Usenix Takes Stand Against ATA and SSSCA

Davin writes: "The Usenix Board of Directors has emailed all Usenix members, suggesting that they contact their Representatives to oppose ATA and SSSCA." And I've said it before, but lick a stamp. Representatives aren't tapped into the wired quite yet (Hello ... Navi)

Comments

Wired?

[Digitalia]

I don't know... it seems like quite a few of them might be wired with something.

Re:Wired?

[Alien54]

Representatives now get thousands of emails daily from every action group and special interest on the planet.

It is a very low signal to noise ratio, in the wrong direction. Low Signal, High Noise.

Being a Representative is like being an Offical Spam Recipient for the US Government. They are automatically opted-in for everything, with no ability to opt out.

Therefore, the old hand written letter with a stamp is uber-effective, because it sort of proclaims itself as a not spam.

Of course, there is nothing like a personal visit by a civil, literate, but angry constituent to their office, followed up by a letter citing the visit.

Re:Wired?

[Digitalia]

Iwas insinuating a few of them might have major drug problems judging by their voting records. I should be more clear next time.

Re:Wired?

[Dolly_Llama]

Of course, there is nothing like a personal visit by a civil, literate, but angry constituent to their office, followed up by a letter citing the visit.

...and a campaign contribution

Re:Wired?

[Alien54]

...and a campaign contribution

This is very true...

If they get a number of supporters who say that they will donoate to a candidate who supports a particular position, then that really gets their attention.

Re:Wired?

[Phlux]

It was a reference to the Japanese animated series Serial Experiments Lain . In the series, the Internet is called "the Wired". And computers are called "Navis". But yes, our representatives might be wired in that sense, too. =)

Re:Wired?

[Sinistar2k]

Just last week, I received a letter from one of my state reps thanking me for my input regarding Dmitry Sklyarov and the DMCA.

So, even if the topics were just punched into a database in order to pump out form letters, somebody read it. It wasn't just deleted.

Do both. Fire off a well-written e-mail now and follow it up with a well-written snail mail later.

ATA?

[b1t r0t]

The Usenix Board of Directors has emailed all Usenix members, suggesting that they contact their Representatives to oppose ATA and SSSCA.

Well, I'll admit I run SCSI or Firewire when I can, but ATA is still a pretty decent hard drive interface. At least it's cheap.

Re:ATA?

[einhverfr]

Yeah, well I have an ATA CD-RW drive on Linux and cdrecord doens't support ATAPI devices. The problem with SCSI is that it is expensive...

Also, according to the Software RAID Howto, ATA hardware is fairly unsuitable for RAID. Problem is, no one has told Congress that ATA makes for bad RAIDs... ;)

Re:ATA?

[AntiNorm]

Yeah, well I have an ATA CD-RW drive on Linux and cdrecord doens't support ATAPI devices.

Yes it does. Pass "hdc=ide-scsi" along to your kernel, being sure to replace hdc with wherever your CDRW drive is, and it'll be recognized as a generic scsi device. Generic scsi support, scsi emulation support, and scsi cdrom support must be turned on for this to work.

Re:ATA?

[stevens]

Yeah, well I have an ATA CD-RW drive on Linux and cdrecord doens't support ATAPI devices.

RTFM. The ide-scsi module in the kernel makes your ATAPI CD-RW drive look like a scsi drive. cdrecord will work great with it.

This advice is in every article, HOWTO, and doc I read about writing CDs on linux.

Re:ATA?

[einhverfr]

Sorry, was trying to be funny.

And the ide-scsi driver really just turns your ATA device into a SCSI device from the stand-point of your software...

I was just trying to continue the joke. Now everyone thinks I was serious...

Re:ATA?

[wadetemp]

What? EVERYONE knows you use ide-scsi to make your CD-RW appear as a SCSI device. It is very simple and very easy.

For example, my Congressman set up his office PC with a ATA RAID system 2 weeks ago. And his ATA RAID rocksors. He recompiled his kernel and included a scsi-ide-scsi bypass module that makes it so you don't have to use ide-scsi to make your IDE look like SCSI. And then he called Dell tech support up and was on the phone for 6 hours because his "sound thingy" didn't work... turned out he plugged the speaker output to the sound-out on his CD-RW drive. But you man, you've got problems. Sheesh!

Re:ATA?

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, according to the Software RAID Howto, ATA hardware is fairly unsuitable for RAID. Problem is, no one has told Congress that ATA makes for bad RAIDs... ;)

Hmmm. That's interesting. You see, I run a software raid1 on top of two ATA drives. And I get decent performance out of it. I just made sure they each hang off of their own controller, as the only device on the chain.

Re:ATA?

[sharkey]

No, I think he means you should fly Southwest, United or TWA, instead of America Trans Air.

Re:ATA?

[Rude Turnip]

(Offtopic)

ATA's Chicago Midway - Philadelphia flight is a bitch from hell to deal with. There's always a delay or cancellation. But going the other way, there are no hitches.

This really works

[UserChrisCanter4]

I e-mailed my Senators and Congressman (Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Phil Gramm, and Kevin Brady) twice each. Not a single response. When I took the time to snail mail a letter to each of them, I got a form letter response from Hutchinson and Gramm, and a real response from Brady. The fact is true... they simply don't read e-mail. Sad but true.

I doubt that my single letter would have an effect, but I would bet that 100 letters on paper would have a much greater effect than 10,000 e-mails.

Re:This really works

[sheldon]

Actually this past January I sent an email to both of my state's Senators, and one of them actually responded.

It took a while for Senator Wellstone to respond, but sometime in March I received a response that was somewhat canned, but did have to deal with the topic of my original email.

I agree that real mail is taken more seriously. Admittedly, shouldn't it be? It takes far more effort to send a letter than to send email, thus you can judge by that fact alone that someone is clearly committed to their opinion.

Re:This really works

[Brenna]

I send e-mail to my Senator and Reps. all the time. John McCain always sends a response, it's a form letter, but he does respond. Most of my Reps. do too.

Re:This really works

[Sabalon]

Well, for most issues, reps have a stance (or have had a stance bought for them :) So a canned response is probably a normal thing, as chances are the canned response will at some point cover the statement of the mail/e-mail.

When I contacted a senator about his vote on the ban on nuclear arms testing, I got a huge response detailing his view on nuclear arms, testing, etc...

Then again, a while ago if you send an e-mail to president@whitehouse.gov, and inclosed an address, you'd get a letter via post. My e-mail was basically "I heard if you send an e-mail with an address you will get a letter". I got something saying about thanks for the support, blah blah blah...

Re:This really works

[Anonymous Coward]

I recently went to Washington, where I met with my representative. No politics, just a chance to let my kids meet a 'real' congressman. The fact is that email is just too easy. He gets something like 5000-6000 email EVERY day. Other than an auto responder, how he can he possibly deal with this? Also there's no way to distinguish between real emails and those generated in bulk by special interest groups or even special interest individuals.

Re:This really works

[baronben]

E-mails aren't paid attention to becuse they are to easy to write. Having to write a letter, fill out a envalope, spend 34 cents for a stamp and walk to your mailbox is coniserdly more effort then e-mailing "Micro$oft SUX!!! Biatch" to every congressperson and Superme Court Justice. High signal to noise ratio

Re:This really works

[spudnic]

Heh, they must have gotten their autoresponder working then, eh? Those new random reply delay and perl keyword sniffer modules are great for simulating human interaction. I don't know how they would stand up against Turing, but it seems to keep the proles happy.

Re:This really works

[hey!]

Interesting.

I sent a snail mail letter on the Sklyarov case to my Senator (Kennedy D-MA) and didn't get any acknowledgement. I wondered at the time whether his office sent out form letters in response to such letters, but I guess he's a bit too accustomed to steamrollering any opposition to be bothered.

Re:This really works

[dillon_rinker]

I agree that real mail is taken more seriously. Admittedly, shouldn't it be?

No. Unless you believe that one of the goals of a participatory democracy is to enact barriers to communication between citizens and their elected representatives.

Your argument, taken to its logical conclusion, is that individuals who exert more effort to communicate with elected officials deserve more attention from the government. It is this attitude which has given us the system of legalized bribery we have now. Email often gets no response, snail mail gets a form letter, and a check for $1000 gets the ear of the representative. This is evil at its greyest.

Re:This really works

[sdo1]

I've had the same response from Kennedy on the many letters I've sent to him.... nothing. Senator Kerry (D-MA) has at least written back a few times.

-S

Re:This really works

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh really.

I think real mail is taken more seriously because the senator/representative in question can easily determine whether the message came from someone who he is supposed to represent. Even if the sender fakes an address, at least the post office processing the mail stampes it.

If I sent an email to my rep, how would he know that I'm from his district? My email is *@home.com, which applies to a ton of states.

Re:This really works

[Skuld-Chan]

This reminds me of a political science assignment the whole class had - we were supposed to write out representatives and/or senators. This is in Oregon - I remember the only people that got written responces were people who contributed money (even very small amounts) or people who had really wacky letters (one topic I recall was someone who was jokingly concerned about violence in the wwf). I didn't vote for any of these people (Defazio and Wyden in the area I was in at the time)

Re:This really works

[sconeu]

I sent snailmail to my rep (Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills CA) re DMCA and Dmitry.

I pointed out that I had spoken with him at a community night at my temple, and that I was a voting constituent.

Nada. Zip. Nothing. No response... worse than sleeping at SPL 7.

Re:This really works

[Anonymous Coward]

I wrote Osama about DCMA and Dmitry. No response either time.

Re:This really works

[Malcontent]

It's also much harder to raise $10,000.00 and hand deliver to your congress critter. That's why the corporations get heard and you don't despite your mail. Such is our democracy. We went from Jim Crow laws to legalized bribery. In the end it's the same result put barriers between the people and power.

Re:This really works

[Rogerborg]

• The fact is that email is just too easy. He gets something like 5000-6000 email EVERY day.

So, under the current system, elected representatives actually "represent" too many people to be able to find out what those people want them to be doing?

