CBDTPA Finds A Champion In the House

pshoemaker writes: "Wired is reporting that House member Adam Schiff of Burbank is seeking a co-sponsor for his House version of Hollings' CBDTPA. His 'Dear Colleagues' letter lays-out the same inspired thinking: that without copy protection there can be no broadband entertainment." Another reader suggests: "Be sure to also check out who's been paying him just so you know who it is he's representing..."

Comments

I've already written...

[Corvaith]

...to my representatives on this one. Long, detailed letters, in fact. I encourage everyone else to do the same. Make sure that they're well and fully aware of how their own constituents feel on the issue.

Ok now this is beginning to piss me off

[HanzoSan]

Every day, they seem to be pushing this more and more.

People if you are going to stop this you better act FAST!!! we DONT have much time.

I listed ways to stop this in a previous slashdot post

Its time to take action, meaning schedule a mass protest, not a petition, but protests, on many college campus's, highschools, and online.

If this law passes we are fucked, open source will be killed, the internet will be practically killed, broadband wont be adopted, and neither will digital tv, people will be busy using VCRs, and busy on their 56k to check their email since besides trading files theres no reason to ever upgrade to broadband.

Previous post on slashdot, FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!


INFORM --- Tell the public what the SSSCA is!

Explain ---- Tell the public whats wrong with the SSSCA

Results ---- Tell them what will happen if the SSSCA passes, and what kinda society it will lead to if the trend continues

Solution ---- Tell them how to stop the SSSCA, tell them a msg similar to what I'm telling you, explain to them not to just stop the SSSCA, but to promote absolute freedom of speech online, meaning no one can control what you do with your computer, if the RIAA and MPAA does not want us to pirate stuff, they should make it impossible to pirate or undesirable to do so, if this means lowering the price so its not worth buying a CD or DVD burner, or if this means locking the DVD up, they have options, what they shouldnt do is take away our freedoms, its like saying you cant use your hands to draw a copy of a picture you like.

Let's buy our own senator

[mgoyer]

I propose that we buy our own senator since Hollings was bought for as little as $300,000.

Only 60,000 of us would have to pitch in $5 to make our very own pro-digital consumer senator a reality.

Matt

Re:Let's buy our own senator

[dimator]

What the fuck, man. Is this what the founding fathers had in mind? Government officials making decisions based solely on who paid them and how much? This fucking sucks.

If public servants truly had the best interests of the people in mind, they would make decisions based on what they thought would help the most -- that's what we vote for them for anyway! They shouldn't be allowed to take a fucking dime from these damn lobbyists.

Repost of "PETITiONS NEVER WORK"

[HanzoSan]

When will people get it through their thick skulls that petitions dont work.

Lets look at DMCA, did petitions stop it? Hell no.

Lets look at Napster, did petitions save Napster? Hell no.

Why isnt marijuana legal? People have been petitioning for it by the millions for 20 years or more now.

Face it, Petitions have never solved a thing.

Tabacco was made Legal because people didnt obey the laws, civil disobedience by the millions, and there arent enough jails to enforce it, alcohol? Alcohol was illegal once, it took the mafia and illegal activities, corruption and control of the government through the mafia, essentially terrorism tactics to make alcohol legal.

SSSCA, you arent going to stop this unless you fight, you dont have to be violent to fight, you can fight with your intelligence, programmers should write unstopable programs like freenet, rich people should support lobby groups on our side, people who are good writers should write books, articles, editorials, and give as much media attention as possible to this, public speakers should host rallies along with musicians at local colleges where other intelligent people are. Contact churches, libaries, civil rights groups, and convince them how important it is to protect our rights. Contact patriotic groups, anti government groups, and anarchist groups and explain to them how the government is trying to control them not just offline but online as well.

Contact the elderly, contact teachers, and highschool students, explain to all of these groups whats going on, hang posters in front of highschools, near libraries, near sam goody and HMV, Blockbuster and other stores which tell people about the SSSCA, use clever images, such as comparing the SSSCA to Nazism, Explain how unfair it is, use images of jail and rich CEOs, show images of locks on their computer.

