatest of human Ideals became a reality: Thus the United States of America came into existence:
With it she bought these values unto the Land:
Freedom
Justice
And the Free Pursuit of Happiness
She thought her job was done and so went off to Europe, where her work was even more hard. But after almost two hundred years she thought her job was done. Little did She know, for one so Old, that her job is never done. A new threat emerged after the great battle of the years 1939-1945 and the Cold War years of 1945-1991. Little did she know that what was made to protect the small person in his pursuit of Happiness would turn into something so perverted that it would threaten his very rightful right to Happiness and reward. And it came through a system She thought would suit the Freedom of the individual from exploitation; The Law. The DMCA as it became known, was bought forth by a Monopoly of studio's to help keep them in their lofty position, free to carve up the World into regions to maximise profit.
She is always an eternal optimist and has to rely on others to know the Rules of Tyranny:
"Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
- Frederick Douglass, civil rights activist, Aug. 4, 1857
Any power that can be abused will be abused.
- Tyranny Law #1
Abuse always expands to fill the limits of resistance to it.
- Tyranny Law #2
If people don't resist the abuses to others, they will have no one to resist the abuses to themselves, and tyranny will prevail.
- Tyranny Law #3"
Are we to enter a new Dark Age?
These are Churchill's words during the Battle of Britain:
"if we can stand up to him [Hitler] all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age..."
This new Dark Age maybe thus:
" if we can stand up to them [DMCA et al] all the World may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age..."
Protracted and extended by Ignorance of the populace, they will work their lives, but something will be missing. Real Freedom, of expression and of Thought. These were now being patented and protected through Software patents, how long till they patented expressions and thoughts? Or is this already so?
Yet there is a Glimmer of hope, a hope small but visible. In small houses and apartments around the Western around people, men and women are worrying and thinking of things to do. Knowledge is there to be shared, to help Humankind ascend the mountain of Higher Being.
StarTux
Kind of like ms passport with future nano-technology Without a monthly feee to microsoft you can not go shopping can not use the atm, etc. And to use passport you need to sign a draconian EULA claiming Bill Gates lord.
hehe
Anyway here is what the phrase in the book of Revelation 13 means. " ..he that had the mark, or the name of the best, or the number of his name." .(slightly offtopic)
The number of his name refered to in the passage is 666. In ancient times numerology was huge and the early christians/Jews used the number 6 meaning man, and the number 7 meaning hevenly or godly. 7 was used alot for things like Jesus, god, and the holy spirit. 777 is the trinity in other words. 666 = man, man, man, meaning a false trinity. Their will be Satan as god, the anti-christ as his son, and an evil spirit to brainwash his followers. I don't think this is hollywood so don't worry but hollywood does represents greed, pride, selfshiness, sex, voilence, lust any sin representing man, etc. What is really scary is the part on the mark which may apply soon. The hand and head are great heatsources of power to provide nano-technology so expect embed nano-chips to be inside. Under the dmca and now this new upcoming trade law, the anti-christ can prosecute those who disable them or find out how they work in order to buy food. A sig of the end times is when society will become greedy and worship their creations (technology), and their achievements and I love this qoute "..there has never been a time like this.." being applied to the time when the anti-christ comes. Now can you name any other time where the world had great wealth, technology, communications, medicine, pride, etc ? Hmmm Anyway back to bashing the DMCA....
http://saveie6.com/
It is sad that such laws/treaties/whathaveyou will be passed, AND they will.
I don't believe they are just and as a US citizen no less should be expected of me than to disobey unjust laws. Cheers to the EFF, but this isn't really about the US's people (although it could be).
This is about the US justifying its actions to maintain its position at the top of the food chain at other country's expenses the way it always has. But remember the US is still a young country, filled with lots of people who believe and would die for the consitutional rights that those smart men establish. Some of them where criminals in such the same way the DCMA makes you and I a criminal.
...is that ip rights many times is a good thing.
Right now there is a horrible abuse of patents but overall they are a good thing. Patent is what makes the little man like you and me able to protect ourself against big-corp who otherwise can use their strong trademarks to sell our stuff and dominate the world entierly.
Welcome to doublethink America, where because liberty has a price of eternal vigilance, it can no longer be regarded as free.
Exigo spamos et dona ferentes
So how about a virus/worm/annoying-thingy that can't be removed/shutdown without violating the DMCA?
Would that be possible at all?
"History shows that most republics don't last more than 30 generations, the United States being in fact, the LONGEST lasting one."
Moron. 30 generations is about 900 years. The US is about 7-8 generations (225 years) old. Your claim is internally inconsistent.
It's not really about which OS is better in a technical sense.
At my company we are moving to Linux because the aims of the Linux OS coincide with our needs better than Windows.
I'll explain: Linux has the aim of making a decent, stable, free OS, this is a primary aim. Microsoft OTOH has the aim of extracting as much money from their customers as they can, this is their primary aim. They try to achieve this through making a OS that will satisfy customers to an extent but they have millions of tricks that make their customers pay and they are not afraid of abusing their dominant position either.
Beware of the man who tells you to be beware of the man who tells you to beware the man who calls someone a zealot.
