This is ultimately a political issue. Our elected leaders either don't understand these technological issues, or else they don't care about the impacts. This is an election year, what does John Kerry think about this? What does he think about the RIAA suing teenage downloaders? What about your senator, or congressperson? I can promise you they aren't on 'our' side. Because what do we have to offer them? Only votes...There needs to be organization, a group that focuses solely on these technology-related issues. With enough supporters, politicians will be forced to take a side on these issues, and ultimately, if they see it might cost them votes, they will start to take 'our' side. As it is, though, we have senators saying they see no problem with the RIAA/Record companies hacking into and destroying data on someone's personal computer. Only when all of us who care about these issues know exactly where each candidate stands, and informs the candidate that this will influence who we vote for, only then will this trend be reversed. I'm not saying that if you're a die-hard conservative, you should vote for John Kerry, or vice versa. I'm saying that if enough people organize this movement properly, then you won't have to, because both candidates will be trying to win your vote. And what better place to start such a movement then at slashdot...
Slashdot Mirror
This is ultimately a political issue. Our elected leaders either don't understand these technological issues, or else they don't care about the impacts. This is an election year, what does John Kerry think about this? What does he think about the RIAA suing teenage downloaders? What about your senator, or congressperson? I can promise you they aren't on 'our' side. Because what do we have to offer them? Only votes...There needs to be organization, a group that focuses solely on these technology-related issues. With enough supporters, politicians will be forced to take a side on these issues, and ultimately, if they see it might cost them votes, they will start to take 'our' side. As it is, though, we have senators saying they see no problem with the RIAA/Record companies hacking into and destroying data on someone's personal computer. Only when all of us who care about these issues know exactly where each candidate stands, and informs the candidate that this will influence who we vote for, only then will this trend be reversed. I'm not saying that if you're a die-hard conservative, you should vote for John Kerry, or vice versa. I'm saying that if enough people organize this movement properly, then you won't have to, because both candidates will be trying to win your vote. And what better place to start such a movement then at slashdot...