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Update on State "Communications Services" Laws
babbage_ct writes "As has been reported on Slashdot before (see here, here, and here for just a few) the MPAA is pushing so-called Super-DMCA laws in states around the country. Well, score one for the good guys. Oregon's version, SB 655 is going to die. Turns out the sponsor was scammed by MPAA lobbyist. See the e-mail from legislative staff below.
From: "Staff SenCharlesStarr"
To:
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 5:17 PM
Subject: Status of SB 655
Status of SB 655:
SB 655 is slated to die in committee this session. It is no longer an immediate threat, however, there will be a study commission appointed over the interim. Sen. Minnis decided that the issue was too complex to resolve this session. I will attempt to inform you when the commission is formed so that you can have further input. Oregon truly dodged the bullet on this. Some states passed the MPAA model legislation before the IT community even knew it existed.
The email you sent to Sen. Starr (and I hope all of the committee members) helped to stop this dangerous legislation. Good job! In case you're wondering why Sen. Starr sponsored this bill in the first place, it was requested by the MPAA lobbyist (who really is a nice guy) but Sen. Starr was told that it was a simple bill to update copyright law in relation to digital media. Yes, and a whole lot more! As the full impact of the bill became clear, Sen. Starr withdrew his support, which contributed to the bill's "unfortunate demise."
If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask.
Ken McDermott
Legislative Assistant
Senator Charles Starr
900 Court St NE S-312
Salem, OR 97301
staff.sencharlesstarr@state.or.us
It's called a joke, idiot...that's why it's in quotes. Ken McDermott is implying that the bill's demise is not truly "unfortunate".
Because the purpose of posting responses to articles is to foster meaningful discussion about the topic at hand. Since your post simply states that you do not find the subject matter 'interesting' enough to adequately comment on, it is extraneous and has been modded as such, much like this comment is fated. Don't take it personally.
I know exactly what he speaks of. I, too, was a Legislative Assistant to a Senator here in Oregon. Though this issue did not come up when I was there, I worked with a lot of lobbyists. They tend to be selected as such because they have excellent personal skills and are very affable. You almost *never* get a hard sell from a lobbyist. This is why it's so seductive. They simply show up, are very polite, and it's next to impossible to send them off rudely or be short with them. They're simply trying to make friends, so their point of view will be taken seriously and they might get access to the Senator. Lobbying and influence are not as clear cut as people might think. Like I said, it's seductive.
IAAL
This was new news when I submitted it a few days ago, along with a pointer to a Rocky Mountain News editorial that may have contributed. It's old now. ;)
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
If only our federal senators would get on board... ... Nighthorse firmly rode the fence, while Allard basically quoted the MPAA/RIAA party line back to me.
I wriote letters to Ben Nighthorse-Campbell And Wayne Allard regarding one of these types of legislation last year. I got letters back from both
The take-home was that just typing up a short opinion and mailing it to your rep's office has a tremendous effect on the political process.
Our intelligent designer has never created an animal that we couldn't improve by strapping a bomb to it.
The TABOR amendment (thankfully) prevents Colorado from raising taxes as a way to continue spending when revenues won't support it. The state constitution prohibits running the state in a deficit. A lot of things, including your apparent sacred cow, have been cut - that's life in a down economy.
All of this can be found at our web site, so hopefully others won't start so quite from scratch.
In this case, save your money and spend some time; create your own tech-friendly lobby in your state, and begin monitoring this kind of stuff. It sucks to watch sausage get made, but if you don't get involved, you've got no one but yourself to blame. We're planning on starting a formal non-profit to continue fighting for the right to innovate with technology, and I recommend that other states do the same.
Fuck that, they won't let you in without them.
Which proves you never lived there. The whole place is full of tree-hugging greens, relocated hippies, singers, and movie stars that vehemently oppose guns for anyone and oppose the death penalty for everyone except NRA members.
Well speaking as a current CO resident I can tell you that most counties in CO have conceal and carry laws (Larimer County, and Weld County for sure and I know I could find others if necessary) and about the loosest form of gun control remotely possible. About the only liberal tree hugging area of the state is Boulder, the rest of CO is staunchly conservative which would be obvoius to anywone willing to look at the voting records in CO for the last 10 years.
So I am going to have to assume that either you haven't been to the state in years or that you are just trolling.
Seeing as he just signed into law a bill eliminating most of the gun laws in the state, yup, I'd say so :-)
(It's now illegal for cities/counties in Colorado to have more restrictive gun laws than the state does)
Still, kudos to him for violating anything DMCA-related
Twenties Retirement
Seeing as he just signed into law a bill eliminating most of the gun laws in the state, yup, I'd say so :-)
Not quite. What owens did, was to come up with one law that requires all counties/municipalities to show cause WHY somebody is to be denied the right to carry conceled weapons. Before that, we were all over the board with laws. In Denver, you could get a permit iff you were politically connected. In Boulder, it was next to impossible unless you were a SOF type. In C. Springs, well, everybody carries no matter what.
For the record, the number of ppl applying only went up slightly.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.