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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..."
...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.
NO!!!! Why Adam Schiff, why? I know times have probably been tough since you lost your job as DA of New York City, but please don't sell out to the Hollywood lobby!
Quick, someone get Ben Stone and Jack McCoy on the phone and tell them to talk some sense into the old man.
It hurts when I pee.
Don't email, don't write -- FAX!
h tml and fill out the brief form.
Go to this site: http://www.digitalconsumer.org/cbdtpa/cbdtpa-inf.
It includes a sample letter that you can editor accordingly and then it will automatically fax it to your government representatives, encouraging them to act against this bill (and potential law!).
I Personally Recommend monolinux
For anybody to lazy (or paranoid) to click on the link:
March 27, 2002
Promote Consumer Use of Broadband and Prevent Digital Piracy!
Dear Colleague
I invite you to join me in supporting legislation that would
encourage demand for broadband Internet service and protect
creative enterprise from the threat of digital piracy.
The promise of the Internet has not been fully met. While
consumers have unprecedented access to information resources
on the web, there is still a demand for more. Congress has
recently debated ways to better serve our constituents by
improving access to broadband Internet service, yet the demand
for this technology is severely lacking. This is simply
because consumers can't get what they want -- high quality
digital content like movies, music, and video games.
The reason for this has become very clear. Our nation's
creative enterprises have been hesitant to offer their
products over the Internet out of fear of piracy --
intellectual theft. And their concerns are justified. The
movie studios estimate that they lose over $3 billion annually
to piracy, yet private industry has stalled in developing
technology to prevent this illegal activity.
I would like to direct your attention to the following op-ed
written by Michael Eisner, Chairman and CEO of Disney.
Mr. Eisner points out the profound historical significance of
intellectual property rights and draws on one early and
aggressive advocate of protecting such property rights, the
16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
I plan to introduce legislation that would safeguard digital
content by spurring the rapid development of copyright
protection technology. Similar legislation, S. 2048, has been
introduced in the Senate by Senators Hollings, Stevens,
Inouye, Breaux, Nelson and Feinstein. I believe this is a
necessary step and I encourage you to join me in this effort.
If you have any questions or would like to become an original
cosponsor, please contact me or Jen Briggs of my staff at
5-4176.
Sincerely,
Adam B. Schiff
Member of Congress
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
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.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
Why is it *their* Internet all of a sudden? Just downloading an ISO of Redhat 7.2 takes a miniature eternity on my gigabit backbone with 100mbits to the desktop, because that's not all *my* traffic - can you imagine the sudden and continuous drain in bandwidth when anyone in my subnet decides to turn on the tube to watch Glitter?
Okay... bad example...
You hear about telecomm companies putting their own special networks together all the time. The entertainment industry needs to do the same. HDTVNet (or whatever they call it) can then be tightly controlled, with high-security copy protection devices all down the line, right down to the decoder on the TV. Make them completely inaccessable to the desktop - freaked out connectors, bizzare syncing and decoding strategies, whatever. No special legislation required - just technological consistancy in their own products.
The reasons they don't do this, of course, is two-fold. One, it would be hideously expensive (although will all that piracy suddenly gone, they'd suddenly be overflowing with revenue... right?), and two...
Well, I can't think of anybody who would go for it. Re-purchase every bit of audio/video equipment I own just to conform to the new services? I don't think so.
Of course, it's not like I won't have to do that in the next few years anyway... Thanks, incompatable HDTV standards!
GMFTatsujin
Only 60,000 of us would have to pitch in $5 to make our very own pro-digital consumer senator a reality.
Matt
this, or are they that corrupt ?
The 'industry' estimates it lost 3 billion...based on WHAT ?!?!?! Figures they had surgically removed from Sen. Hollins A$$ ??
What is the basis for this absolute dollar value ??
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
So tell me... What makes more sense? The CBDTPA? or this?
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.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
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.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
lets flood the local news papers with letters. If Hemos is still reading this, why not post up a list of emails of news people, lets get this issue on the Oreilly factor, MSNBC, and as many highly watched shows as possible, also lets write as many news papers as possible, how about a list.
While i dont think petitions will stop this, if you are going to petititon, do it seriously, a flood of letters to hundreds of diffrent news sites and shows may work.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
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
- Dave
USE BUSH!!!!
Even if you don't like him, use him as a second line of defense. This abomination has to be signed to become law...
Write (or fax) to Bush, and tell him to actively oppose this legislation, and to veto it if it gets passed.
Use his biases against him:
"Unwarranted intrusion of government into business"
Supports the "Liberal" Hollywood Elite at the expense of our innovative tech sector
He himself said that "I prefer innovation to litigation".
Even if you don't personally believe these things, remember that he supposedly does. Use his biases to our advantage! The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend!
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
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...
If everyone has suggestions, please post them there!
Why bother.
Try a right-wing talk show host. A few of those guys up in arms ("The Liberal media whores are out to destroy your right to use your computer!") could turn a couple of elections.
Finding God in a Dog
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.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
"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.
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.
That light you see at the end of the tunnel might be from an oncoming train.