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Congressional Anti-Piracy Caucus Formed
questionlp writes "News.com reports that three members from the House of Reps has formed a caucus that aims to stop piracy and make for stronger IP laws. One of the members of the caucus: helped author a note last fall to 74 fellow Democrats assailing the Linux open-source operating system's GNU General Public License as a threat to America's 'innovation and security.'"
Where is the Fair Use and Consumer Rights Caucus?
Oh yeah, there is none.
Please email all complaints to root@127.0.0.1 and the issue will be dealt with in due time.
a note last fall to 74 fellow Democrats assailing the Linux open-source operating system's GNU General Public License as a threat to America's 'innovation and security.'
Turn it all off then. Vast portions of the Internet run on Linux, FreeBSD (even though it isn't GPL) and especially Apache. Maybe we should all pick a day and turn it all off, at least in the US it would probably bring traffic to a halt. THEN maybe they will reconsider making stupid laws regarding the choice of one's operating systems!
The Anti-Blog
These men have just become my three favorite people to hate, along with our non-president Bush.
Here's some addresses for you to do with as you please; normally I'd recommend writing them as I usually do, but their corrupt stupidity compels me to not care if you DDOS them, spam them, or whatever:
Rep. Robert Wexler
Rep. Adam Smith
Rep. Tom Feeney
Oh, and if you haven't already, try joining the EFF.
Corporatism getting way out of hand. It's getting scary as hell if you ask me.
Here's information about Wexler's main contributors, and here's information about Smith's. It looks like Smith is the one getting the yacht, since his #1 contributor by industry is the computer industry. Which makes sense since he's the one who wrote the note attacking linux.
A Democrat leading the charge to outlaw Linux and open source AGAIN! I am saying this as a registered democrat before someone marks this as flamebait. And I note there is at least 1 republican involved in this my point there really is no diffrence between the major parties.
Just dont know what to do... EFF ACLU all good and well but there is no way in hell they can ever match the funds that MS MPAA RIAA et al have...
I guess its true if voting really made a diffrence it would be illegal.
It isn't time to spam your Congressmonkey yet. They haven't DONE anything, or even proposed to do anything yet. When they actually start doing something, then it will be time to act.
:)
I disagree - if you happen to be a constituent of said Congressmonkeys, you are paying their salaries, and you therefore should complain often & loudly when they do anything that you don't feel represents your interests.
American way and all.
With all the non-sense laws that our government comes up with regarding technology, wouldn't it make sense to form a group of knowledgable and experienced individuals to lobby against these laws?
;). We all know that our normal politicians can't get it right. I think we can!
I'm sure that slashdot can bring a real life political slashdot effect. Maybe it's something worth thinking about, or perhaps starting
i think its funny how a rep from wash, whose district includes ms headquarters, comes out in favor of ip laws and against linux. i wonder how much that cost balmer.
What would, I think, make the most difference would be to write to Smith and tell him that if he persists in his unAmerican campaign against opensource software, you're going to send money to anyone who opposes him in the next election. And then follow through, if he doesn't change his position. A website devoted to taking donations for that purpose, and reporting unfavorably on Smith's activities would be a good thought-provoker for Smith. When next year rolls around, it would be a good time to remind slashdotters with a little fun money what Smith stands for. Could be a substantial source of anxiety for Smith.
When will you people grow up?
Copyright protection laws (including Anti-Piracy) are great for Free Software!
Is copyright law was enforced 100%, 80 percent of the world's computer users would have been Free Software users by now.
$600 for MS Office? I don't think so.
If you don't like paying for music- don't support corporate artists.
Form a band of your own, for daemon's sake!
I've been generating my own music (i'm a techno freak) for years. And guess what, ambient music is easy easy easy to make on your own.
Breaking rules is for kids, Making rules of their own is for adults.
The more you rant about Freedom and Piracy, the more power to the establishment to link Free Software and Piracy.
I didn't go to see the Matrix. I haven't bought a Music CD in 5 years. Grow up and Fight!
--- Nothing but Blood and Kosmos
If you want people to listen to the EFF, start becoming memebers. Let EFF say that they represent a million people who would be very upset if a law that introduces stronger IP laws that affect fair use.
sri
"...blamed P2P networks for spreading..."
I always thought that in US, in general the argumentation was, for example, "guns doesn't kill, people do". So how come when it comes to copyright infringement and such, it is always the tool that is the cause, and not people.
From the article:
What about the concerns of millions of Americans whose livelihoods depend on free access to technology? Open source software creates jobs, because it creates the opportunity for someone with an idea to build a business without having to have hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest in software. For instance, I have started a software development business that I would not have been able to afford to start without free software:
I am sure I could come up with a couple hundred thousand more if I really thought about it. The point is that I don't have the money for any of that. If things go well I plan to hire several developers over the next year or two. That's as many as ten jobs that wouldn't exist if it weren't for free software.
Seriously, the argument that free software is "A threat to America's innovation and security," makes about as much sense as the one that says that giving rich people a tax break will lead to more jobs. They neglect to mention that the vast majority of the jobs are with large companies that already pay almost zero taxes. Most of the tax cut goes to rich people who will stow it away so that they are richer rather than companies with any significant number of jobs or middleclass taxpayers who do the bulk of the consuming that drives the economy.
What these people need to do is get a clue. The record companies are going to go out of business if they keep doing things the way they have always done them. Since when is it good business to whine and moan until someone legislates away our freedom rather than innovating and coming up with a viable new way to make money? The reality is that these businesses have to change their way of thinking or they will die. The only real question is how much pain can they put the rest of us through before they do finally die. Can they successfully destroy the American way of life first? They're trying.
"A couple of thousand dollars and a couple of hundred votes later, you will have them eating out of your hand."
Speaking as a whiney brat who would never give a dollar to a campaign, I always thought democracy was about the votes, not the $$$. I guess I'm just naive and old fashioned, but at least I'm not being part of the problem (and yes, I do vote, even in local elections). The problem is when your $100,000 and 100 votes outweighs the desires of the 100,000 other voters who don't give any money. I pay my taxes - that should be all the vote buying I need to do!