Seeking Arguments Against the CBDTPA?

ccfpark writes "I am going to Washington D.C. next week to talk to my senator (Bill Nelson of FL) and his technology advisor, Reg Lichty, about the CBDTPA. I am personally against this bill as it has the possibility of labeling me as a criminal for my participation in Open Sorce projects such as Handhelds.Org and Tuxscreen, where we endeavor replace proprietary operating systems on consumer electronics with Linux. If this bill is passed it may lead to outlawing these types of activities because it could circumvent software copy protection in these products. What I need are some good resources for formulating a business and political argument against this bill, so that I can speak to these politicians on their level."

Comments

Proper approach

[food-n-bev]

How about a big bag of twenties, preferably with serial numbers not in sequential order?

Seems to be the approach that works best.

Re:Advice

[toupsie]

Forgot one:

• Be sure to take a bath -- RMS seems to always forget this.

I found an acronym to remember the sssca2 by

[Odinson]

It reads like a headline...

Congress Breaks Democracy, Takes Peoples America.

Re:Advice

[carm$y$]

Bill Gate used to[...]

It's Bill Gates - always in the plural. God knows why - one of them should've been enough... :)

Re:Playing Devil's Advocate for the Industry

[lysurgon]

Murdering someone is already a crime, why do we need laws to ban assault rifles?

Because they have no other legitimate use. Contrast this with knives and piano strings, which also can be used to kill, but also have plenty of non-murderous applications.

This is precisely what makes the NRA's arguments so rediculous: they seriously state that one needs a 50-round semi-automatic .75 mm bore weapon to hunt deer with. If hunting and shooting are to be condidered a legitimate sport (a dubious notion), then we aught to make like the british and make you leave your guns at the hunting lodge and shooting range.

This would take a lot of the stuffing out of the 2nd-amendment lobby, unless you really buy that "home defense" stuff. Poopycock! I mean, it's been shown that a gun in your home is more likely to kill you or a family member than an intruder. Moreover, if people really do legitimately need guns in this day and age, there's something much more fundimentally wrong with the society we're living in. Something, I might add, that is best solved with other tools than guns.

what not to say..

[geekoid]

...After all the anthrax I sent you, I can't believe you would vote for this...

Re:Bogus Laws

[tps12]

It's not that simple. Republicans can be pro-small business as easily as pro-big business (look at proposed tax cuts), since *some* of them appreciate the benefits of free markets. Democrats can be anti-business (i.e., pro-government...most are) or anti-freedom (i.e., pro-government...again, hardly unusual).

If you're dealing with a Democrat, I'd suggest...dealing with a Republican. Seriously, you're not going to find a Democrat who'd rather let you decide what to do with your personal property than pass a bill letting him or her decide him- or herself. The response to expect is, "don't worry, we'll take care of it."

With a Republican, revert to quotations from the Constitution, intentions of our forefathers, etc. You don't need to resort to invoking the Almighty, though in certain states that won't cost you points.