Is it just me, or does that demonstrate that our implementation of "representative democracy" is badly flawed?

Re:This really works

[Anonymous Coward]

A check sent and kept should see the representitive indicted for corruption, and if found guilty barred for life from holding public office. Representitives should represent the interests/wishes of the people whom they represents, they should not be open to bribery. A (policital) system which condones this is a corrupt system.

Re:This really works

[sadr]

Much more likely is that 4900 of the 5000 are from people in other districts who are emailing either every person in Congress or are emailing them because of their position on some committee.

Also, it is very possible that 4000 of those 4900 are generated by a small group of people, since we all know how easy it is to spam.

I won't even get into the inaccuracies of your post regarding our form of government. We're a Constitutional Republic, not a representative democracy.

And it's their job to do the right thing for their district and the country based on their opinion, not the opinions of the residents of their district. If the residents don't like their votes, they can elect someone new next election.

Re:This really works

[Panaflex]

Well, Gramm is notorious for ignoring email, and for a long time didn't even accept it.

But for the past year, I have been emailing happily away to both Hutchinson and Gramm.

I'll tell you who is a freaking idiot - DICK ARMEY. I have written him twice about the DMCA. He said he would forward some information to me (Never did), and wrote me a non-sensical letter about copyrights that didn't include the DMCA. (I had requested clarification on the legality of the DMCA).

Anyhow, everytime I have written ARMEY, he has let me down. He doesn't understand the issue. He doesn't care. He does his job badly. Even if I don't agree with a congressman, I can appreciate their ability to at least get the basics about the issues. I'm voting against him, because he's stupid.

Ralph Hall, on the other hand, is one of the BEST congressman we have in N. Texas. Always courtious, always to the point. And he's the first congressman to request clarification from me, ever. (Reguarding Echelon) I believe he covers alot of Collin County. (This guy got me a meeting set up with a Director at the patent office without even asking me).

Pan

Re:This really works

[Drizzten]

Is it just me, or does that demonstrate that our implementation of "representative democracy" is badly flawed?

No, it means that for the first time, it is overwhelmingly simple to actually get in touch with your representative from just about any place on the planet. Of course, "overwhelmingly simple" has been the case since we were taught how to research information in school. Such as, how to read a phone book, look up items in a library, and talk to clerks at information desks. But since that's probably too much to ask this day and age, busting out a well-formatted, honest, and to-the-point e-mail should be just as good. It's still coming from his/her constituents and it should still require a response.

Re:This really works

[Rogerborg]

• We're a Constitutional Republic, not a representative democracy.

Uhh... we're both. It's a descriptive term.

• And it's their job to do the right thing for their district and the country based on their opinion, not the opinions of the residents of their district. If the residents don't like their votes, they can elect someone new next election.

Sure, if you like. Although considering that your choice is this guy or that gal or a protest vote, it's no wonder that we have crappy turnouts (except when we're protest voting against The Other Guy).

But let's try and be constructive (I know this is /., but what the heck). I'd prefer to have more layers of representation (neighborhood, city/district, state, federal) where each layer elects representatives to the next level. Actually, I'd really prefer a small beaurocracy implementing regular referenda, overseen by an elected judiciary.

What's your take? Or are we fine as we are?

Re:This really works

[sphealey]

The fact is true... they simply don't read e-mail. Sad but true.

The problem with e-mail is it is easy, quick, and emotional. In other words, there is a strong tendency for people who fire off e-mail not to not really be very committed to what they are saying (committed in terms of votes, money, time, or other support). It takes at least an hour to get a typed letter signed and out the door, which is a minimum expenditure of effort. So from a realistic point of view it makes a lot of sense for elected politicians to pay more attention to written letters than to e-mail.

sPh

Re:This really works

[sphealey]

No, it means that for the first time, it is overwhelmingly simple to actually get in touch with your representative from just about any place on the planet.

Postal service (that's an "envelope" and "stamp") has been available worldwide since the 1700's, if not before.

Note: this comment is essentially supports drizzten's, not the opposite.

sPh

Re:This really works

[kolding]

I sent email to my representative (David Wu, D. OR) requesting that he support AMT reform. I included my name, email address, and my home address. A couple of weeks later I received a form letter via US Mail from Mr. Wu thanking me for my opinions.

Well reasoned, intelligent emails do get processed, especially when you include full information about who you are so that they can actually see that you are one of their constituents. Incoherent flames get filed where they're most useful.

Re:This really works

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll tell you who is a freaking idiot - DICK ARMEY.

Man, with a name like that, what do you expect? If he had half a brain he'd call himself "richard" or something.

Re:This really works

[Anonymous Coward]

there's a State Senator in CA named Dick Mountjoy - I shit you not. check out google

I'm not sure if this is..

[OblongPlatypus]

..off topic or not, so I'll let the moderators decide. (If you didn't get Taco's reference, please refrain from moderating.)

Will there ever be a sequel to Serial Experiments Lain? There were some rumors about a year ago, but since then I haven't heard anything. Anyone have any word at all?

capwiz

[userunknown]

Check out www.capwiz.com You can email your reps there.

Re:Get some PRIORITIES

[Das Fink]

I Feel bad replying to such an obvious troll, but now, despite all that has happened, is the time to protect our rights with greater vigalance than ever before.

This includes things that are minor and trivial, and if building a lego model or playing D&D helps bring a sense of normalness back to my life, then it is a step twords undoing the damage done by the terrorists on 9/11.

Nate

I did-

[firewort]

I faxed all of my congressmen a week ago.
Helms wrote back saying he supported Ashcroft in every way. Edwards sent back a photocopy of some unrelated speech he gave on the Senate floor.
Price wrote back a relevant response in which he promised to be mindful of civil liberties, and shared my concerns about 'backdoors' in encryption- his was the most relevant response I received. I spoke very briefly with him this morning at a community meeting, and am going to try and schedule some face time with him to talk about PATRIOT ( H.R. 2975, the House version of the ATA) - I don't want to mix messages and bring in the SSSCA at that time, but if I can establish a rapport, then I can bring up SSSCA at a later date.

He seemed to indicate that roving wiretaps might pass, but that indefinitely detaining a non-citizen wasn't going to be passed.

Re:Take a stand indeed!

[Anonymous Coward]

USA to rest of world:

"If you fuck with us, we'll fuck you up."

For those who don't get the above reference...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi, I'm a geek with no life whatsoever. I'm also not too bright in that I'll post off-topic on slashdot rather than go to an anime forum and post questions there. There are rumors that geeks who spend all day playing games and watching anime are interesting; this, sadly, is not true.

Yes, avid gamer, your post is offtopic but my moderating pulldown doesn't have a selection for "offtopic nimwit" so you were spared losing Karma.

Re:Take a stand indeed!

[Anonymous Coward]

I belive the cheerleading team at my middle school had a cheer that was similar except for the profanity...

SEND REAL MAIL

[FFFish]

EMAIL DON'T DO DICK.

If you can't march on down to your representative's office and bitchslap the silly ass, you gotta use POSTAL MAIL.

Not to mention, IT'S TOO LATE. If you didn't want this to go through, you should have been hustling your ass a year ago. Every freakin' indication made it pretty damn clear that the government was going to restrict your rights more and more.

Re:SEND REAL MAIL

[gad_zuki!]

Slow it down there, release the shift key, good. Phone calls, faxes, and even email are treated equally in most offices. Try write your rep for more info.

Re:SEND REAL MAIL

[Chagrin]

What exactly are you basing this conclusion ("Email don't do dick") on?

I have emailed my Senators and Representative in the past, and have received replies from all of them. Both Senators replied with an intelligent response, and the Representative sent a return email. None of the responses were "form letter" type.

Re:SEND REAL MAIL

[Anonymous Coward]

Phone calls, faxes, and even email are treated equally in most offices

Not according to the EFF. Scroll about two-thirds down the linked page, look under "Your Message's Perceived Priority."

Re:SEND REAL MAIL

[ediron2]

First, email's *absolute* effectiveness depends on the sen/rep involved. Pat Leahy in Vermont is pretty da**ed wired, so if he isn't reading all the messages, his staff is (with him getting a greatest hits selection and summary counts). If you're unlucky enough to be stuck with a bonehead like our state's senior senator (mamma said I could talk nasty if I didn't name names), there's a good chance he not only doesn't care about the wired segment but that he doesn't know how to connect.

Second, Email's *relative* effectiveness is a given. Effective lobbying has been analyzed until it is a stronger science than Sociology. Lobbyists and political consultants have preached these things for years, and some make 6 figures telling politicians what to concentrate on.

Here's the logic: A hypothetical politician gets 6 telexes and telegrams (they really still exist), 50 phone calls, 72 personally-typed or hand-written letters, 150 faxes, 600 obviously-form letters, and 2000 emails. On any issue, 90% of the arguments will be covered by the time they've read a few dozen, complete with a pretty strong impression of what way constituent opinions run.

So, a pol has staff sort things like so:

Gimme all the letters from people that donated $500 or more last election. Then give me another handful of good ones. Then give me a summary saying what the percentages are, breaking things down on any critical details like what aspects of the bill are deal-breakers, which ones could be altered to make a compromise, what the strongest political liabilities are given my constituent base.

The staff starts with the telexes and handwritten's, moves to regular letters, and is quickly seeing a trend: 3/4 of their constituent base should be willing to live with the bill if altered *this* way, and several fat checks from industry fatcats can be expected if the so-altered bill passes.

In the case of ATA/SSSCA: Senator DoNothing here in my backwater state will get a dozen 'No' letters from technogeeks, and six hundred 'Yes' from freaked out farmers whose kids have moved to Metropolis. He'll get a nice nudge from lobbyists and industry titans, they'll serve up a reminder of past donations, and they'll maybe even send over some second-tier J-Lo wannabe to sit on his lap and tell him how strong he is. Once she's gone, the mailstack appears. The above-guessed summary of opinions pretty much seals the fate of my opinion. I'll be part of a minority opinion, destined to live in the lower third of the stack of mail. When a position paper and related letter are drafted, I'll get one that disagrees with me, tailored a bit by an overworked staffer and signed by 'His own Rubber-Stamp'.

