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Cringely On Civil Disobedience
Sauron23 writes "Robert Cringely over at PBS has his usual weekly Pulpit out. This weeks it's a follow up to last weeks discussion of one of the enforcers of the DMCA, BayTSP. He clarifies some of the issues surrounding a planned bust in October for P2P users sharing movies and makes perhaps an unusual request for civil disobediance from P2P users. I don't know what 10 million pirated copies of "Debbie does Dallas" would be worth either Bob. Probably more than the courts would want to handle. Worth the read." Some of the stronger parts of the column, IMHO, is the commentary on the e-mails people sent in.
This kind of civil disobedience is NOT going to be very effective.
With the civil rights movement of the 1960's, civil disobedience was very vocal and right in the public eye- this, on the other hand, will hardly be noticed by most people.
A more effective way to show your displeasure with the current legislation may be to protest in "real life" rather than in cyberspace.
Have you been stalked by Seth today?
Some how I dont think anyone is really going to be impressed by a bunch of nerds holding a virtual "sit in" on a P2P network.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
This follows the simple principal that if you or I drive 100 miles-per-hour on the highway, we get a ticket, but if EVERYONE drives 100 miles-per-hour, they change the speed limit.
Everyone isn't going to do this. No way. I totally agree with his analysis of the problem, but unless some critical mass of lawbreakers were to be reached (chances being somewhere between fat and slim) you'd get the same result as you would if you were driving down the interstate in a pack of cars all going 100 mph: one guy would get nailed by the highway patrol and the rest would be ignored. The guy who pulled you over wouldn't care about the ones who got away... he got YOU, the rest are "job security".
But don't I WISH this would work!
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
What cringely suggests is great. I am a huge proponent of organizing to oppose certain laws that adversely affect me. How do you organize people to do something like that? If one was to become a leader in an organization that takes non-violent action against these laws, isnt it likely that our government would start to watch our every move and make our life hell? Couldnt anti-DMCA activity be perceived by some as terrorist activity. I would be reluctant to pro-actively speak my mind on this issue for fear of repercussions. There is a lot of money out there that wants these laws in place. Im sure they have some clout to ruin my life if I speak out.
--------- I have no signature
Money got this law passed and money will make it go away.
Counter the RIAA's dollars by making a contribution to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and earmark the donation for fighting the DMCA.
Take some of that money you're saving by not buying CD's and poney it up to those than can help.
"We're sorry, but the website you're trying to reach has been disconnected."
I think this DMCA craziness will stop with one "scapegoat": take a cute, innocent and doe-eyed teenager. Let's name her Jane Doe.Imagine said teenager has downloaded her very first MP3 Britney Spears song (shudder) from Kaazaa.
Have 20 armed-to-the-teeth RIAA goons kick down the door of her bedroom, drag her to court and prosecute her for 20 years for music piracy. If some high-powered RIAA lawyer claims US$ 20 Mil. for IP theft, from her hapless parents, that's even better. Lock Jane Doe in prison. Cut to Jane's parents crying over both the tragic destiny of their daughters and over the lawyer's bill.
Then, plaster her (cute, innocent, doe-eyed) face all over the net and all over CNN and every other TV network in the world and have Linus Torvalds himself explain that "this terrible injustice could happen to your teenager! And all this just for downloading a music file!!".
Then stand back, relax, and watch the public outrage, roused by the suffering of poor cute little Jane Doe, sweep away the RIAA, the MPAA, the DMCA and whatever else is bothering you.
This is very effective. But not very nice for the poor "Jane Doe"...
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
If you are someone that WISHES that his suggestion could work, but isn't going to perform civil disobediance for one reason or another, then try this:
Think of the time it would take to find and download this movie, and instead spend half that time writting a letter to your representative.
If you've already written your representative, then write somebody else.
And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in with an MP3 of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.
And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-DMCA Movement, and all you got to do to join is rip it the next time it come's around on the guitar.
Civil disobience has its place, however his suggestion doesn't reall work in the long run...
all one will really accomplish here is get fined, possibly have their equipment conficated...
and end up with a criminal record, this will not change anything...!
The Question becomes what will change things...?
What I think...give this issue about another year or so and its going to start to divide people....
Digital Rights are going to end up being an issue like Abortion rights, what I would like to see is it reach the level of slavery. We all know what happened then, and while I don't advocate that kind of outcome, not by a long shot...I think it needs to reach that kind of level of awareness in peoples minds.
The corporations need a wake up call....
Organize a strike against the offices of big music/movie studios...block the entrances so they can't go to work, and produce thier wares then they will start to listen...you have to impact the bottom line in ways that have a public eye showing. No Vilolence people...I can't stress that enough, just protest.
You can't win through boycott either, because little suzy's parents are always going to buy her the next Disney DVD no mater what the issues...