At least a garage band can burn a CD if they want to. How hard is it for a unlicensed movie house to burn a DVD that will play in the average player? With all the "Copy Protection" crap they're trying to jam down our throats, I'm sure it's just a matter of time before a garage band finds it similarly difficult to make a CD. And the RIAA's been going after anyone with an MP3 on their web page, whether it's actually infringing on a copyright or not. So your garage band could get its web page shut down for posting their MP3s on the web, because their ISP will shit itself and shut them down immediately as soon as they get that E-Mail from the RIAA lawyers. I've heard of several instances of this happening thus far; I'm surprised civil rights suits havn't been filed against the RIAA and the offending ISP...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
So that would mean Mickey Mouse would "expire" in 2042, not in 2004.
yeah, exactly...
.docs on freedom too
I'm a bit suspicious of ms-word
I'm sorry but I read part of the draft (yeah I know it's .doc) and these things appear halfway sensible, decide for yourself:
[5. The following are not subject to copyright:
a) ideas, regulatory procedures, methods, systems, mathematical designs or concepts per se;
b) outlines, plans or rules for conducting mental processes, games or business,
c) blank forms to be completed with any type of information, scientific or otherwise, and instructions thereon;
d) texts of treaties or conventions, laws, decrees, regulations, judicial decisions, and other official records;
e) information for everyday use such as calendars, diaries, official land registers, or diaries, and keys;
f) individual names and title;
g) industrial or commercial exploitation of the ideas in the work]
Also note that in the chapter on copyright there is no mention of the DMCA, there is no mention of circumvention of encrypted data other than laws against making and selling devices for decrypting sattelite tv signals. Can someone point me to the offensive passages in the draft so I can see for myself what all the hype is about ?
This has got to be it...
Article XX. [Obligations concerning technological measures]
[Parties shall provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against the circumvention of effective technological measures that are used by performers, producers of phonograms, or broadcasting organizations in connection with the exercise of their rights under this Agreement or the Berne Convention and that restrict acts, in respect of their performances or phonograms, which are not authorized by the performers or the producers of phonograms concerned or permitted by law. ]
[ In order to provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against the circumvention of effective technological measures that are used by authors, by performers, by producers of phonograms and their successors in interest in connection with the exercise of their rights and that restrict unauthorized acts in respect of their works, performances and phonograms, each Party shall provide that any person who
a) knowingly, or having reasonable grounds to know, circumvents without authority any effective technological measure; or
b) manufactures, imports, distributes, offers to the public, provides or otherwise traffics in devices, products or components or offers to the public or provides services, which:
i) are promoted, advertised or marketed for the purpose of circumvention of any effective technological measure, or
ii) have only a limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent any effective technological measure, or
iii) are primarily designed, produced, adapted or performed for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of any effective technological measure;
shall be guilty of an offense, and shall be liable, upon the suit of any injured party, to relief by way of damages, injunction, accounts or otherwise.
c) 'effective technological measure' means any technology, device or component that, in the normal course of its operation, controls access to a protected work, performance, phonogram, or other subject matter, or protects any copyright or any rights related to copyright.
d) The prohibition referred to in Article 10.8(b) prohibits circumvention of technological measures and does not require an affirmative response to such measures. This Article does not require that the design of, or the design and selection of parts and components for, a consumer electronics, telecommunications or computing product provide for a response to any particular technological measure. This does not provide a defense to a claim of violation of Article 10.8(b).
e) Each Party shall provide that a violation of the law implementing the provisions of this Article is independent of any infringement that might occur under the Party's law on copyright and related rights.]
Switzerland has been a republic since the 1200s, some 500 years before the USA was founded.
And 30 generations would be like 600 years, whilst the USA has only been existance for roughly 1/3rd of that. So how could they be the longest lasting republic?
No way, after the war America launched a very Hitler-like persecution of the communists (under the iron fist of McCartney), costing dozens of lives. And they built the Iron Curtain to block off the liberated countries in Eastern Europe because they were afraid that they would "poison the minds of the western peoples".
And now this corporate crusade against the little people. Lets face it America = like Hitler!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You're preaching to the choir here. The thing to recognize is this argument won't be won by geeks. It'll be won by lawyers, lobyists and political action committees. Such is the state of politics in this country today.
You suggest that there are no avenues left, well I maintain that the constifutional argument is still winable in the United States, but what of other countries here such strictly defined rights language doesn't exist (not to say those rights don't exist, but just that they don't make up the basis for government in other countries, nessecerily)? This is a big problem. In the United States over-reaching laws can be enacted because we are confident in the carved-in-stone nature of the rights afforded to us in the constitution will counter-balance and eventually win out over any ill advised legislation. In other countries this protection may exist is a somewhat weaker form, or not at all. This is extremely disturbing not because those rights may not be so vigorously protected, but because those countries look to the United States for models of legislation and will probably (in this case anyway) follow closely in the footsteps of the US legislation, which without having been fully constitutionally tested - when introduced to countries without such vigorously enforced rights language - creates the risk of becoming a trap door (read: function). A step from which we may not be able to recover. At that stage, the DMCA may be ruled unconstitutional in the US, but in these other countries, there will be lesser or no grounds to repeal the laws enacted under the WIPO and FTAA treaties.
