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"Super-DMCA" Bills In Tennessee and Arkansas

Posted by timothy on from the vote-with-your-paddles dept.

David Turner writes "Tomorrow, Tennessee's Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on two nearly identical DMCA-like bills. These bills threaten personal privacy, anonymity, and security research. SB 213 and HB457 are similar to state laws introduced all over the country by the MPAA. Despite amendments, the bills still threaten digital freedom. Last month, twenty people showed up at the Massachusetts public hearing, and effectively opposed the one MPAA lobbyist. If you attend, speak from notes rather than simply reading a statement (but you may be able to submit written testimony). Please come to Legislative Plaza in Nashville, rooms 12 and 14 at 3:30pm." And Kraken137 writes "The House and Senate of the Arkansas state legislature have passed the MPAA's "Super-DMCA" Bill, and it is now sitting on the Governor's desk awaiting his signature. It's not too late to convince him to veto this bill! Arkansas residents are urged to contact the Governor's office to express their opposition to this violation of rights. The ever-vigilant EFF has a page where residents can send a fax to Governor Huckabee's office to let their voices be heard. Remember, paper and phone calls make more of a difference than emails!"

3 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. In other words... by WetCat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    posessing a natural number

    278293794287349823794872398472938479234872934872 39 84792384729384709239
    4887948798720824071874091674 1738178274821797837491 23874
    9872384712874913874928748274938743658736587 4368522 34263746
    3276472347293847273948237948237472349234 2348273498 2374

    is illegal and will be prosecuted by the full extent.
    Because this number just happens to be a Britney song encoded in Radix-50 MPEG-4 format.

    If you got this number in your calculations, you MUST
    stop now and erase it as soon as possible.

  2. Re:I faxed Huckabee... by Kraken137 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Agreed. I've gotten about 20 people to fax him today, and I'm planning on calling his office later today, as are a couple of my co-workers (2 of whom are also college professors). We're also sending a carefully crafted email to our CEO to try and point out the places where this 'Super-DMCA' could possibly harm our ability to effectively do business in this state.

  3. Re:It's time to really do something, people... by revscat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Since the only thing our politicians will listen to is lobbyists, we need to form powerful lobbyists groups of our own to protect our interests.

    More specifically, they listen to lobbyists with money. If you can help legislator X to get reelected by contributing to his campaign funds, you will have that legislator's ear. If you are merely operating from ideology but can do nothing to help that legislator win the next election, you may get lucky and be able to have lunch with him or her, but you will not have any long term effect.

    The day of effective public advocacy groups is over. Nader is a laughing-stock, the ACLU is loathed by many members of the judiciary and much of the public, the EFF has been almost completely ineffective, and the American public is content with whatever legislative travesty the President advocates, so long as it is in the name of national security and supported by Republicans.

    Corporate lobbyists control the legislative process. You, unfortunately, have no impact on this process. Your precious vote is worthless.