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

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

[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

[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

[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

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.

If you want more details

[BrookHarty]

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

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.

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.

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: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: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.

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.