As for what we can do, well, as I said, this battle will be fought and won by lawyers and lobyists, not by us. For that reason, we need to turn it over to lawyers and lobyists (however distasteful that may initially sound) and follow their recommendations with respect to our responses to developments in these issues. With respect to supporting your local LUGs, this is admirable, but your money would be beter spent supporting organizations such as the EFF. I've commented before on their unfortunately poor fund-raising mechanism. While it's admirable that they spent most of their time fighting our battles in the arenas not open to all of us (court rooms, state capitals, and Washington), it is to their detrement that they don't spend more time and effort fund-raising. I maintain they could learn a thing or two from the NRA in that regard, but in the meantime, we need to support the EFF and others who have stepped up to the plate to fight our battles for us.
--CTH
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
Maybe if we got a well known consumer advocate (like Ralph Nader) to lead the cause of consumers.
How could we go about declaring September 2001 the "Buy-no-DVDs-month"? If you need entertainment go to the library and borrow a book.
...richie - It is a good day to code.
And this reneging on freedoms shows that the USA is becoming an old bloated empire who shoves around everyone who doesn't adhere to his every whim.
Now I see why you post like this... And you think you can do much better?
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
Comments, to be received by the FTAA organization by August 20, should be submitted to:
Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee
Attn: FTAA Draft Text Release
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
1724 F. St., NW, Fifth Floor
Washington DC 20508 USA
Non-US writers should also send a copy to their own country's intellectual property government officials; list available at:
http://www.sice.oas.org/int_prop/ip_dir.asp
Sample Letter:
This is just an example. It will be most effective if you send something similar but in your own words.
Dear Ms. Blue, Trade Policy Staff Committee, and Negotiating Group on Intellectual Property Rights:
I write to express my grave concern regarding the draft FTAA treaty's extreme intellectual property provisions.
These measures, based on the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) give far too much power to publishers, at the expense of indivdiuals' rights. The DMCA itself is already under legal challenge in the US, has gravely chilled scientists' and computer security researchers' freedom of expression around the world for fear of being prosecuted in the US, and resulted in the arrest of a Russian programmer. The FTAA provisions, which serve no one but American corporate copyright interests, are even more over-reaching than those of the DMCA.
These provisions would require signatory nations to pass new DMCA-style laws that ban, with few or no exceptions, software and other tools that allow copy prevention technologies to be bypassed. This would violate the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech under the First Amendment, and similar guarantees in other national constitutions and laws and in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, since such tools are necessary to exercise lawful uses, including fair use, reverse engineering, computer security research and many others.
I urge you to remove these controversial and anti-freedom provisions from the FTAA treaty language. The DMCA is already an international debacle. Its flaws - and worse - should not be exported and forced on other countries.
Sincerely,
[Your full name]
[Your address]
Non-US writers should mention their own country's constitution and/or laws protecting freedom of expression, of coruse.
Copies may also be sent by e-mail to some key people in the FTAA process:
kalvarez@ustr.gov (Kira Alvarez - Intellectual Property)
walter_bastian@ita.doc.gov (Walter Bastian - E-Commerce)
Non-US contacts available at:
http://www.ftaa-alca.org/contacts/contpts.asp\
No excuses! If you've got time to sit around responding to slashdot posts all day you've got time to write a letter defending your freedom.
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
DON'T FEEL POWERLESS. Look at the hundreds here who care enough to say a word or two in protest here. Go to the link. Copy the address and sample letter. Spend fifteen minutes of your day, just fifteen minutes, adding your personal touch to the letter. Print it, stamp it, spend it. If you can't spare 20 minutes of your time saying this isn't right, then yes, our situation is hopeless. (I'm not assuming this is the case with you, Gnome, but so many let feelings of powerlessness stop them from taking action that could make a difference).
Copy the link. E-mail it to your friends. Keep the word going. If we don't draw a line in the sand no one will.
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
That was a publicity stunt. Can I quote something for you? I knew I could. "Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching." I've tried to find the source, but everyone claims they said it first . . .
The point is, Bill Gates went out of his way to make sure people knew he was a big fuckin' philanthropist. That's because his public image is that of a slimy toad. He is doing this to repair his public image. Yeah, it's a great thing for him to have done. But it was probably carefully coached out of him by a professionally hired PR expert upon whom he has spent 10 times what he "donated."
I wonder how this will pass the Senate. I mean for the treaty to be ratify, is a Senator relay going to give up the dipolmatic immunity that easily. I mean, I can claim you have violated IP rights and arrest you on the spot. I could have read it wrong, but it doesn't seem like anyone reading this would want to sign this into international law.
Canada has about 10% of the population of the US. Still, you say, that means we should have 90 MRI machines, and 78 open-heart surgery centres to bring us up to US "standards". Guess what?
Canadians actually have ACCESS to these resources! If I live in the US, it doesn't matter if there are 100 MRI machines in my city, because unless I am quite wealthy or have medical insurance I most likely can't afford the procedure! And if I do have insurance, HMO's have a history of denying "non-essential" diagnostic procedures or demanding the procedure be done at a certain location anyway.
