Interview with EFF's Fred Von Lohmann

scubacuda writes "Tech Focus has an --> interview with EFF's Fred Von Lohmann, Senior Intellectual Property Attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Covered in the interview: Kazaa, commercial skipping, DMCA, 802.11b networks, congressmen friendly to the idea of "fair use", and how to "make a difference"." Update: 01/08 17:42 GMT by M : Link changed to reduce the load on Techfocus.

Comments

How you can *really* make a difference...

[Bonker]

"Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty."

"You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul."

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

"Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man"

- Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi

Nonviolent disobedience people. Download the music, rip the DVD's, skip the commericials, encrypt the email. Don't buy the X-Box or the PS2. Don't go to see Disney movies. Don't give in. Don't give up.

This issue is more important and far ranging than

[dpilot]

simple matters of P2P and copyright.

It really amounts to the beginning of the Decline of Western Civilization.

Go back to around the tenth century, for a moment. Islamic civilization was supreme. Science was seen as learning about God and his works, rather than being in conflict with religion. Eventually the Islamic dominance came under seige for other reasons, but they lost that attitude toward science. European civilization picked it up, and the era of Western dominance began.

Nor do I mean to hold up Science as a religion. For my working definition, Science is the mindset that we can study and attempt to understand the Universe and its contents. For the religious, this really is learning about God and his works, essentially the old Muslim belief.

But now for the decline of the West... We have apparently decided that the current business models of the entertainment industry are more important than digital innovation. Both the legislation *and the attitude under which we crafted that legislation* are significant. Recently there was a blurb about the Bush Administration wanting science to have a "conservative tilt." Science has always been used and tilted, but AFAIK never as a piece of public policy. New Age pseudoscience is on the rise - creation "science", crystals, magnets, copper bracelets, etc.

Essentially, the West is beginning to turn its collective back on science and progress - to remain comfortable in what is known or at least doesn't require really hard work. (like math) Most of what I mention happens in the US, but those same things have analogs around the rest of the Western world, so don't pretend non-US shouldn't worry.

Obviously this isn't universal. There are people fighting these trends, there are people still studying science, math, etc. Presumably the trend is still reversible, I hope. But it's there, it's growing, and it lends another chunk of urgency to the FSF's fight.