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
No, when the speed limit was 55 and everyone drove 70, the police could pull over anyone they disliked. They didn't try to pull over everyone all at once. But speed limits are very different than copyright laws. When some of us started driving 55 (I kept right), the road became dangerous and they had to raise the limit.
The DMCA is only selectively enforced already. We can't make them enforce it.
'SBEMAIL!' is better than a goat!!
The term civil disobedience was made popular through a speech by Henry David Thoreau which later influence MLK and Gandhi. Gandhi took a slightly different approach which he also gave a separate name.
The best way to explain civil disobedience is with the words of Thoreau himself:
"If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth. Certainly, the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring or a pulley or a rope or a crank exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy is worse than the evil. But if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another then I say break the law . Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I must do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn."
Obviously, not being able to copy movies surely doesn't constistute as making you "the agent of injustice to another." Instead of breaking the law, go out and vote for god's sake. How many of everyone hear complaining has 1) voted in the previous presidental and congressional elections and 2) attempted to educate fellow voters about the evils of laws like this?
If you really care, do something about it. Don't try to pretend that you are doing something about it by breaking the law.
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BlackBolt
I believe he hit the nail on the head with:
/. does get mentioned it is usually with the word "hacker" or that some site was "slash dotted" like it had been subject to DOS on purpose. [and please let's not even start about the difference between "hacker", "cracker", "Blackhat", "Whitehat and "Grayhat"]
"But don't blame me for it. Most readers had never heard of BayTSP and had no idea how the DMCA was enforced until last week's column, "
We talk about the DMCA just about weekly here and in other forums, never seen by mainstream Americans. When
If we want to change the DMCA, we need to start talking to mom, dad and the neighbors. They need to understand that shortly they will be buying a CD of their favorite music that will only play on registered devices. That these devices will require replacement on a regular basis and they will will be paying for it. That the DVD they bought their grand-daughter forces her to watch more commericals before she can seen her movie, than a network Saturday morning. That the networks consider video taping programs theft and are working on making it illegal to fast forward through commericals and the device will prevent it and keeping the current vcr will not be an option.
They are soon going to hear Britney Spears tell them that downloading songs is a crime. They are going to hear it on TV and they are going to believe it is a crime (the distinction of ownership, and fair use is not going to be made by RIAA or MPAA).
We need Americans to start looking at the DMCA, the RIAA and the MPAA with the same eye they used when the tabacco companies told us "Smoking is not addictive." We need to do just as much to show them that if they are not concerned, their representatives will go to the mine and leave them with the shaft.
Let me be blunt. It is 2002. Post 9/11.
You cannot and will not get the PR and imagery of the 60's with the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam Protestors. Accept it and move on.
Today, DC was scheduled to be 'shut down' by IMF protestors. In the preceeding week, thanks to the media's constant drumming the the Chief's press conferences, John and Jane Public consider the protestors to be a big annoyance while driving to work, and thanks to the police for keeping those nasty people from disrupting my work routine.
If Cringley's so-called mass protest is pulled off, I suspect that the authorities will use the media to pass along the mantra: "These are hackers. These are thieves. These are bad people. We put bad people away."
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
It is a copyright infringement under the "traditional" copyright laws.
Sending all your friends a copy of DeCSS would be such violation. Or giving people on the street floppies with DeCSS - this one would be more public and likely to get some media and authorities' attention, which is the goal.
We should figure out some way to make our P2P apps notify the law enforcement whenever we've downloaded a copyrighted clip. I am thinking about some kind of plugin into Kazaa and gnucleus et al.
It would be such a massive wave of honesty that their mail server would probably collapse.
Stop the brainwash
Perhaps someone should write a Windows trojan that pops up a dialog box explaining the situation (and consequences) with "click Ok to engage in civil disobedience". The application would download some unauthorized digital content, then print the "Turning Yourself in to The Authorities" HOWTO.
slashdot broke my sig
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
What I propose is a national gathering (perhaps in 2-4 locations simaltaneously) where folks can come together en masse to explicitly violate terms of the DMCA collectively in a public manner.
Would have modded you up, but then couldn't give you my email address =)
schlachtavius _at_ yahoo.com
Are you proposing it, or are you "proposing" it? Because if you're indeed proposing it, I'm in if it's well done, and I'll help organize. I'd probably be in for a California location. Perhaps we should throw up a site to direct people in this conversation to...
Okay, done. Check out the new Digital Mandate Consumer Advocacy group, at yahoo groups. We can start there as a place to gauge interest in a national act of civil disobedience.
If you're an armchair activist for tech issues, consider subbing our new group. The first thing we're gonna do is figure out who we've got, what issues we want to focus on, and how we might stage a massive protest. So sign up! We need you! I'll bring the Hi-C and rice krispy treats.
--schlach