In Canada, MRI, or open-heart surgery, or a liver transplant, or arthroscopic knee surgery is FREE! Yes, folks, "free as in beer"! NO CHARGE TO YOU SIR, YOU'RE A CANADIAN! The question Americans should be asking is: if 50% of their healthcare is paid for by the government (ie. their taxes), WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE NOT HAVE ACCESS? Think about that one for a while.
Freedom: "I won't!"
Protests, a manifesto (citizen's rights in the IP age.. reasonable copyrights (ie. it expires in 10 years).. and a whole slew of other things.
There's a huge difference between citizen's rights and quick-expiring copyrights, which effectively harm citizen's rights more than you'd believe.
What we need to do is go back to the original drafting of the intellectual property laws and see why the same founding fathers who planned one of the more perfect Unions of the day, also could come up with a plan for consumers and producers to have balanced rights.
Expiring rights in ten years is absurd. People live long lives today. What will ending the copyright on a novel in ten years do? People would stop worrying about buying a book, except die hard fans, because in ten years they'll be able to find it for free on a website or be able to pay $1 to get a loose-bound copy from a clearinghouse.
Patents? Trademarks? Copyrights? These things need protection. Some Slashdot readers feel that the only protection these put up are against consumers, and they aren't. These prevent the creators from having to compete against themselves in the open market.
You expire copyrights, patents and trademarks too early in their respective marketplaces, and suddenly all your research and hard work is scooped up by a competitor who did no research and no work, and can now compete on the same level as you. What do you think this will do with the economy and future production of creative efforts?
Now, before you jump all over this post, I'm against business models, software patents and anything which takes something already in use and adds "online" or "electronically" and makes it a new patent. By the time such methods are even in use and the patents granted, the technology's either out of date or they've already established a new technology or method underway. It's sad that this was allowed without much thought.
But it's just as sad that I read more and more users saying that copyrights and patents restrict consumers, when they don't. What does are stupid laws and extensions to these laws that lawmakers *we* put into office draft, discuss, pass and sign into law. It's not the deep pockets of the corporations so much as that we're the people putting those corporation-helpers into office to do their work.
Grab copies of all laws you don't like, find out who voted for it, who abstained, and who voted against it, if it was recorded. Write to those people, get word out, and let people know what kinds of priorities the people they elect into office have. Are they looking after the voters' best interests when in office, or just the people who will help donate to their campaign funds to get reelected, only to perform more favors?
And above all, if you can legally do so, run for office yourself, or help out at an election committee for a politician you do believe in. There are so many things you can do to help change the way we've altered the original ideals of the Founding Fathers, but saying an almost complete abolition of their ideas is a leap in the wrong direction.
The change for the better must be slow or it will be destructive in one form or another. Corporations have pushed for the DMCA, among others, slowly, we'll have to do the same to get them repealed.
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
Imagine the possibilities if all of the nation's programmers, sysadmins and technicians said "The hell with you," and went on strike. How long can servers run themselves?
I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that the country would be paralyzed. Banks and stock/commodity exchanges wouldn't be able to process transactions. Air travel would come to a halt with SABRE and the air traffic control systems out of service. The phone network would fall down and cry. These are just a few arbitrary examples; the entire economy of the U.S. depends now on high technology.
Being a hacker is political now more than ever, as computers have become ever more important to the modern world. It's time for us to realize that united together, we can wield a huge amount of power. I just hope that we use it wisely.
National Alliance Recent Broadcasts
Mexican copyright law was approved in 1996 has very specific entries like:
"
104. The copyright holder of a computing program has the right to authorize or forbid...
V. Decompile, reverse engineering a computer program, or disassembly."
112. Its forbiden to import, fabricate, distribute and use devices or services destinated to circumvent technical protections of computer programs, electromagnetic spectrum transmissions, telecommunication networks and programs of electronic devices as stated in the previous article" (Previous article is about 'Electronic programs that contain visual, sound, 3D or animation elements')
"
Thats sounds pretty much like DMCA. It seems that most media companies experimented first South of the border before lobbyig US Congress.
I just found out about this now. EFF says the deadline is the 20th, and tomorrow is, what the 21st?
How am I to get a letter on this important issue to DC in the time required?
/., this is stuff that matters, get it to us in a timely fashion so we can act on it!
The US Constitution describes a system whereby written law is the arbiter of most disputes, with human judgement filling in the blanks. That's the system I want to live in. I shouldn't be allowed to use force to stop you from practicing your religion or watching your pr0n, and I shouldn't be able to elect somebody ELSE to do the same thing.
grep -ri 'should work'
what do they want to limit the distribution of? the very 'entertainment' that consolidates their power base. useful triage here: separate out the regulations that end up strangling the interests of the regulators (remember the soviet union's demise?) from the regulations that would actually prevent the arising of independent, alternative, subversive media. do anything to prevent the latter regulations, and as for the first, let them stew in their own juices....
meanwhile, concentrate on creating the music, video, literature that's truly outside and free (tho not necessarily beyond renumeration). all we have to do for the rest of the culture is what free software is already doing to its cyber core: while it rots from without, replace it piece-by-piece with a solid and economically-undeniable alternative from within the live center of things, which is the creative ability of individuals.
some day soon maggie will wake up to discover she doesn't own the farm anymore.