Speaking of which, is my saying that a potential enfringement on Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'? I was thinking of it when I wrote it, but it's under 7 words or notes so fair-use might apply. Just in case, I'm out of here. Hmm... we all were aware that opression in the mideast could start a war. I just didn't expect it to lead to more opression here!

Email is to easy....

[ZanshinWedge]

The degree to which someone will take you seriously and to which they will respond to your message is roughly directly proportional to the effort it takes to send that message. It takes essentially zero effort to send an email, therefore it garners essentially zero consideration. Snail mail, phone calls, etc. especially if well thought out, garner considerably more attention.

Re:Email is to easy....

[OblongPlatypus]

According to that rationale, I guess we should take the message sent by the terrorists on 9/11 very seriously. After all, whether you call it terrorism or jihad, they did go to alot of trouble.

Re:Email is to easy....

[JesseL]

That is some of the most as backwards logic I've ever heard. Personally, I tend to look on people who deliberatly make communication difficult as neurotic, masochistic, and generally to be avoided. By your logic, if I want to be taken seriously, I should send out all my correspondence engraved on stone tablets.

To be fair, this may be the way some politicians actually think. I don't believe it should be encouraged though.

Re:Email is to easy....

[Surak]

Well, if nothing, you have to admit that engraving your correspondence on stone tablets would garner attention. :-)

Re:Email is to easy....

[sphealey]

That is some of the most as backwards logic I've ever heard. Personally, I tend to look on people who deliberatly make communication difficult as neurotic, masochistic, and generally to be avoided. By your logic, if I want to be taken seriously, I should send out all my correspondence engraved on stone tablets.

Frank Herbert wrote a story along these lines once. The theme: a techno-government was created that removed all obstacles to communication and action. The result: said goverment (and society) driven the brink of total chaos within days, as communication accelerated to the point where everything and nothing were being done all the time. The solution: a special Departement of Sabotage and Delay created to slow things down and impose barriers to communication. "Forbidden Planet" was another good variation on this theme.

The plain fact is, there have to be some "effort expended" filters in any political system, otherwise Bill Clinton's poll-driven triangulation policies would look like the Rock of Gibralter in comparison.

sPh

FAX AND CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS!

[jasonbrown]

Time is short. Freedom needs to be the priority since that is what we are defending in this war. If we allow our freedoms to be taken away in the name of terrorism, then the terrorists have already won. Fax or call your local legislators today and let them know how you feel before it is too late. Time is running out, these bills will be voted upon soon. Letters may be too slow at this point to stop this bills so please call or fax ASAP! See www.eff.org for more information.

Humm.

[Anonymous Coward]

$343 Billion to for Anti-Terrorism Defense Package

$15 Billion aid Package for the airline Industry.

391 Senators and Congressmen passing broad laws to fight terrorism.

Priceless.

-
Anyone have a $1.50? I want to buy a box cutter before they put backdoors in them, and pass a 10 day waiting period.

Re:Humm.

[Brenna]

I was thinking of investing in a company that makes toenail clippers. Everytime you fly you lose yours, they've got to be making a lot of money right now.

Re:Humm.

[BrookHarty]

Good one. lol

There is a reason they don't read email

[MongooseCN]

It's because it's too easy to send an email. Representatives don't have the time to go through 100's of emails a day and see peoples opinions, they need the peoples input to be filtered so only the important messages get through. Snail mail takes more effort to send and thus the person sending it is more likely to spend more time expressing theirs and others opinions.

It only takes a second to send a worthless email saying "SSSCA SuXoRs!", but if you take the time to write out a paper letter and post a stamp on it and mail it out, you are probably going to spend more time writing what you think.

Also, sending it with restricted delivery or a return reciept will make it stand out more from the other mails that get sent in.

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[spudnic]

All of your points make perfect sense. Rather than wasting time on email, does anyone know of any politicians that are using web enabled opinion polls to help them understand the thoughts of their constituants?

Each registered voter could be mailed a username and password that would allow them to voice their opinions. It would obviously have to carry a similiar disclaimer as the polls here on /., but having to login could help prevent some of the abuse. It would certainly be more relevent than email where one small group of people could generate thousands of fraudulent email messages in a few minutes. And it would definately be easier to handle for the office staff.

Have hundreds of questions or options up there that are searchable. Only reply to the ones that interest you.

Keep it constantly updated.

Be able to view the current results? I dunno, it might be better not to.

If you MUST do it, allow a comment to be added to each survey question. At least then the messages would be sorted in some sort of logical manner to be reviewed.

I know if one of my congressmen did this that they would be one up in my book when it came time for elections.

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[firewort]

The only problem with such a survey that you didn't cover is, how would a visitng politician tell accurately which respondants, or percentage of respondants were his contituents.

After all, the politician only is responsible to his constituents, and not the whole of the internet.

If you've got a sure-fire method for handling this, I'd love to help implement it.

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[spudnic]

As I said, access to voting could be controlled by passwords. Have the congressmen follow the lead of the bank I do business with. They mailed me 2 envelopes on seperate days. One contained my login name, the other my password. Congress people are allocated large funds to send mail to their constituants.

I understand some of the implications of voting via the Internet. What if someone came into my home and forced me to vote a particular way? This really isn't a huge problem when it comes to public opinion polls like I am talking about. I don't see any reason why this couldn't work.

Please, if you have any ideas this wouldn't work, this is the best forum for it. The brightest minds in the computer information field are right here. Why not?

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[MonkeyBoy]

From my dealing with... "the older generation"... be it managers or politicians (primarily the former, barely the latter)... they generally only read things that are physically in front of them.

In other words, email probably has to go through an extra step - a staffer (or multiple staffers) wades through the deluge and only print out ones that *they* feel make valid points.

Those printouts then go onto the stack along with paper mail, which then go through other staffers to weed out mail from wackos, unimportant topics, etc.

This extra step immediately cuts down the number of emails that will get through, but also does an effective job of weeding out messages from the wackos and idiots.

I would expect that the emails with gross misspellings and grammar so horrible that it's impossible to tell the topic would be weeded out at the first step as well. And, given the average email I get, that's a whooooole lotta email that immediately gets nuked.

Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[Rogerborg]

• [...] Representatives don't have the time to go through 100's of emails a day and see peoples opinions [...]

Let me synopsise: our system of representative democracy doesn't work. The ratio of plebians to representatives is too high.

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[Patrick Cable II]

What they do now (check out www.house.gov) is they make you enter your zip+4 and then you can write your congressman. As for senate, i'm not sure Patrick

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[Prior Restraint]

The ratio of plebians to representatives is too high.

It's likely to get continually worse. If we keep adding reps, there will too many for them to communicate effectively with each other (some say we've already reached that point).

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[general_re]

Congress people are allocated large funds to send mail to their constituants.

Actually, just to make one minor correction, Congressfolks are not allocated large funds to send mail - unless you count an infinite amount as large ;)

The practice is known as "franking", and it's one of the most treasured porky privileges of sitting Congressmen. They don't need funds for mailings to constituents, because mailings to constituents are all free.

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[Rogerborg]

• If we keep adding reps, there will too many for them to communicate effectively with each other

Ouch, yes. We need more layers of representation, or (better) a small beaurocracy to implement the decisions of referenda. I can't think of a time when voters felt both disenfranchised and apathetic to such a degree (unless they've voting against someone). Of course, throwing away votes because it's too much bother to count them doesn't exactly help to get home the message that your vote counts.

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[sphealey]

From my dealing with... "the older generation"... be it managers or politicians (primarily the former, barely the latter)... they generally only read things that are physically in front of them.

And from my experience as a "tweenie" (half-way between the old fogies and the young super-geeks), I would observe that the young generation fails to see that there might be some advantage to slowing down a bit and actually thinking about what they are doing, rather than reacting in an instant.

Keep in mind that essentially all of today's large scale technology, including power plants, moon rockets, and even digital computers, was developed by people who usually did not have telephones on their desks (one phone per office was still a standard at many companies in the 1970's) and took the train from city to city.

In fact, some of the old engineers who trained me told me that their most productive time to get work done was on the train between Chicago and New York: no phones, no telegrams, no pressure: just some time to look out the window and think. Which is hard to do when you have a landphone, cell phone, pager, e-mail, and instant messenger all running at once.

sPh

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[HiThere]

I am already dubious about the accuracy of computer tabulated votes, where I can't see the code. How do you think I would feel about internet mediated voting, where there's not only the code at each end, but also the code on each relay station in the middle that needs to be trusted. There are ways to handle this, but how can one be sure that they are being used?

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[kd5biv]

Rather than wasting time on email, does anyone know of any politicians that are using web enabled opinion polls to help them understand the thoughts of their constituants?

Vote for me, and I'll do it .. ;-) .. if you live in Texas, that is ..

Seriously, how out of reach is it to get a techie into office? If the people in office don't know how to use the most effective tools, put people in office who do.

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[Prior Restraint]

Seriously, how out of reach is it to get a techie into office?

I hate giving a non-answer, but it really depends on your stances on dozens of issues, how outgoing you are, stuff like that. Also, I suspect that the current political climate wouldn't support a candidate who is too critical of the government, particularly in the president's home state.

I've thought about running for office, too, but this a bad time to be pushing a liberatarian message.

Re:There is a reason they don't read email

[Anonymous Coward]

And, as a young super-geek, one of the most annoying things in the world today is the rich oldsters at the heads of multinationals trying to slow the world back down to speeds they can understand, via idiotic anti-technology legislation like the DMCA, SSSCA, etc. - not to mention the invention of "software patents", a heinous and abhorrent concept that is an obvious ploy to slow the pace of change in computing.

At what cost?

[Ldir]

The terrorists are attacking our values and our way of life. Our government officials (U.S.) have a history of manipulating the uninformed and jumping on any opportunity to push their agendas. If our officials cannot rise above this legacy, the terrorists will win.

