IP: moreon DMCA

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-----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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