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
This sort of abridgment of freedom and individual liberties has become the hallmark of modern trade agreements. Corporations making big campaign contributions have taken control of the process, and have pushed the US Trade Representative to introduce all sorts of undemocratic and unethical provisions to trade agreements in secret negotiating sessions totally closed to public scrutiny or accountability. This is why there have been massive protests in Seattle, Quebec, and so many other places around the world.
The DMCA provisions are just one of the latest dirty little provisions added into these things. They also have provisions to gut environmental and safety standards, undermine workers rights, and prevent people from having a say over what goes into their food. US clean air laws and endangered species laws have already been overturned by international trade agreements, and now Mexico and the Bush administration are going after tractor trailer safety standards. If that doesn't seem crazy enough, consider this: the state of California is being sued under NAFTA for $900 million by a Canadian company for banning a cancer causing gasoline additive that was getting into their drinking water. Under NAFTA, as with most trade agreements, the case will be settled by a faceless dispute resolution body in a foreign country that has no accountability to the public, and conducts its operations in secret.
There is one big thing we can do right now. George W. Bush is trying to push legislation through Congress to give him the power to negotiate these agreements without any input or review from the Congress. Fast Track negotiating authority lets the president negotiate the FTAA and other trade agreements in secret, and then send it to Congress, which has 60 days to vote it up or down with no ammendmnets. 60 days is a very short period of time to sift through the details of thousands of pages of a trade agreement. The Congress has 100 legislative days (which translates into 4 or 5 months) to review executive orders that are generally much shorter and less complicated than trade agreements. Fast track is just plain wrong.
This is going to be a tight vote that will be won or lost in the House of Representatives, so any and all calls and letters to your Congressperson make a difference. You can look up who your congress person is at http://www.house.gov/writerep/
You can find more info on fast track at the followign sites:
My brother recently sent her this letter.
Please read it and consider sending similar letters.
***
August 17, 2001
Gloria Blue
Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
1724 F. St., NW, Fifth Floor
Washington, DC 20508
Dear Gloria,
I would like to take a few moments of your day to express to you some opinions my colleagues and I share regarding the intellectual property provisions contained within the draft FTAA agreement. I am writing you today as a concerned citizen of the United States and an entrepreneur, computer scientist, innovator, and engineer.
I have been working with computers for the last seventeen years of my life. I have performed for-hire and contract innovation and consulting for numerous companies, including Casio Research, myplay, Scout Electromedia, atWeb (now part of AOL), Warner Music, HearMe/MPlayer, and most recently Legato Systems. I have assisted research at Harvard's Physics Labs in antimatter recombination simulations, MIT's Lincoln Laboratories in pattern recognition, and Stanford's Graphics Labs with optimization of 3D mesh alignment algorithms. I have been interviewed as a technical expert and quoted in the New York Times, Fortune, Forbes Digital, Wired, USA Today, the LA Times, C|Net, and others. I have spoken at and moderated panels at several technology-oriented conferences. I have written articles for the international technology press and analyses for paid-for limited distribution. I have several patents pending.
I mention these things to you so that you can see that the grounding for my views on intellectual property is as someone who has made their income for the last decade solely on the production of intellectual property. I am, in short, a knowledge worker.
The measures in the FTAA agreement restricting the reverse engineering of software binds the hands of consumers and knowledge workers in unacceptable ways. We have already seen the United States ridiculed for its perversely stifling measures in the DMCA, specifically those dealing with anti-circumvention. As I was a DEFCON 9 attendee, Dmitri Sklyarov's arrest was all the more immediate and cutting; it made me embarrassed to be an American among my international peers. In a land that boasts of its freedoms, the irony of being unable to speak or publish has not been missed: not on Skylarov nor Edward Felten nor Eric Corley.
One hearing at Stanford that I attended, held by the US Copyright Office, left a deep impression upon me. Librarians explained to Marybeth Peters, the Registrar of Copyrights, that without circumvention, it was unclear how they would preserve eBooks and other similar publisher-controlled formats for the reading pleasure of future generations. After the hearing I was talking to Sony's general counsel about the case. "You know what," he said to me conspiratorially, "this is all just about people wanting stuff for free."
The problem is that this goes much beyond a simple line of "should intellectual property be free or be paid for?" It's clear that intellectual property needs compensation; otherwise I would not be able to earn a living! What publishers want to do, however, is not merely charge for the copying of material (for which they have a copyright and hence a justifiable right), but to control fully the use of their work. There exists no such thing as a "use-right" that a company can purchase in the physical world: to demand that only males can read such and such a book and only on alternate Tuesdays while drinking Orange Fanta. It would be preposterous and outrageous.
But to use the FTAA agreement to force member nations to ratify a bill that would prevent circumvention of arbitrary protection schemes is to hand companies such a right. Because, given the above, it would be illegal to modify the equivalent digital content to enable it to play on Wednesdays as well, even if you had fully purchased a copy. The rights of consumers would rest in the hands of the publishers, who have very little interest in maintaining consumer rights.