Please write your congress critters. Let them know that some of us still value our freedoms and our rights.

Re:At what cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

Terrorists attack the symbols of America because they can't attack the ideas behind them. Attacking the ideas behind America requires misguided government officials...

Re:You all suck

[jasonbrown]

Yah and after your done rounding up all the hackers, maybe you can start in on the jews, blacks, chinese, arab-americans, and any other groups that doesn't fit your model of the world. It is our right as American citizens to question the gov't and the laws that it passes. War does not make wrong things right. Don't act like it does.

Re:You all suck

[jasonbrown]

For the record I never napstered. I just don't want to be spied on in the name of terrorism. PLease don't assume everyone's motives are selfish.

What I can't believe

[einTier]

is that Congress will sell out the entire technology sector and presumeably everyone and anything else to protect the profits of one sector -- the entertainment sector.

Re:What I can't believe

[eric17]

is that Congress will sell out the entire technology sector and presumeably everyone and anything else to protect the profits of one sector -- the entertainment sector.

Funny, I'll be surprised if they DON'T. Every crisis is just an excuse for the government monster to grow a bit more, and your rights to shrink. Been that way since the civil war, will probably be that way until enough people get fed up enough with it to lop of its head in some fashion.

Re:What I can't believe

[HiThere]

It's not just the entertainment sector that will benefit. MS will benefit, until it gets too greedy and drives the country into bankruptcy.

I give it two years to get started. Possibly three years from there. The WinX license trial balloon showed which direction they want to push things.

Re:What I can't believe

[MidnightLog]

While I won't argue with your cynicism, I do disagree with this statement when applied to the SSSCA:

Every crisis is just an excuse for the government monster to grow a bit more, and your rights to shrink.

Although our rights would shrink if the SSSCA passes, I don't think that governmental power would grow. In fact, I think that the government would be "selling off" some of their power to the entertainment industry.

Re:What I can't believe

[dermochelys]

...is that there isn't much about counter-lobbying. Supposedly, the wording of this bill is a threat to opensource. Major corporatations like IBM HP, and other have dumped some considerable cash into Linux and other open-source projects. Aren't they concerned about this?

Re:What I can't believe

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, but the entertainment industry controls the very thoughts of many a drone. And it's run by scientologists.

McCarthyism

[perdida]

McCarthy did some fucked-up stuff, besides going after those who could be connected with Communism in some way.

If you opposed some despotic statute which was designed to get the Communists, you were "soft on Communism."

Consider what would happen if a new, digitally savvy McCarthy used the fears of terrorism, which are amplified by our wartime action, to push through legislation such as SSSCA.

Any legislator who opposes such a figure could be labeled "soft on terrorism."

The law is swayed by politics, and war is a juggernaut in politics. Maintain your own security, privacy and anonymity, regardless of these laws; whether they are passed or not, there are always people waiting for the excuse to tighten surveillance.

Re:McCarthyism

[Anonymous Coward]

It's been done, look at the war on drugs... any legislator with half an ounce of common sense was branded "soft on crime" and drummed out of office.

Re:McCarthyism

[garcia]

I think it is a little different now though. I am not as afraid of acts of terrorism on American soil as those people were afraid of the spread of Communism.

You haven't been bombarded w/propaganda bullshit about how terrorists lie in wait in everyone including your father. You don't have 1st graders coming home to mom and dad eyeballing them for the first sign of terroristic actions.

They are not waiting for an oppertunity to tighten surveillance, they are waiting for an oppertunity to hold us down even more than they already have.

Seatbelts are the perfect example. The legislators decided they wanted people to wear them (to benefit the individual of course) but they forgot that I am not hurting anyone else if I die in a fucking accident b/c I wasn't wearing mine. Who the fuck are they to tell me that I have to wear a restraint when driving my car?

Who the fuck are they to tell me that I can't do what the fuck I want when I want to do it? Including sending unbreakable encryption to whoever about how many times I smoke pot a day.

Get over it people. They want to get more control and that's it.

Re:McCarthyism

[Anonymous Coward]

Seatbelts are the perfect example. The legislators decided they wanted people to wear them (to benefit the individual of course) but they forgot that I am not hurting anyone else if I die in a fucking accident b/c I wasn't wearing mine. Who the fuck are they to tell me that I have to wear a restraint when driving my car?

Actually dickwad, you not wearing a seatbelt can kill the person next to you as your dumb-ass white trash body ricochets around the car like a fucking pinball.

Frankly, I don't give a shit if you wipe yourself out, it's good for the gene pool, but I do think other people in the car should be protected from your fucking stupidity.

Next time, think about someone else besides yourself, you stupid fucked-up dopehead.

Re:McCarthyism

[togofspookware]

Modding down ACs should be free.

Re:McCarthyism

[sconeu]

Seatbelt laws are state, not federal. The rationale was usually economic... many people involved in accidents were un/underinsured, or were on state medical insurance (Medi-Cal, etc...), and therefore the more severe injuries caused by not wearing a belt had a direct economic cost to the state. Ergo, the state had the right (and fiduciary duty?) to demand that drivers wear seat belts.

Re:McCarthyism

[Taurine]

If you are sitting in the back seat of a car, behind the driver, and you don't wear a seat belt, in the event of a crash there is an excellent chance that you will hit the driver so hard from behind that you will kill them. Here in the UK there is a safety advert running on TV pointing out that a lot of mothers are killed in this way by their own brats while driving them to school. Its odd that they don't mention on the advert that it is also illegal here to ride in a car in any seat without a seatbelt on.

Re:McCarthyism

[Rogerborg]

• The legislators decided they wanted people to wear them (to benefit the individual of course) but they forgot that I am not hurting anyone else if I die in a fucking accident b/c I wasn't wearing mine

Your insurance payouts hurt everyone else's premiums. Or worse, you end up a vegetable and tie up a hospital bed for the rest of your life.

Not that I'm disagreeing with your point, but pick another example.

Re:McCarthyism

[Roblimo]

Seatbelt laws are made by states, yes, but the federal government can and does withhold highway funds from states that don't take appropriate "safety measures" like seatbelt laws and mandated speed limits.

The "no morde federal money" threat was how the national 55 MPH speed limit (later loosened) got put into effect in the 1970s.

- Robin

Re:McCarthyism

[Galvatron]

55 mph was during the 70's oil crisis, for fuel preservation, not safety. That's why it's being loosened now (gee, only took the government 20 years to get around to that one...). Highway funds was also the threat for raising the drinking age to 21 (normally I'm a fan of Reagan, but that one pisses me off).

Re:McCarthyism

[sabinm]

Actuamally, the federal funds to build the nations superhighways are explicitly tied to both speed limit laws and seatbelt laws. Only recently with the GOP in power did those laws become lax, which is why you see states given the leeway to set their speed limits and seat belt laws. But don't think that those limits aren't still tacitly tied to govt. funds.

Re:McCarthyism

[G Neric]

McCarthy did some fucked-up stuff

McCarthy may have done some fucked-up stuff, but in so doing he hurt the anti-Communist movement more than the Communists.

William F. Buckley issued a challenge years ago WRT the Hollywood blacklists: try and find a single "injured" person who was not a socialist... nobody has ever answered the challenge because there are none. So for all the cries of "witchhunt", the Red Scare was accurately targetted. You may think that Communists should not be persecuted, OK, but I think they should, and the Red Scare didn't persecute anyone who was not.

Many of tactics of the worst sorts of zealots like McCarthy were theoretically dangerous and were rightfully rebuked, but they never led to any actual loss of liberty except for those who were sympathetic to the Soviet Union and wanted the same Orwellian freedoms for the rest of us.

Today, the way the word "McCarthyist" gets used is itself an example of McCarthyism: smearing someone by applying a negative label. Every time I hear someone use the term, I say back, "I have in my hand a list of known McCarthyists!"
Of course, most are too uneducated to get the reference, let alone the irony.

Re:I Hate Anime

[Phunky Monkey]

I apologize for for this off-topic post, but it seems that even in posts that even remotely reference anime, a few retards crawl out of their holes and spew forth unintelligent stupidity. If you're not interested in the yelling at of idiots, the read no further.

The reality is, that a good number of very mature and professional people enjoy a good number of anime titles. I believe the people you speak of are the ones that like anime just because it is animated and from japan and for no oher reason. But, then again, these people are simply collectors like anyone else that collects anything. Stamps, cars, model trains, anime... it's all the same. There are, on the other hand, people (myself included) that enjoy the content of a small group of anime titles. I can think of no less than 5 of the best anime titles that are all about things like cyberspace, privacy rights, and other topics which are discussed daily here on the slashing dot (the one referenced in this post, Serial Experiments: Lain, is all about real/wired world convergeance). Maybe you two should take a look at what's being referenced before spewing uninformed stupidity all over the forums. I assure you, that even if you don't like it, you'll have some grasp about why, and be able to post intelligently about it (this means not making insulting statements about general groups of people with a certain like/dislike).

If you want more details

[BrookHarty]

Goto senate.gov And search for Bill "H.R. 2975"

Is taco wired?

[gad_zuki!]

Representatives aren't tapped into the wired quite yet (Hello ... Navi)

The write your rep program has been going on for quite some time and I've gotten snail mail replies to my letters. A rep that doesn't accept email will usually not even post an email address or ask to be contacted a different way.

Um, that was on-topic, mods.

[Anonymous Coward]

CT made a direct reference to the Lain, and to ask a question about that reference is not off-topic in the least. (In other words, no I don't know, but if I don't go out and buy the DVDs from the first set soon, I'm gonna have to hurt me.)

slashdot them

[Lumpy]

If only 10% of the readers were to send a real letter this would be squisked in a hearteat.

But as normal Slashdotters are way too lazy and really care much less than they really say here.

Underage? who cares! write a genreal letter anyways, they dont cross check your name with the social security branch and then run a background check. I wrote my letters over a month ago, got a nice reply from both of them. as far as the senators and house of rep. members are concerned, if they dont hear from you in mass then what they want is what you want.

Re:slashdot them

[hackerhue]

write a genreal letter anyways...

