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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
nt.
Useless sig.
Thanks to all those who helped prevent this law
from happening.
Damn, Flamebait? Really? I was going for Funny. Guess that'll learn me.
Since this one'll probably get modded offtopic anyway, I'll say: 1) Yes I have been to Colorado, 2) I support gun ownership, and 3) I was supporting the governor, not being a wise-ass. I'm just glad they haven't tried to introduce this kind of crap in New York State. If somebody stands up to it at some point, it will be that much easier for others to defend against it.
So I stand by my original post -- A governor with a brain! And one who's willing to fight for the rights of the people who elected him! That's a treasure for sure, and something that you Coloradans should be greatful for!
"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it." -- Ayn Rand
> members) helped to stop this dangerous legislation. Good job!
Wow! I guess maybe one guy writing his congressman can make a difference! I'm glad that there are some sponsors of bills like this who don't supporting super-DMCA-type bills because they're eeeeeeeeevil, but because they simply don't recognize the consequences of their legislation and are willing to change when they realize what they're actually sponsoring. I'm also glad this senator apparently had a legislative aid with some sense to oppose the bill!
The lobbyists WILL be back next year, and the year after, and they'll keep telling bigger lies, and offering bigger bribes, until either they get their way, or the industries which fund them shrivel up. Or, perhaps, until we make such a big noise that the politicians decide that this is an untouchable issue.
Remember: the lobbyists only have to win ONCE in each state. We only have to get careless or complacent ONCE to let them win. This was good news, but the battle isn't nearly over yet.
We need to keep educating the unwashed masses, need to keep letter-writing campaigns going, and generally need to keep following up. We also need to volunteer in the re-election campaigns of the clueful few who are on the right side here. And tell other candidates why we chose to volunteer for Mr. Clueful instead of Mr. Other.
Those bribes from the lobbyists are only valuable to the legislators if they believe that the bribe can buy more votes than the legislation will cost them. When a lobbyist walks into a legislator's office and says: ``I'd like to talk to you about strengthening copyright ...'', the legislator needs to be able to point to a pile of letters on his desk and say: `` These letters are from voters who are on the other side, and I get a big stack like that every day. I'd like to help, but I can't afford to. Why, I'd loose half my campaign workers if I even listened to you!''
See what I've been reading.
politics effect your life, now and in the future.
To not get involved is akin to not monitoring your servers and hoping all will always be fine. Then when it isn't fine, you just complain.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Now if they public could only realize why they would benefit from undoing the last several copyright extensions as well.
And that legislative assistant may have called the MPAA lobbiest a nice guy, but I don't agree. He obviously lied about the bill to get it introduced. I'd never let that guy in my office again!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Gov Owens has banked his popularity on the Colorado economy which is heavily dependant on the 'New' economy of IT,internet, prog etc. Owens has touted that he is resonsible for making Colorado a prominent player in this economy. Very much so in the last election.
Well the economy sucks here, many people have been laid off, no new jobs, just like most places. He had to do this or he'd be out of a job too.
Basically the point is, if you don't like the article don't read it, and certainly don't post your disapproval of it. I found the article interesting, you didn't. Guess what? Opinions differ. You aren't the embodiment of geekdom and neither am I. It's also "meaningful discussion" in that it is a victory for the geek scoiety in general, and thus is very relevant to "news for nerds". And why does the SCO post autmatically deserve more posts than a new programming language? Some of us actually have to program for a living and we can't always choose what to program in. It's nice to have somewhere to see emerging technologies, even if they are from MS. Your post that because SCO's post had less comments than F# post, it must not be meaningful discussion makes no sense in any way, shape, or form. Number of posts != quality of discussion. Are 400 -1: Troll posts more meaningful than 50 +5: Informative posts? I think not.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
Did he not read the bill before he supported it? WTF! He shouldn't be re-elected.
The real story here seems to be that VETO power had to be used. The story doesn't say a lot, but that implies that the government there came very close to passing this. While the governor may be a good guy it still doesn't say a lot for the state.
They like monkey-business as much as the next politician, generally speaking, but at least they regard the individual consitituent as something powerful enough to listen to...
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
No. It would be fair to say that our elected officials' only agenda is to get re-elected. If mega-corp-of-the-week is more effective at aiding that cause than we are, they get to write the laws. If we're more effective, WE get to.
Are there actually elected officals who are are looking out for the common person's liberties, and such? If so, why are there not more of them?
Not many, and they won't be there long, unless the common people bother to find out who they are, and support them. We can support the good guys with money, but that won't go far if mega-corp-of-the-week decides to target them by funding their opponents. We can support the good guys by telling everyone we know WHY they're good. We can support the good guys with our time, by volunteering in their campaigns, year after year.
It's all either expensive, or time-consuming, or both. That's why the mega-corps (and the mega-unions) generally do better at getting their way than we do.
See what I've been reading.
Double Dipping - A poster getting +5 mods for a post AND a reply to his own post. Usually due to self-correction, addition of extra information, or clueless moderation to the parent post. Interestingly, it appears to happen more often to sincere posters than trolls.
Politicians live by focus groups, so send this guy some email and maybe a few others will do the right thing. It sure as hell can't hurt.
.sig is gonna look REAL funny on this one.
Email Gov. Owens!
Heh. My
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
I hope you're right. However, given our current system, I'm dubious.
The problem is that the pro-DMCA folks will try again. And again. And again. In this venue and that. Turning words and phrases, but never really veering from their intended purpose.
The problem is that laws are easier to enact than to retract. The fact that this legislation made it as far as it did is unnerving. If this proposal had been rejected outright by the legislature, that might be different. But we see here that a small shift in the balance of power would result in this bill's enactment.
The problem is that the general population does not feel like issue such as this are important enough to sway their votes against advocates of such legislation. Unless they change their minds, it's only a matter of time...
--Lawrence Lessig for Congress!
As someone who is marginally involved with TNDFN, and personally working hard to kill this legislation, I think it's in order to mention what did help our cause.
First, plenty of face time with the legislators. Second, we were present and seated together every time the bill was brought up in a committee (after we learned about it). There were 10 of us present each time. Most other issues had nobody there who cared, so we got attention. This thing would have died weeks ago had we been there; it should have never gotten to this point.
This was difficult. I spent literally 40+ hours on "capitol hill" (it really is a hill here in TN) sitting in boring meetings, talking to representatives and senators, their aids, battling evil lobbyists, etc. This cost me money, cost my company money (my parking costs were nearly $100 over the last few weeks), and cost me a lot of time. It was worth it.
Mainly, pay attention to the bills that are being pushed in your state, and go fight them in every way that you can if they're stupid. Send a simple piece of paper to all relevant representatives and senators, with simple bullets that can be skimmed in 10 seconds or less (whole sheet). Anything helps, but don't email a stupid form letter.
We'll be talking more about this in the coming months, but the one thing to take away from this is that we need to band together and make it clear to slimy lobbyists and the elected representatives who listen to them that the tech industry is a bee hive that they don't want to mess with. We are huge ($600B annually in the US) and it's time we use our clout.
The war isn't over, but we won a major battle. I cannot wait to see the head shill with his tail between his legs. I hope he's in town on Tuesday.
Michael
Do you have ESP?
I would think that deliberately misleading a legislator about the purpose of proposed legislation would disqualify a person from real niceness. Just my fringe opinion, I guess.
mt