In my personal opinion, this quandary results because we have made consumer rights a declarative right and not an assertive right; no person is allowed to take away your rights directly, but if a piece of software does it, and a person directs the software, and you are not permitted to countermand the software, then it is as good as if a person had directly taken away your rights. Consumers have no direct legal ground upon which to say "you are not permitted to take away my right to read books that I've bought buy where and when I'd like, listen to music the same, and watch movies the same!" But they do have this as an ethical right; for what reason was copyright assigned but to make sure that works were spread and freely consumed since a profit could be assured for the publisher from their sale? For what reason were patents established, but to enable the sharing of ideas, no longer afraid that others would steal and profit from them? But these concepts are being infringed upon most directly.
A coworker of mine today spontaneously recounted his frustrations at traveling to Europe on business with a portable DVD player and being unable to view any purchased or even rented DVDs there, even ones unavailable in the US, because of region encoding differences. He declared his desire to circumvent the region encoding protections, not for the purpose of making even a single copy of a DVD, but simply so that the DVD he had purchased would be capable of playing on a player that he had purchased! This is a right that the movie industry has already taken away from all people.
I am a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which seeks to repeal (and indeed prevent future passage of) such laws as the DMCA. While making my living from the sale of intellectual property, I do not seek to control its usage; nor do I believe that any knowledge worker has the right to control how their work is used -- only how it is copied.
I was asked recently by Wired News if I really meant the above; namely, would I not object if the government of China were to use Rage Against the Machine (RATM) to promote communism -- should not RATM be able to veto such usage? To which I replied that RATM had no such right and neither should the Chinese government have the power to prevent RATM from using Chinese symbols (flags, etc.) to promote RATM's music. The street runs both ways and should. Free speech, allowing the publicly accusing and the publicly accused to both be heard, works on a similar flavor of justice.
To forget this and forgo the distinctions between copyright and usage rights is to produce an Orwellian future for the citizens of the world, and furthermore to stifle academic research, knowledge sharing, and the roots of intellectual inquiry that led us to our current prosperity, even in "recession."
I hope, pray, and trust that you and your office will see to it that the corresponding portions of the FTAA agreement are removed, to give citizens justice and justice her due.
Respectfully Submitted,
David Emmanuel Weekly
cc: Kira Alvarez, Walter Bastian
***
La via sola al paradiso incommincia nel inferno
Vanguard News Network
I'll throw mine in the harbor if you throw yours.
sooner or later there will be a WAR regarding this, privacy (db nation), and DNA/Cloning (again db nation). I wanna be on the right side, win or lose. We might as well start now. Unfortunately it seems it will be the people against the corporations, and the government will have to take sides. hmm.I've never seen a revolution against a corporation. people revolt against government. governments fight with
other governments, but I've never seen a case like this, where the people of the world are (will be) revolting against the governments of the world (probably a united set of governments) and a handful of corporations all situated in America and Japan (and one or two in Europe).
It's really sad that our government is for the corparations, and against the people. Oh well. they'll learn soon enough.
Funny, Now the only difference between America's Government and Russia's is that Russia's is openly purchaseable and ours is secretively purchaseable. How sad. F-My Governement. F-AOL. F-MS. F-Sony. F-Merck. F-AOL again. and F-USA.
what is needed is that which is in the same spirit as the GPL. That which will provide for and insure freedom of choice and right to life for open ideas.
Any Takers?
One thing history has proven time and time again is that nothing lasts forever. The DMCA will not last forever. The U.S., the European Union, Smurfs, none of these will last forever. There is a growing trend toward the limitations of personal freedoms, but I do not believe the human spirit can be so easily caged - time will expose the evils of acts like the DMCA and the current state of intellectual property laws. They and the regimes that cling to them will ultimately go the way of the Romans, the Nazis, and communism.
Who will come riding to our rescue like Luke Skywalker on a Bantha? Probably the third world. With globalization (it's inevitable) the third world is going to only get more militant and more anti-western considering the disadvantages placed upon them by the current international treaties concerning patents and copyrights - they have the most to lose because their ability to progress is being severely hampered by the inability to use the technologies they need due to licensing costs, patents, etc. etc. Look at the South Africa's recent response to pharmaceutical patents relating to AIDs drugs! The same is going to happen with information technology and given the third world's population and untapped resources, the west will be powerless to stop them. We will have to relax the laws to accomodate them or be ground into the dust. Personally, I look forward to that day. The future leaders won't the EU or the U.S. - Don't be surprised if its countries like South Africa, India, Iran, or China where the current state of affairs is not in their best interests.
Just another example of the TRIPS side of so-called "free trade" (note that IP policies are specifically designed as artificial restrictions on trade): in response to US complaints lodged with the World Trade Organization, Denamrk has changed their search-and-seizure law to make it easier to go after copyright violators. Summary available at cluebot.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Hehe. It's always a source of wonder for me to realize how brainwashed and ignorant good American patriots can be.