Misspelling words is fine for Slashdot posts, but make sure you spellcheck your letters before you send them. If your letter looks like it's from a 1337 h4x0r wanna-be, it will most likely be ignored.

And don't forget to check the grammar. Computer grammar checking is worthless, so you'll have to get a human to do that. (It's also a good way to spread the word, by getting more people exposed.)

Write your reps!

[rice_burners_suck]

Yes, I mailed snail-mail--with a stamp (though it's a self-adhesive; I don't know if that makes a difference). If you haven't done so yet, I urge you to do so NOW! It's easy--I mailed the EFF's sample letter because they pretty much summed it all up. It took ten minutes to do the whole thing. (It would have been cool to print out the 11,000 some odd signatures (mine is in there) on the petition and mail that with the letter. But in the words of my intelligent employer, "Oh well.")

I'll try to locate mailing addresses for others who might send letters as well. You might try talking to folks who own small businesses or even mail letters to large companies, telling them about the catastrophic consequences of such legislation. This isn't about music. I suggest you don't even mention music because that causes folks to think you're an MP3 pirate or some geek or something. This is NOT about media or any bullshit like that. This is about policeware on YOUR belongings. This is about your computer making decisions for you. This is about your fair-use rights going down the tubes. This will have an enormous effect on small business owners who make "digital devices" for a living, who will probably be put out of business by defective legislation like this. (Rest assured there will be an ENORMOUS price on certification. Only companies the likes of Sony could afford it. And best of all, this won't benefit the individual artist--it will fill the pockets of beaurocrats and RIAA executives, empowering them to come up with more innovative legal solutions. What, did you actually think the artist would benefit?!)

This is about our rights and our responsibility to protect those rights. It's NOT the responsibility of government to do that, contrary to what most people believe.

Let's talk about the consequences for a moment. Where do you draw the line on what contains policeware? Will industrial automation systems (these are digital devices) contain policeware? (How about the position readout (digital device) for the lathe?) Don't forget the computer in your car--that thing is a full-blown digital device. Or aircraft control systems--I'm sure there's something digital in those. Don't even mention medical devices--on second thought, I think those should be the first to receive this technology. The patient has a song stuck in their head, so the life support systems turn off and kills them. Hey, thinking about a song is a copyright violation! How about business computers? (I'm not talking about a Dell desktop, I'm talking about computers the size of refridgerators.) What about ICs? Like 74F373 (latch/flip-flop)--that's a "digital device." Oh, I know, let's put Microsoft DRM software on every transistor. Will wristwatches (digital devices) need to contain government-mandated digital rights management? Will it be illegal to "traffic in" Swiss watches, which don't contain this compelling enterprise solution? Think this is funny? Think again. This is DEFECTIVE, but someone somewhere will go to PRISON for it if this gets passed. It could be you. I suggest you mail that letter ASAP. Either that, or buy some open airline tickets and have a suitcase packed and ready at all times. Better yet, just move out of the country while you have the chance.

Oh yeah, and let's see... the SSSCA is a sort of "extension" to the DMCA. I wonder what kind of law they'll come up with five years from now? Oh, I have a good idea: How about a law that states you have to mail $100 to the RIAA every time you get a song stuck in your head? Yeah, let me write up a draft and mail it to Congress.

Re:Write your reps!

[Pig Hogger]

How about business computers? (I'm not talking about a Dell desktop, I'm talking about computers the size of refridgerators.)

Sigh... I remember when a SMALL computer was "big" like that...

Re:Write your reps!

[Anonymous Coward]

I mailed the EFF's sample letter [eff.org] because they pretty much summed it all up.

This is a bad idea. Since using a printed-out standard-issue letter makes as much of an impression on them as one would make on you. If you want to make an impression, send them what you would like to receive, a hand-written letter that contains your viewpoints in your own words. Even if there are typo's, and vague wordings, and errors in that sense, it's ALWAYS better than a printed-out letter, and certainly better than a standard letter.

For extra brownie points, have it delivered through UPS, or one of those parcel delivery services, and make them personally sign for receipt. This way they'll make sure to pay attention to your letter.

Re:Write your reps!

[Rogerborg]

• I mailed the EFF's sample letter [eff.org] because they pretty much summed it all up

Welcome to their round file. Form letters are better than nothing, but if you actually believe in the issue, demonstrate that by spending five minutes of your time on it

Re:Write your reps!

[Prior Restraint]

...if you actually believe in the issue, demonstrate that by spending five minutes of your time on it

It took me a little longer than five minutes, but here's my first attempt at a real letter.

Spaff's note to Judd Gregg

[imrdkl]

At the bottom of this Usenix "Call to Arms", one finds this formal letter listed as a discussion of restrictions on encryption, by (the most honorable) Spaff, and Barbara Simons, addressed to Sen. Judd Gregg.

What surprises me is that, while many of the arguments against crypto-strangulation are quite well stated and carefully ordered, they have given only peripheral awareness to the most glaring fact. Namely, that crypto is already, and will continue to be, free software. Also not to mention the fact that it's been available on the Internet (for free) for a long, long time. relatively speaking anyways.

The propogation and long-term storage realities of the internet simply make it impossible to un-ring this bell.

Again, the only way to win this fight, is for the good guys to learn crypto as well as the bad guys. This includes ALL of the "relatively unsophisticated users", that Spaff mentions, too.

Liberty

[Anonymous Coward]

When I see shit like this I think we deserve what we get. Maybe if us a citizens were a little more active with out politicians then we wouldn't have outrageous laws like the DMCA. Maybe if we spoke out more to our politicians we wouldn't be involved in the ongoing turmoil we are experiencing now. Maybe if we didn't elect to power hungry career politicians we would actually have the liberties this great nation was founded upon. But since we are a nation who is more concerned with "Who got Rachel pregnant" than with the liberties that our fore fathers so desperately fought for, maybe we deserve to get these laws passed and our rights taken away.

Think about. ACT ON IT!!!

I happened to notice...

[imrdkl]

While trying to research a previous comment, I found that, suddenly, searches in older stuff now return zero (0) results for searches on PGP, and PKI keywords. Is this accidental? I'm certain I've found matches in older stuff before, with these keywords.

Boycott Disney!

[rice_burners_suck]

IIRC, Disney co-authored the proposed SSSCA. Remember the Boycott Adobe site? There is, by chance, a Boycott Disney site, though it makes no mention of the SSSCA. I'll try to contact the owners. Maybe we can get a bunch of information posted there. Once that happens, I'll try to get the word out to all my friends. Everybody should mail letters to their reps, but in addition to that, companies need to know that they will lose MUCH business when they try to pull off schemes like this.

(Getting the aforementioned company's shares to fall through the floor is left as an exercise for the reader.)

Re:Boycott Disney!

[tcdk]

Disney, will loose nothing.

In the choice between "supporting disney" (getting that new DVD/going to disneyland) and having your kids nagging you until the end of time, SSSCA means nothing.

Disney (and their gigantic marketing budget) will win every time.

Don't kid you self.

Re:Boycott Disney!

[MaxGrant]

No. Disney will not have me buying shit just because my kids are nagging me. I have the semblance of a spine, and I'm capable of resisting my son's impulse to have every star wars toy in the store. I can certainly hold off on the latest dreck from their animation studios. Face it, aside from Toy Story (which was a separate entity that broke all of Disney's rules anyway) their film output has been largely crap for the last ten years or so. Their films used to appeal to adults as well, but lately they haven't been putting in the effort. There are lots of other more independent studios, and kids don't get tired of watching the same thing over and over again. I can entertain my kids with the hundreds of tapes we already have in the house (not to mention actually that there are other activities than watching TV) while I send letters to Disney informing them of each purchase I have chosen to avoid.

Horrible for US. Wonderful for the world

[famazza]

Take a picture, put it in a safe. The world will change if SSSCA is aproved.

Imagine if technology development becomes much more bourocratic in US, with lot's of government licenses and taxes and bourocracy. Will the big corporations, that already keep their production in foreign coutries, spend money in development in the US? I don't think so.

What are the reactions? Try to imagine it? The developement will be done in foreign coutries (like Brazil or India, or even China, Cuba), and these countries will have a big economy growth, and will be a solid growth, because the technology development will be done there, where there's no bouracracy.

What about US? The high investments in University will stop, it won't be interesting for big corporations (like Sun, IBM, HP) to invest in Amaricans Universities. So the college education will lower quality, which will take a step back for US economy in a long term.

There are many and many companies that has born in garages. Companies like Sun, HP, and many others we all know. They will stop appearing, they will appear where home-made technology is possible. That's horrible for US, but wonderful for the rest of the world.

Imagine US without linux. Without BSD, how secure will be US internet? IIS? Apache will be outlaw! Imagine all the servers around US infected with Nimda, and nobody but M$ can do anything to change this.

What will you choose, the present or the future?

Re:Horrible for US. Wonderful for the world

[Doomdark]

...it won't be interesting for big
corporations (like Sun, IBM, HP) to invest in Amaricans Universities. So the college
education will lower quality, which will take a step back for US economy in a long term.

Don't take this as US bashing (as it is not written as such), but US education system has been unable to "supply" enough people with post grad degrees for years now. Perhaps even more importantly, many of those graduated have been non-native, so "production" has been based on
imported raw materials...

There's nothing wrong with the latter, of course, if you consider it a new form of immigration.
It is risky however; if the flow of foreign-born students slows down (or dries up) hi-tech sector will get serious shortage of skilled researchers and engineers. Finally, the flow of people who already have all their education (from their home country or country they first immigrated to), is
what makes up of shortage of people graduating
from US universities (insert your favourite H1B bashing stuff here).

