Slashdot Mirror
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)
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.
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.
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
Please write your congress critters. Let them know that some of us still value our freedoms and our rights.
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.
"Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"
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.
"Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"
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.
-------------------------------------------------
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.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
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 $100 to the RIAA every time you get a song stuck in your head? Yeah, let me write up a draft and mail it to Congress.
Take a picture, put it in a safe. The world will change if SSSCA is aproved.
Imagine if technology development becomes much more bourocratic in US, with lot's of government licenses and taxes and bourocracy. Will the big corporations, that already keep their production in foreign coutries, spend money in development in the US? I don't think so.
What are the reactions? Try to imagine it? The developement will be done in foreign coutries (like Brazil or India, or even China, Cuba), and these countries will have a big economy growth, and will be a solid growth, because the technology development will be done there, where there's no bouracracy.
What about US? The high investments in University will stop, it won't be interesting for big corporations (like Sun, IBM, HP) to invest in Amaricans Universities. So the college education will lower quality, which will take a step back for US economy in a long term.
There are many and many companies that has born in garages. Companies like Sun, HP, and many others we all know. They will stop appearing, they will appear where home-made technology is possible. That's horrible for US, but wonderful for the rest of the world.
Imagine US without linux. Without BSD, how secure will be US internet? IIS? Apache will be outlaw! Imagine all the servers around US infected with Nimda, and nobody but M$ can do anything to change this.
What will you choose, the present or the future?
-=-=-=-=
I know life isn't fair, but why can't it ever be un-fair in MY favor!?
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.
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.
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.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
People fear what they do not understand, and most people do not understand technology, encyption, CSS (style sheets and the encryption on DVD's).
/. readers do this this would make somone take notice.
/.'ers, tops...stir the hornets nest.
/me extends his hand and says "hi, nice to meet you".
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
(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
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"?
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)
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
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
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