Patriots of each and every country on the planet are "brainwashed and ignorant" else they would not be putting their national "identity" above common sense, the common man, and the common good. And the French share one striking characteristic with their American cousins: an overdeveloped sense of national identity.
FYI, this whole hysteria about encryption laws in France is only due to the fact that France was 8 or 10 months late compared to the US in liberalizing its encryption rules.
Uh, no (but thank you for playing). Until the French anti-encryption laws were repealed it was illegal for anyone to use any encryption of any kind within the borders of France unless one first gave a copy of their secret key to the French government. This was far more intrustive than the anti-encryption legislation of the United States, which never said anything about domestic use of encryption (in other words, Americans were and are free to use encryption as strong as they like), but rather restricted the export of encryption technologies to other countries (like, say, France). These export restrictions were unbelievably stupid and foolish (nearly all of the encryption expertise and business went overseas as a result, and even years later the American encryption industry still hasn't recovered from that debacle), but they in no way came even remotely close to being as big brotherish as the encryption restriction in France were against their people.
The USA has a number of problems which Europe does not, the DMCA being a glaring example. But Europe also has some serious drawbacks the United States doesn't (yet) have, including some of those mentioned in the previous post. It would behoove us all to recognize the weaknesses of both ourselves and others in protecting our liberties, as you can bet that those who wish to oppress us are certainly borrowing techniques and mechanisms from their neighbors overseas and seeking to apply them at home.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
In other words, business is increasingly being controlled by morons building castles in the air. Obviously there's no way for that opinion to be humble, but IMHO anyway.
First off, your comparison is completely flawed as far as lifespans. To explain:
George Washington: 67 Y
John Adams: 90 Y
Thomas Jefferson: 83 Y
James Madison: 85 Y
James Monroe: 73 Y
John Q Adams: 80 Y
Averaged is about 79 Y. Take the last six presidents to die without assassination, you have:
Richard Nixon: 81 Y
Lyndon Johnson: 65 Y
Dwight Eisenhower: 78 Y
Harry Truman: 88 Y
Franklin Roosevelt: 63 Y
Herbert Hoover: 90 Y
77 Y average, and that's with Roosevelt, who was elected with health concerns already, dying in office of a stroke.
My point? Look at the presidents still alive: Gerald Ford, 88 Y, James Carter, 77 Y, Ronald Reagen, 90 Y, George Bush, 77 Y, William Clinton, 55 Y and George W Bush, 55 Y. All these men except for Ronald Reagen are in good health, with Reagen having Alzheimer's. But still, besides Clinton and Bush, our latest two presidents, they're all at the average of the previous presidents, with Ford and Reagen already past the previous average.
Your assumption matches late 18th and early 19th centure, to mid 20th century lifespans, and trying to apply them now to 21st century terms. They're already outdated.
People on the average live about 75-80 years in the US and Canada alone, with some other countries just a bit longer than us. That's a long time. Why shouldn't a novel you wrote when you were 30 still be yours when you're 80?
People don't take away your home after ten years because it makes a spectacular example of architecture, so it should be shared with everyone free of cost. People don't demand you give up your property because it would benefit the community to have more land, and throw you off without compensation. Why should we tell people their creative efforts are worth less than their own property?
Not only this, but you make no mention of when the ten years should expire, either from creation, or from publication. If it's republished, then what? If it's published in more than one medium, then what? If it's not published for a while, then what?
And as far as everyone's concerns for the copyright term, we have set forth ways to make sure the consumer has access to the copyrighted item, from the same people you argue wanted the copyrights shorter: It's called "LIBRARIES". Free unfettered access to nearly anything published and accessible, and if it's not there, they can either purchase a copy or borrow one from another library anywhere in the country. Great things, these Libraries.
Doesn't matter that access to published materials is easier and thus faster, the people behind those works often work hard, sometimes longer than ten years, in creating copyrightable works. They should enjoy these works in their lifetime. They should never have to compete against themselves in the marketplace if they so desire to keep selling the novel beyond its first publication.
Even these were seen as necessities of the founding fathers. That's why originally the Constitution stated, and I quote:
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
Limited times, not absurdly short times. Ten years is nothing in a life of eighty years or more. We don't know even how long we'll be living this generation, so a bad assumption is to compare us to the lifespans in the mid 20th century.
Let the authors and artists choose whether they want to continue an exclusive right to their works in their lifetime, or release it to the public. If you push for a ten year limitation, watch the creative efforts slow to a halt, because they'll find other ways to make a living.
And that, as I can see from your argument, is fine enough for you, as long as you get something for free. Now who's greedy?
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
Guess we just proved once again that Michael Sims has absolutely no sense of humour.
le comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that des
yeah, whatever.
review Button! Check those URLs! Do
yeah, whatever.
sure... a few protests are good. but no average person gives a shit. why dont we ALL (nationwide) schedule a big protest against the DMCA for about 3 months from now that way we will have time to get everybody that cares together, and actually make a difference... lets do it guys
Like everyone else, I'm seriously sick of this bullshit, and it's time to put our fat nerdy feet down on the backs of the nationally-influential.