If all of the people reading this did this in their towns seperately, meaning true activism on a LARGE scale, Well its simple to break it down into parts.

INFORM --- Tell the public what the SSSCA is!

Explain ---- Tell the public whats wrong with the SSSCA

Results ---- Tell them what will happen if the SSSCA passes, and what kinda society it will lead to if the trend continues

Solution ---- Tell them how to stop the SSSCA, tell them a msg similar to what I'm telling you, explain to them not to just stop the SSSCA, but to promote absolute freedom of speech online, meaning no one can control what you do with your computer, if the RIAA and MPAA does not want us to pirate stuff, they should make it impossible to pirate or undesirable to do so, if this means lowering the price so its not worth buying a CD or DVD burner, or if this means locking the DVD up, they have options, what they shouldnt do is take away our freedoms, its like saying you cant use your hands to draw a copy of a picture you like.

hahahaha

[HanzoSan]

I dont see you guys trying to stop this.

I dont see you all protesting in the streets on a massive scale, because thats what its going to take. Once it passes your protests wont work, it will be War on Sharing.

Re:Dont you get it? THESE PEOPLE DONT CARE

[Aqualung]

You act like this is a democracy, as if every voice counts, surprise this is a republic

I hate to be a grammar nazi, but you misspelled 'plutocracy' =P

An extra point on the DigitalConsumer.org Letter

[Lethyos]

http://www.digitalconsumer.org will fax a pre-written letter to your appropriate representative for you.

However, it misses out on one point that I think is a valuable addition to the letter. If you are going to send a letter to your reps, please consider adding this!! Here's what I wrote...

5. It is not the responsibility of the government to ensure profitability of obsolete business models. Times are changing and technologies are rapidly evolving. Many large industry players refuse to change their business models to adapt to a changing economy and consumer base. People want the right to create mix collections of the content they purchase, the right to create personal copies, and other various rights that are clearly fair use and do not harm producers. Media industry players feel this will dissolve their profits, and therein lies the core issue driving legislation such as the CBDTPA and DMCA. This issue is the industry's refusal to adapt to the needs and desires of consumers. Traditionally, businesses provide what the customer wants, or they fail. No business has the right to man-handle consumers as the entertainment industry has. This is especially the case when what the consumers want is not piracy as large corporations would have one believe. People want free reign to use the information they own as they see fit. Not everyone will chose to use copyrighted material for the purpose of piracy. However, these bills assume all consumers are criminals and thus violate a principal American ideal: that we are innocent until proven guilty. Large corporations should not be granted greater control over media technologies and the subsequent use of content. If they are granted more power, it will only result in more vicious tactics that will both stifle technology and choice in both American and global markets.

If everyone has suggestions, please post them there!

Digging Graves

[gnovos]

It's sad sad sad. It's like watching somone dig his own grave, but not knowing it's for him. Broadband is the very LAST thing the Distribution Industry wants, becuase it will allow non "approved" artists an easy and quick way to compete with them. What they DO want is a huge stumblng block in the computer indistry that will slow down the adoption and progress of new technology.

Re:Yeah thats exactly how you guys stopped the DMC

[SomeoneYouDontKnow]

"instead of writing congress, try writing the media."

I agree with you 100%. We're a small group here, and what we think will only count if we convert others to our side. Writing to the media is a great way to do that. In fact, I'd posted a list of newspaper directories to another post in this thread. Here they are again.

• Newspapers.com
• N-NET
• Newspapers Galore

And I'll issue my challenge again. If everyone here will walk away from Slashdot long enough to write to your local newspaper, we can start to make a difference. No, not all letters will get published. Maybe most of them won't. But someone there has to read them, and they'll be educated in the process, so they will be more familiar with the issue when they hear about it again.

Just one letter. That's all I ask. If you want to write more, that's great, but at least write one.