Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: moreon DMCA
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 13:25:38 -0400
-----Original Message----- From: "Richard Forno"<rforno () infowarrior org> Sent: 8/13/02 4:21:05 PM To: "farber () cis upenn edu"<farber () cis upenn edu> Subject: Re: IP: DMCA DMCA, you could argue, was rushed through by an ignorant Congress in the height of the Dot Com Delusion as a way of getting more Dot Com Dollars for everyone. Bad as it was, I can understand the environment in which it was released. But Congress is the same, and politics is the same, and both are at the mercy of the almighty special-interest dollars. The problem with DMCA, Berman, and other proposals is that the average American just doesn't care until it's too late and such laws begin to affect them. They are content to buy their CDs, upgrade their computers and operating systems, and become further ensnared in the "fat, dumb, and happy" cycle of consumerism until it's too late for them do protest bad changes, because by the time they wake up and realize what's happened, it's too late to change things. So they continue to be behind the power curve, and lose out eventually. Americans have traditionally been apathetic towards politics, as long as they felt they were doing okay and safe to live their lives in relaitve peace and prosperity. To cite the "Matrix" -- Americans in general tend to live in a "blue pill" world, happy to exist in the warm fuzzy world where illusions of freedom and control and choice are provided, instead of accepting the challenge of existing in the "red pill" world where they can see and address the reality of their situation, seeing it for what it really is. I've said for years we need a serious, organized technology lobby that looks out for the true nature, and inhabitants of the Internet and technology communities. Simply having Big Business lobby for THEIR rights is not condusive to an open society. The problem is, we can't have geeks just showing up and shouting "down with DMCA" and "Windows sucks" -- we need to have recognized names with strong credentials able to understand both sides of the issue and reach a compromise. Sure, we would like DMCA to disappear, but if it was tightened in its language and scope as the result of reality-based compromise, I could live happier. Too many geeks see things as black-and-white, and politics is the art of the gray. I'd love to run for office on a technology platform....but given the current political climate and nature of America's corrupted politcal machine, I'd never get in, and probably make little difference, even if I did. Rick infowarrior.org
From: "Dave Farber" <dave () farber net> Reply-To: farber () cis upenn edu Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 12:53:38 -0400 To: <ip-sub-1 () majordomo pobox com> Subject: IP: DMCA -----Original Message----- From: "Schulze,Shawn M"<SSCHULZE () Travelers com> Sent: 8/13/02 3:46:55 PM To: "farber () cis upenn edu"<farber () cis upenn edu> Subject: RE: DMCA It still bothers me that despite the millions of people who said that the DMCA was a bad idea it was passed unanimously. Is that to say that regardless of what we say think or believe as the average American
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- IP: moreon DMCA Dave Farber (Aug 13)