/. doesn't work -- it's been proven time and again -- since probably only Congressman Boucher (spelling?) has ever heard of /., and frankly, nobody in power would ever consider taking the comments said here seriously. That's why when questions are taken from this board, they are moderated and sorted so the people don't waste their time with the other random crap that floats here... Joe Sixpack actually *does* know this. He knows that his bitching isn't heard, no matter who he complains to, and thus he doesn't waste his free time doing so (at work it's a different story).
:))...
/etc/rc.d; touch rc.firewall; vi rc.firewall; ./rc.firewall
We know that civil disobediance does nothing in the face of government. The Pigs - err, police - just fire-hose protesters out into the street. Then protesters are arrested for obstruction of traffic or something similar. The media reports it to Joe Sixpack as "a gang of violent anarchists and evil hackers were causing a ruckus in front of MegaCorp, Inc. today..." and Joe thinks "oh, that must be bad because hackers are bad and anarchists wanna bomb my house!" And in the end, the cause still loses (remember the Civil Rights movement? Now consider just how far we have to go before true racial equality is achieved, assuming it is even possible...)
We know that email doesn't work. Look how much we send them, and look at how nothing happens as a result. Congresspeople are luddites; that's why they got Poli. Sci degrees! And thus they want nice parchment paper in their hands, not an email with a "Highest" priority. They don't know shit about tech, and they don't want to know. If it affects their polls, then they might almost care, except that they know a string of lies and half-truths to the public will keep their votes coming in strong... Joe Sixpack occasionally uses email, mostly for receiving passwords to porn sites.
We know that posting on
We know that sitting on our ass doesn't work. But we are geeks - we sit on our ass for our bread and butter (which we enjoy so much). And the real trouble is that we all do so for 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week. We can't do physical protest even if we had the time... Joe Sixpack works in a steel mill or waiters/waitresses in a restaurant. They know they can get a similar job elsewhere for similar low pay. Their job matters in that it keeps the country from looking, smelling, and sounding bad, but they don't care since they know that anybody can replace them at any time, and they can do the same to somebody else.
And, if you have ever in your life tried to peacefully rally public support in favor of something the public doesn't understand (i.e. computer-related issues) -- which I and about 80 other students tried at a large university recently -- you will know that the Joe Sixpack doesn't give a shit "about that muddafukkin whatchacallit, duhh, DMMMCAFSSDMMDDMCA", for 2 reasons: 1) Joe doesn't understand it and 2) Joe doesn't *WANT* to understand it until it signifcantly affects him (it needs to take away his "Friends" reruns and favorite beer, or rape his wife or something).
In other words - nobody gives a fuck except free-speech advocates and geeks. Other people have "better things to do with their time." And we are a minority, by far.
Given that we as a nation (and in fact the entire "free" world) have, quite obviously, lost the battle, and since nothing short of flat-out civil unrest (a euphemism in my writing) is going to have any effect, why doesn't everybody that hates this so-called "Land of the Free" perform coordinated "acts" on/at the significant contributers and supporters of the DMCA and similar laws, corporate and otherwise (it would hopefully be an international effort)? Powerful though our military is, it cannot fight everybody on Earth (at least, according to an Air Force guy I used to know)...
On the side, software that attempts to leverage the DMCA to its advantage (like Aimster) are also quite worthy projects. But they aren't likely to make the problem go away, and neither will our conservative-majority-ruled (read: corporate sex partners) Supreme Court... An analogy: Bullets in the body of a person (our nation) require surgery to extract (precisely calculated blows to that which affects us), and then all that can be done is hope (and continue fighting).
It may be anarchy, it certainly wouldn't be pretty or easy, the idea has probably already been ridiculed as way too extreme by 85% of those of you reading this, and it may be the only hope the world really has. Kinda like all those 2D side-scrolling action games we played as kids ("Contra" anybody?
Or, we can bend over like the British and take it up the ass whenever our govn't feels horny.
Remember how intimidated we all were by our bullies in school? Those bullies are now running the companies we work for and the governments that control us. And they're still bullying us! They just do it professionally now...
Ack. Another rant by me. One that tosses around vague notions of "anarchy" and "totalitarianism" with the same level of ambiguity as any politician. Just what I want.
In short: we've lost the fight against tyranny. Now what?
"Warning: high quantities of flames headed this way. Take immediate action."
bash # cd
*sigh* This is ridiculous. Jews aren't trying to conquer the world, indeed, the world has certainly tried to smash Jews out of it. And why? Because Jews have morals and ethics. Are there Jews who break the law? Yeah, but not many. We remind the world that you CAN live a life within the law, not even jaywalking, and be happy. That you don't NEED to steal from others to live a life that is good. Am I against Napster? No, not really. I don't feel it really affected the artists. In fact, I program two open-source apps, myself. (Geheimnis and previous pgp4pine (C version).)
Personally, just leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. That's pretty much the Jewish way of things. We just want Israel, the land promised to us. We don't want America (and with the crime here, are you crazy to want it yourself??), or Russia, or any other country. We just want to study our Torah (Bible) and live in Israel. Y'all can have the rest of the world as far as I care.
Define sqrt(x) as something really evil like (x / rand()), and bury it deep in a shared include somewhere.