So far the reasons for foreigners to come to USA have been higher salaries (compared to almost any other country in the world) and high-level of post graduate university degrees. It has been a decent deal, too, since those people have already gotten their basic education (possibly including under grad studies, or perhaps the whole education),
and thus the costs to US educational system is minimal (considering they'll be paying taxes from high salaries pretty soon -- even though some people think H1B 'peons' are only paid peanuts, DoL restricts wages to reasonable levels, and those levels are sure to be higher than the average US salaries... even if not equal to salaries US born equals make)

Whether this will change in near future is anyone's guess. It might be wise for politicians to try to bolster education of "natives", however, just to make sure system is not too dependant on motivated bright people "imported" from other countries (I don't like using words like "import", "production" etc., as it's almost like admitting people are consumable products... but interestingly the flow of people has so many similarities to the trade of, say, crude oil, that the words are useful here for making analogies).

Re:Horrible for US. Wonderful for the world

[famazza]

I agree with almost everything you said. But what I meant is that the education quality in Americans universities is based on private capital, and they needs private investments to maintain their quality.

If the development of new technologies becomes even more expensive these private capital will stop being invested in Americans universities and will start being invested in foreigns universities, and that will make things go to an undesirable way.

The status quo might be this you have pictured, but the private money is pretty important in all this balance. SSSCA will probably do what I have previewd with education. But, who knows?

Re:Horrible for US. Wonderful for the world

[carlosjordao]

US could get weaken after SSSCA...
wow... Uncle Sam, take care :-)

ATA has already been revamped...

[Carnage4Life]

The ATA has already been stonewalled by congress and an alternative bill called Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (PATRIOT) Act is making its way around Capitol Hill. CNet states that

The bill lists more than 40 criminal offenses, including computer intrusion and damaging a computer, and defines those offenses as terrorism if they are "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion...or to retaliate against government conduct."

Mail, Phone, and Fax

[dada21]

Make sure you do all three. I know personally that all my representatives read their faxes. E-mail has worked too (I do get a response from every e-mail, every time).

The second thing to do is ALWAYS visit your rep during their visits to your state if they have an open forum for constituents. Get them to remember you by name.

The third thing to do is try to visit Washington once per session and take advantage of their constituent coffee or breakfast forum. You'd be surprised how thankful and how strong such a visit is.

Lastly, and definitely the most important, is to vote Libertarian each and every time you can in a Congressional or Senate election. Each and every Libertarian is vehemently against many of the things that ./'ers are against: they advocate total personal privacy, abolishing the current copyright laws to the Constitutional definition (7+7 years maximum, ending Intellectual Property ideas), and all Libertarians want to end the limited liability that goes along with becoming a corporation -- this means that CEOs and other officers will be held personally responsible for their actions governing the company.

Also, Libertarians want to make Congress so weak, campaign donations by large corporations and the rich won't do anything because Congress won't have the power to enact any subsidies.

Yes, rice burners definitely do suck!

[rice_burners_suck]

Heh heh heh... I like your response. To answer your question, no, I don't think it's cool to be a faggot and have a Honda with a bunch of shit on it that just makes you want to beat the [sensored] out of it with a baseball bat.

Some might wonder why I think rice burners suck. Well, to start off, there are muscle cars (or hot rods, depending on your background). These cars are built for performance. Case in point: they haul ass. Well one day, about 3 or 4 years ago, I was leaving a math class when I heard this luser say, "and then I got bigger exhaust so I beat him, and then he got bigger exhaust so he beat me, so now I'm gonna get bigger exhaust and beat him again." Obviously, a rice boy. Every owner of a fine muscle car knows that exhaust does NOTHING for performance. (Actually, I take that back. The size and shape of your exhaust does make a small difference in performance. Replace manifolds with headers and you'll get a tiny performance improvement, because there will be slightly less back-pressure on the piston during the exhaust stroke (meaning the motor wastes less energy on keeping itself running). Or replacing headers with equal-length headers (they look like they're tied in a knot) is supposed to improve balance between the cylinders. It could be the difference between a 13.0 and a 12.9, for example. (Rice burners, on the other hand, are lucky to run low 17's.) Contrary to clever marketing, however, the difference is minimal. But the idiot rice boys (or girls) think the car is powered by the exhaust (as if the car is propelled by the exhaust leaving the pipe or something). What they don't know is that beyond the minimal improvement gained by the correct exhaust, any changes either do nothing (except cost you money) or actually degrade performance (so I've heard) (but again, this is so minimal it will hardly be noticed). I mean shit, if you really want to improve your exhaust, modifying the valves or cam will make a much larger difference--but again, the wrong change will degrade performance so you better know what you're doing. (And if the exhaust is a bottleneck, you're probably running way too rich, in which case you can gain enormous performance and increase gas mileage by adjusting your distributor, which won't cost you jack shit. (Unless you fsck up your firing order or something impossible like that.)) In short, if you want to go fast, you need to understand a lot of mechanical shit, and then you have to build the car appropriately. For example, drop in a 5.0 and a new trans. Or, if you're into the recent Camaros (those guys aren't too bright either--but I do admit, those cars are quick), you can just pop your hood and replace a computer chip, gaining something like 300 horsepower. (Isn't it amazing what's under the hood of those things? You open the hood and all you see is electronics! The first time I saw one of those, I asked, "Is there actually a motor in there?!") Rice boys are a bunch of dumb asses (much worse than Camaro guys, who at least drive American), so they think spending a shitload of money on shiny chrome will improve performance.) Ok, where was I? Oh yeah, so I think rice burners suck because the stupid shit people put on those cars costs a shitload of money and does nothing for performance. But that's not the real reason. You see, that's just human stupidity. The real reason I hate rice burners is this: five years ago, my girlfriend dumped my ass and went for a rice boy! Fsck that!

(By the way, the Camaro comments are said with a friendly-competition kind of tone. Mustang guys and Camaro guys have always had that "sibling rivalry" behavior towards each other, but we all know the real enemies are the rice boys: because of them, we only get about half as many runs on race day. Besides, you'll see Mustang guys and Camaro guys hanging out together at the bar, but you'll never see a muscle car guy hanging out with a rice boy!)

Re:Yes, rice burners definitely do suck!

[Goonie]

Yes, there are people driving modified Japanese cars who've made modifications purely because they think it makes them look tough. I'm sure the same comments applies to American hot-rods, as well. Anybody who knows or cares can pick the difference.

By the way, not all rice-burners are poseur cars. Try a stock Lancer Evo VI or Subaru Impreza WRX STi (or, seeing you can't get either in the states, fit a Rex with an APS stage II turbo kit). Take it for a drive, preferably along a twisty mountain road, in company with a Mustang or Camaro. But then again, patriotic Americans don't drive on twisty mountain roads. They bulldoze down the mountain and put in a superhighway :)

Re:Yes, rice burners definitely do suck!

[Anonymous Coward]

So, what drugs are you on? And where can I get some?

And BTW, it wouldn't hurt to use a few fewer parentheses.

Re:You all suck

[Anonymous Coward]

Ya what you do is so important the government is sure to watch your every move. Anime watching losers who sit at home playing video games and reading slashdot are really high priotities on the governments watched terrorist lists...

get real, you are only that important in your wildest dreams nerdboy...

Legislation in Canada?

[crumbinator]

The article mentions similar legislation in Canada. Does anybody know where Canadians can find more information about this proposed legislaton?

Re:Take a stand indeed!

[Anonymous Coward]

That true. But how about: "If you fuck with us, we'll definetly fuck you up. If you don't, we may also fuck you up (but will be less noticeable)."

[OT} Re:Um, that was on-topic, mods.

[Cid Highwind]

Yes it is. Just because taco quoted a line from "Lain" does not make this a forum for discussing anime. Do you really think we should turn every thread where someone quotes the phrase "use the force" or "beam me up, Scotty" into discussions on Star Wars of Star Trek?

Re:[OT} Re:Um, that was on-topic, mods.

[Anonymous Coward]

Use the source, Luke!

Beam your representatives a clue, Scotty!

Sorry, it was a joke.

[einhverfr]

When I set it up, it only took me 20 mins with the CD-Writing How-To.

Wow, the Slashdot folks think I was serious when I made that joke...

As if the point about ATA making for bad RAID's and congress not understanding this should not have made this clear...

Re:Sorry, it was a joke.

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux: ready for the desktop

A message for America and the UK

[Anonymous Coward]

Learn about how the Muslims are planning to destroy us. Jack Chick has put together a fascinating illustrated glimpse into the dark Sewers of Islam. Learn the truth about the Muslim worship of their Moon God and the idolatry of Baal. This is a must read for all good people.

Re:A message for America and the UK

[Anonymous Coward]

Etymologically wrong. Allah is a contraction of al-Ilah, "THE God", and the word expresses a monotheistic idea. The crescent moon first appears in Islamic art in the Dome of the Rock, and owes rather more to the Byzantine workmen who built it; it was later appropriated to signify a religion still in growth.

Context is everything, but I don't suppose you care for that.

Re:Billy Joel Rocks...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah. I hear you, bro. After this WTC business I've decided to leave New York and move back to Allentown. The Big Apple? You can have it.

indefinite detention of non-citizens

[jonbrewer]

I'm not sure if you are aware, but the US already can detain non-citizens indefinitely. They also do not have to tell detainees what they're accused of.

Three laws passed in 1996 together allow this... and have led to over 3500 people indefinitely detained. The laws are: The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act, The Anti-Terrorist and Effective Death Penalty Act, and The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act

The ACLU has more information on these laws.

Please do not construe my post to be an opinion on anything, just information.

Re:indefinite detention of non-citizens

[Trepidity]

Didn't the Supreme Court rule against this over the summer, forcing the INS to release several thousand non-deportable (because their home country won't take them back) detainees who had completed their sentences but were being held indefinitely?

Re:indefinite detention of non-citizens

[wildwood]

Didn't the Supreme Court rule against this over the summer...?

Yes.

Re:indefinite detention of non-citizens

[rossz]

In that case, Congress has no business trying to pass a law that is known to be unConstitutional. In fact, the new version is (was since it looks like it got dropped) even more unConstititional (is that posssible?) because it would have allowed the detention of legal aliens, too.

