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EFF: 48 Hours to Stop the Broadcast Flag

Posted by timothy on from the hard-not-to-be-cynical dept.

The Importance of writes "Think the Broadcast Flag is dead? EFF is warning that Hollywood is trying to sneak the broadcast flag into law as an amendment to a massive appropriations bill. 'If what we hear is true, the provision will be introduced before a subcommittee tomorrow and before the full appropriations committee on Thursday. That gives us 48 hours to stop it.' Action Alert here. List of Senator's phone numbers here."

5 of 702 comments (clear)

  1. I didn't think you could by krbvroc1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I didn't think you could legislate on an appropriation bill? Is this for real? Its against the rules of the Senate (rule XVI) http://rules.senate.gov/senaterules/rule16.htm

  2. Damnit! by rogabean · · Score: 5, Informative

    Only residents of Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, or Wisconsin can sign this.

    I'm gonna post this over on the various MythTV communities as well... try to get more support drummed up.

    --
    "why don't you just slip into something more comfortable...like a coma!"
  3. Re:Why.. by pete6677 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It can't really be done. One of the big responsibilities of paid industry lobbyists is looking through the details of laws to insert terms that are favorable to them and try to remove those that aren't. As soon as some music customer rights are inserted into an appropriations bill, the RIAA lobbyists will notice and make a big stink out of it, ensuring that the reps who are on their payroll will immediately remove the offending items. It is a nice thought, however.

  4. EFF has a site that will fax your senator for free by Shonufftheshogun · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can fax and email appropriation committee members for free at the EFF's action center.

  5. Campaign update. by ntk · · Score: 5, Informative

    I thought everybody should know that you may have just slashdotted the United States Senate Appropriations Committee.

    As of 10PM PST, six hours after news first leaked out, we've reached over 4550 messages sent to the 26 senators on the appropriations committee. The median number of emails and faxes per senator is 64; the average is 150.

    Patty Murray (D-WA) received over 300 from her constituents on the Broadcast Flag. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) has received over 500 mails warning her of the controversial rider. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has over a thousand faxes sitting in her inbox telling her not to accept any Broadcast Flag amendment.

    And that's not including the telephone calls, which are still continuing.

    Hollywood's first chance to slip in an amendment will be at 2PM EST Tuesday, in the Commerce, Justice and Science. Their next opportunity will be the full committeee mark-up at 2PM EST Thursday.

    We need to keep the pressure up, but I think it's fair to say that so far this rider is not slipping by unnoticed through the halls of Congress.

    If you're in the states below, please call your senator.

    COMMERCE, JUSTICE AND SCIENCE SUB-COMMITTEE AND FULL COMMITTEE MEMBERS

    ALABAMA Senator Richard Shelby (202) 224-5744
    ALASKA Senator Ted Stevens (202) 224-3004
    HAWAII Senator Daniel Inouye (202) 224-3934
    IOWA Senator Tom Harkin (202) 224-3254
    KANSAS Senator Sam Brownback (202) 224-6521
    KENTUCKY Senator Mitch McConnell (202) 224-2541
    MARYLAND Senator Barbara Mikulski (202) 224-4654
    MISSOURI Senator Christopher Bond (202) 224-5721
    NEW HAMPSHIRE Senator Judd Gregg (202) 224-3324
    NEW MEXICO Senator Pete Domenici (202) 224-6621
    NORTH DAKOTA Senator Byron Dorgan (202) 224-2551
    TEXAS Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (202) 224-5922
    VERMONT Senator Patrick Leahy (202) 224-4242
    WASHINGTON Senator Patty Murray (202) 224-2621
    WISCONSIN Senator Herb Kohl (202) 224-5653

    FULL COMMITTEE MEMBERS

    MISSISSIPPI Thad Cochran (202) 224-5054
    PENNSYLVANIA Arlen Specter (202) 224-4254
    MONTANA Conrad Burns (202) 224-2644
    UTAH Robert F. Bennett (202) 224-5444
    IDAHO Larry Craig (202) 224-2752
    OHIO Mike DeWine (202) 224-2315
    COLORADO Wayne Allard (202) 224-5941
    WEST VIRGINIA Robert C. Byrd (202) 224-3954
    NEVADA Harry Reid (202) 224-3542
    CALIFORNIA Dianne Feinstein (202) 224-3841
    ILLINOIS Richard J. Durbin (202) 224-2152
    SOUTH DAKOTA Tim Johnson (202) 224-5842
    LOUISIANA Mary L. Landrieu (202) 224-5824

    A TYPICAL CALL

    "Hello, Senator _________'s office"

    "Hi, I'm a constituent. I'm registering my opposition to
    the broadcast flag amendment being introduced in the
    Senate Commerce Justice and Science Appropriations
    subcommittee mark-up on Tuesday, and in full committee on
    Thursday."

    (*** You can give your own reasons for opposing the flag
    here. Here's a sample: ***)

    "The Broadcast Flag cripples any device capable of
    receiving over-the-air digital broadcasts. It give
    Hollywood movie studios a permanent veto over how members
    of the American public use our televisions. It forces
    American innovators to beg the FCC for permission before
    adding new features to TV. "

    "This is an important issue which will affect all
    Americans, and should not be inserted at the last moment,
    with almost no debate."

    "Please oppose the broadcast flag amendment. My name and
    address are ___________________."

    "Thank you for your time."