Re:indefinite detention of non-citizens

[MrHyd3]

Here's the problem. These people are not Americans, therefore the Constitution should not apply to them. I am tired of people coming over here thinking or expecting a handout...Immigrants coming over here should feel PRIVILAGED!!! to have the benefit to come to this great country. I see too many foreigners getting free rides over American Soil citizens...

Re:Better way to get attention from legislaturers

[Anonymous Coward]

A roommate of mine used to work in the office of a rather prominent senator. Part of the work he did was responding to the huge amount of mail that the senator recieved. He informed me that if you want your senator to actually see your letter, make sure you write in the letter "I want (insert politician name here) to read this letter personally". Otherwise, you will likely recieve a response from a staff member.

limited liabilty

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, and IANAL but I have had to take business law classes, the liability protection is limited pretty much solely to financial matters. I'm not completely sure about civil cases, but I do know that for criminal cases, the officers of the corporation are held responsible for the actions of the corporation and it's constituent workers, even if they did not directly order a criminal action to take place.

Re:limited liabilty

[firewort]

Except that, even if the corporation didn't order the criminal action, if they benefitted from it, then they are liable. If they didn't benefit from it, but instead, a sole employee benefitted, the sole employee is liable.

And when the criminal activity was theft, unless you can identify the sole employee, you're screwed.

A question to ask your congresscritter.

[mrsam]

If you're going to write your congresscritter about this, here's a good question to ask in your letter: whether writing a 'wrong' computer program should carry a longer jail term than getting drunk, getting behind the wheel, and running over pregnant women with your minivan.

Around the same time that Dimitri Sklyarov was arrested, there was another incident in Brooklyn, NY that received some local (and a little bit of national) publicity around here. An off-duty cop spent all night drinking beer in a parking lot. In the morning, he got behind the wheel, and ran into a pregnant woman with his minivan, killing her, her unborn child, and her teenage sister.

In my letter to my elected representatives, I briefly described both incidents. I also observed that Dimitri could potentially spend more time in jail than that drunk driver. In my letter I asked my representatives if they agree that delivering a speech at a conference should potentially carry a longer jail term than vehicular manslaughter. I mailed the letters last week, so I won't receive any replies for a little while, but it should be interesting to see what they say. I also mentioned SSSCA, and I asked them to help me find out more information about that bill. I wanted to know whether using non-compliant computer hardware will send me to jail for a longer period of time than if I ran over a pregnant woman, while drunk.

I think that this is probably the strongest point to criticize these bills with, and the one that is the easiest to communicate. Arguing the main subject SSSCA/DMCA is going to be a little bit difficult, since you'll have to fight the computer H4X0R stereotype. Pointing out that the penalties in these bills are completely out of whack looks to be a more productive approach. If anyone has an opportunity to talk to their congresscritter in person, just ask them point blank whether you should spend more time in jail for viewing DVDs with an unlicensed program, than for driving drunk.

I can't imagine how they'd argue this point. I won't be surprised if they do (nothing about Congress surprises me any more) but even if they do they'll still be very uncomfortable doing that.

Re:A question to ask your congresscritter.

[Prior Restraint]

I wanted to know whether using non-compliant computer hardware will send me to jail for a longer period of time than if I ran over a pregnant woman, while drunk.

The SSSCA has a couple of paragraphs (108) which effectively says, "Violating the SSSCA carries the same penalties as the DMCA."

Lick, eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

And I've said it before, but lick a stamp.

Just goes to show how often you do this. Haven't pretty much all stamps been self-adhesive since the mid-90s? ;-)

Re:Sean Kelly, Closet Homosexual?

[ArchieBunker]

Let me just say that ArchieBunker fully supports the linux gay conspiracy theory.

Contacting Washington

[PingXao]

There are some good links to finding names, addresses and phone numbers for your reps/senators in D.C.
THIS LINK has Senate information.
THIS ONE leads to House of Representatives information.
AND THIS ONE at Project VoteSmart is about the only central repository for FAX numbers.
We need a database of all this information in some easy-to-use format like MySQL or Access (shudder) so that popping off letters and faxes is as easy to do as possible. Email is easy. Snail mail is most effective. If we can't get rid of paper entirely - and this would appear to be the case for effective communication with congresscritters - we need to make it as painless as possible. I have found that the biggest pain in snail mail is NOT the cost of the stamp or the tedious activity of putting folded paper in envelopes. Instead, it's collecting all the relevant addresses and/or FAX numbers in one place. I can't believe no one has done this yet. I've made a small database for maybe a dozen people in Washington, but to do it for every elected rep. and senator would take more than a week. If we could agree on a common format (or formats) then one person per state could get it done in no time at all.

Special interest groups and political action committees have these tools. It's basically targeted spam, but it gets the best results.

Re:Legislation in Canada? Where is it safe to go?

[jalane]

And I was thinking of Canada as possible political asylum. I'm very afraid of staying in this country too much longer. The terrorists abroad blind people to the terrorists whose salary they pay. "This is a dangerous place."

Anyone have ideas what countries it might actually be both safe to move to and a suitable habitat for an experienced systems professional?

Re:I Hate Anime

[aglewack]

don't look at egg-troll's link, ugh. pure barf... How long will it take for that image to wear off?
-I should've guessed-

Re:Stephen King, author, dead at 54

[Anonymous Coward]

Nooooooo...

Not again! That man dies about every other week here.

Read the article

[StrawberryFrog]

The ATA has already been stonewalled .. and an alternative bill called ... PATRIOT

First sentence of the article: ATA has been renamed PATRIOT. So how is this "an alternative bill"?

From overseas

[ballpoint]

I am living in Europe, a part of the world that, while not being the USA itself, nevertheless has very close ties with the USA.

While Europe certainly tries to follow its own course, it is affected in both good and bad ways by what's happening in the USA on nearly all fronts.

Technology is one, legislation another. Things tend to - slowly - trickle down.

This means that on the legislation side, once a law gets passed in the USA, it's likely to be adopted in one form or another in the EU as well, and it becomes extremely difficult to turn it around at that stage.

So a bad law passed in the USA is a bad law passed in the EU as well. It makes no sense to start complaining now to local legislators as they don't know yet what you are talking about. By the time they do know, it is too late.

So I'm asking for ideas about how we could help from here. Contacting an US senator probably isn't going to help, or is it ?

Re:From overseas

[sphealey]

[From a citizen of an EC country]So I'm asking for ideas about how we could help from here. Contacting an US senator probably isn't going to help, or is it ?

Well, two points come to mind: (a) if you don'tcontact them, you can be sure that your concerns won't be heard (b) it can't hurt.

In theory, Senators (more so than Representatives) are supposed to look after the interests of the country as a whole, and some do take quite a bit of interest in the world outside the USofA. So I would say that you should identify the chairman of the Senate committee responsible for your area of concern, and write to that person with your views. (Note that you will of course have to write in English; no Brussels-style translator corps at the US Capitol that I am aware of!).

sPh

Re:From overseas

[ballpoint]

How do I "identify the chairman of the Senate committee responsible for my area of concern" (Brussels, in fact) ?

Re:From overseas

[sphealey]

"How do I "identify the chairman of the Senate committee responsible for my area of concern" (Brussels, in fact) ?"

Um, I think most Western legislative bodies work pretty much the same way. If your concern was the overall relationship of the United States to the rest of the world, either the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or a member of that committee who has voted in agreement with your thoughts, would be a good place to start.

OTOH, if your interest is in promoting joint research into Belgian endive production between the US and Belgium, the Senate Agriculture Committee, (or one of its specialized subcommittees) would come to mind.

Issues involving beer: the Senator from Missouri (home of the world's largest brewery). And so on.

sPh

Re:From overseas

[sphealey]

"How do I "identify the chairman of the Senate committee responsible for my area of concern""

Thought about this a little more on the way home (at least I am not on the Ring!). If you don't have the time to dig through the morass of Senate subcommittees, you could do one of two things: (a) pick a Senator who represents a state similar to yours, and just write to him/her. For example, there are may similarities between Brussels and Chicago, so you could write to the Senators from Illinois. The problem would be that any city similar to Brussels will have a large population, so your letter might not get noticed. (b) Select one of the states with small or mid-sized population (say Nebraska, South Dakota, or even Missouri on the higher end), check to see if one of its Senators has some views somewhat similar to yours, and write to that one. The Senators from the states with small population probably get less mail, and yours will stand out from the average letter.

Good luck!

sPh

Re:From overseas

[mvdwege]

Well, I just gave this some thought this morning, and I concluded that the best thing to do is to write the US Ambassador in your country. The idea is that if they get enough letters pointing out the taint on the US image, and the possible economic consequences of these laws, that some Congressmen will be clued in by the State Department.

Of course, whether this will help is doubtful, but it is better than doing nothing.

Mart

Re:Legislation in Canada? Where is it safe to go?

[Anonymous Coward]

As a Canadian, I have 2 thoughts on the subject:

1. While having less vitriolic laws in general, Canada tends to give a long hard look at any broad new laws the US passes - for example, the Cdn. gov't is now considering a DMCA-like law (naturally I wrote a letter outlining it's faults). However, the Cdn gov't doesn't automatically follow the direction of the US legislators, as evidenced by the strong crypto debate of years past.

2. If you want to get into Canada, I suggest you do so soon. Although it's probably not completely accurate, public perception in Canada is that our immigration laws are far too lax, possibly contributing in part to encouraging terrorists, etc. Maybe a knee-jerk reaction to the events of 9-11, but I've seen similar opinions for quite a while.

So, overall I think it's not a bad place to live. To use a phrase coined by a Canadian some time ago, Canadians are "sleeping with the elephant".

Cheers,
Glenn

Fear and loathing in los congress...

[A_Non_Moose]

People fear what they do not understand, and most people do not understand technology, encyption, CSS (style sheets and the encryption on DVD's).

And this is just regular people (J6P's et al) but the scary part is that it goest double if not triple for congress "critters"...simple fact is that most of these draconian laws are introduced and passed because the congress ppl don't understand technology and are out of touch (for the most part) with the people they represent.

Think about it for just a moment:
Your non-techno-smart friends (you do have them to remind you what ppl are like outside your niche, right?) don't know all the in's and out's of tech, much less the politics involved.

This is amplified much by congress ppl...
silence implies consent, ignorance is bliss and its not illegal/immoral until you are caught.
We've seen what congress/the judiciary/lawyers for or against (decss,napster, FITB) just don't get it regardless of defense/prosecution of laws such as the ATA/SSSCA/DMCA.

Will such a initiative work? Yes, but here is how to "better the cause" using the #'s to your/our advantage:

1) you know how those annoying virus messages (hoax, real) get to you by a # of FWD's...use some of those messages to further *this* cause...the more people see, the better (ignore the fact this is spambot snacks) and add your representatives email as the primary addressee and CC all the other people.
If even a measley 7% of /. readers do this this would make somone take notice.

(Low signal, high noise...but a skipping record/cd is similar and usually gets attended to in quick order...no?)

2) Write the letter (or get a "form letter" if your skills are as poor as mine at times) and sign, date, and address it to every rep. you can think of...do it a few times and if you get a form letter back, try a hand written letter.
tit for tat...if a hand written letter does not get attention by your rep, copy it to your local newspaper editor and imply "is anyone home in our rep's office?".

two to three % of /.'ers, tops...stir the hornets nest.

3) this is the best one yet: Take a day off or two (we are overworked, aren't we?), but, instead of marathon quake sessions go down to where your reps office or his/her's aides and camp out for a day or two. Try to get an appointment, or a word or at the very least a *hand delivered letter*.
And, once again, a "letter to the editor" to your local rag would be even better in this instance.

A "you mean this person is representing me and does not have the time/want to see me? taxation and passing laws w/o representation? have we BEEN here before?

Heh, I'm just the kind of person to do the 3rd.
A) I need a vacation, B) You know the phrase "there is one in every crowd"? /me extends his hand and says "hi, nice to meet you".
C) Stallman is right about standing up against an evil system. Heck, I used to work for the local paper...I know they can dish it out and can't take it...but this kind of thing the *feed on*.

Moose (on his way to get a leave form)

Reply to all.

[ImaLamer]

Instead of replying to all the above messages I'll just write one.

My congressman (Steve Chabot [R-OH]) has responded to my e-mails in the past and even once corrected a 'fact' in my (e)letter.[i was wrong]

I don't like this guy at all and even worked on the campaign [sorta] for the other guy. But really no matter who he/she is - if they don't read your e-mail then they don't care about your p.o.v.

Who cares how long it took you to write it? Chances are if you own a computer and can access e-mail you have some $$, and congress does care about you. Although I don't have squat.

Let's get down to it, no congressman reads your e-mail, letters, faxes and etc. It's all read first by someone else.

Flood them with 30 or so e-mails to let them know that you mean business - wait outside their office with a gun... how else do we get them to listen? Is they what it's come down to?

One simple and easy way. [on top of your letters]
PetitionOnline [SSSCA]

Re:Reply to all.

[MaxGrant]

wait outside their office with a gun...

That has got to be the worst advice I've ever heard someone give on Slashdot. And that's saying a lot.

You need to read the article

[Anonymous Coward]

>First sentence of the article: ATA has been renamed PATRIOT. So how is this "an alternative bill"?

I didn't see that in the article. Which one did you read? I saw an article that said that civil liberties groups had made them go back to the drawing board with the ATA and cone up with a new bill called PATRIOT.

I'm a socialist..

[perdida]

I am a socialist, and I love the Constitution and I despise everything about the Soviet Union.

I say what I think in every way I can. I don't break the law, but I'll be damned if anybody will call my speech a national security threat.

I will continue to speak, write, and peacefully march in the street when necessary. And if you, or your like, pull any quasi-legal crap on me, you'll hear about it on the Net, in the press, and in the courtroom.

Re:I'm a socialist..

[Anonymous Coward]

I am a socialist, and I love the Constitution and I despise everything about
the Soviet Union.

hooray for you. the american socialists of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s loved the soviet union and told lies to cover up the atrocities that they knew were taking place there. so, I guess we aren't talking about folks of a "like", are we?

however, since those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it, and you seem liable to shoot from the hip, you and folks like you scare me.

Re:As long as it's not spam

[Anonymous Coward]

No. Unless you believe that one of the goals of a participatory democracy is to enact barriers to communication between citizens and their elected representatives.

Which do you pay more attention to, an e-mail touting free pantyhose or an legit-looking mail from Leggs?

Think you get spam? I'll bet our Congress folks get tons more spam than you or I ever will (unless you are a Congress person or CEO of Exxon...)

Propose a solution to deal with the thousands of pieces of junk they receive among the few that are worth reading, and I'm sure we will all be happier for it. (how much of your tax money should be spent on dealing with spam?) -AC

America Land Of Freedom

[t_allardyce]

America, land of freedom... freedom to carry around big guns and shoot in 'self defence', freedom to hi-jack stuff. But if for a minute you think you have a right to bring down big false economies, or replace the old outdated ways with new ones that push civilization forward (but don't make afew people filthy rich) then you must be mad, for America is based on money and bribes and bent officials.

Does no-one think it strange that the people (senators?) who came up with these laws (DMCA,SSSCA) even think that they have a right to do this? Just putting these ideas forward should get them suspended and force them to undergo psych. testing. They should be under suspiction of corruption or fraud. Forget the implications of time wasting. (And forget the implications of my spelling) :)

Did you know..

[Anonymous Coward]

that penis birds are becoming extinct?

:o)

Letter to my reps; Opinions please?

[rice_burners_suck]

Alright folks; I already mailed the sample letter from the EFF to my reps, but some of you said I should write my own letter to express my views in my own words. I have done so, and here it is. I will hand-write this letter neatly and mail it certified mail with signature and return receipt, but first, I'd like some constructive criticism and stuff. If anybody wants to, you can mail this letter or modify it to suit your needs. Thanks...

Dear [],

As a constituent, I am gravely concerned over the draft Hollings/Stevens copyright legislation, "Security Systems Standards and Certification Act" (SSSCA), principally authored by the Walt Disney corporation. Please vote AGAINST SSSCA when introduced.

Entertainment companies are pushing this legislation for their convenience, at the expense of unrelated industry nationwide. Introduced as a copyright bill, SSSCA will force electronics and computer software manufacturers to include copyright enforcement technologies in their products. Essentially, Hollywood will dictate design decisions affecting products that have nothing to do with entertainment.

Many important and necessary technologies will become illegal if SSSCA is passed. Computer programs classified as Open Source are an important example. These programs power vast portions of the Internet and are utilized by companies the likes of IBM, the NYSE and even government agencies from NASA to the NSA. Briefly, Open Source programs allow custom modifications to their inner workings. The possibility of removing copyright enforcement presents a big SSSCA loophole, impossible to solve without outlawing Open Source. For obvious reasons, this cannot and must not take place.

Despite these devastating consequences for legitimate business nationwide, SSSCA will NOT benefit copyright holders. Those who use electronics to infringe on copyrights will continue to do so using older, uncrippled products. The SSSCA punishes legitimate individuals and companies for no reason at all. I strongly urge you to oppose such legislation and vote AGAINST SSSCA when introduced.

Sincerely,

[Your name & address]

SCSI ?

[llzackll]

Does this mean ATA will be eliminated and SCSI will be cheaper? If so I'm all for it.

Web polls

[Weasel Boy]

"does anyone know of any politicians that are using web enabled opinion polls to help them understand the thoughts of their constituants?"

Yes, I do. Try visiting your congressional representatives' web sites. All three of mine had web forms to send email, and I think one had a web poll.

Your ignorance is showing.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you actually read the 5th amendment, you'll find that the protection of due process is guaranteed to people, not just U.S. Citizens.

Re:Stephen King, author, dead at 54

[Anonymous Coward]

Sooner or later that idiot will be right. I'll bet that's the one day he doesn't post his crap.

Theres an interesting study

[Criggie]

Try emailing every single senator, member of congress, whip, lord, lady, peer of the relm, minister, chancellor, and representative of your country.

Tally which ones reply personally, by proxy (the secretaries), by autoresponder, and of course those who don't ever respond.

Store that data, and compare it with the same results after the next election.... are our elected leaders getting more Up With The Play? or not?

Another interesting comparison would be to compare which ones respond to paper mail but not email....

Feel free to use these ideas.

Keep things in proportion

[doghouse41]

I think someone really should beat the music industry around the head and tell them to get a grip on reality. We are after all only talking about copying music here, not drug-running, murder and international terrorism.

I am in no way opposed to the general idea that music companies should own copyright in music and be allowed to copy from it.

BUT the music industry should try really really hard to keep a sense of perspective in this matter (somthing IMHO which they have completely failed to to do far through the whole Napster/DMCA debacle.)

The danger that someone might copy a CD, and deprive an already very rich music company of a small amount of revenue does not justify in any way the crippling of millions of PC's, operating systems, hard drives, sound cards, etc. The music industry has completely lost its sense of proportion in this matter, and it should not be imposing huge costs and inconveniene on a huge number of people, most of whom will never copy a CD any way.

The latest device, of creating CD's that will not play on PC's is again a completely disproportionate repsonse. Many of the record companies customer may only listen to CD's on their PC's. Are they going to go out any buy a CD player because they can't listen to record X on their PC? Or are they going to take the CD back to the shop and "borrow" a ripped MP3 from one of their more technically able friends who has managed to copy the CD?

At least there was an argument that Napsters and the whole MP3 thing would encourage people to buy more CD's. I can't see that making life harder for their customers will increase the record companies' profits (this doesn't seem to work for other companies, unless you are called Microsoft!)

Re:Get some PRIORITIES

[Anonymous Coward]

So, are you a troll, or an idiot?

Troll found mugged in parking lot, missing balls

[Anonymous Coward]

There weren't any more details, except that the "testicles were apparently surgically removed with a box cutter." The Troll is reported to be in lame condition, with a possibility of just fucking off and dying any time now. I'm sure we'll miss him, truly a Slashdot icon.