[13046] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: FW: DMCA used to shut down campus ID security talk
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (bear)
Wed Apr 16 22:04:18 2003
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 15:24:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: bear <bear@sonic.net>
To: Don Davis <don@mit.edu>
Cc: cryptography@metzdowd.com
In-Reply-To: <a05100313bac27bc10a2e@[67.242.205.48]>
If you're as fed up about the DMCA et al as I am, please
do what I do.
Write a letter to your congresspeople asking for their
help in stopping copyright abuse. It helps if you have
articles to cite; it helps if you have credentials; it
helps if you make a living doing security or working with
the ever-more-endangered public domain or fair uses of
copyrighted material. It especially helps if you have
fundamental research you can't do or civil rights you
cannot exercise as a result of copyright abuse.
Today, two cases of copryight-abusing laws with darkly
ridiculous consequences were posted on this list. I took
the opportunity to point out the articles to my senator,
along with a plea to help stop the madness of copyright
abuse. I'm asking you to do the same, or similar.
If a lot of people write letters, they actually do notice.
But it has to start with a surge in the number of letters
received on a given topic, to kick over whatever mechanism
they use to decide to start tracking it. Maybe we should
coordinate a "write your congresscritter" day on a wide
basis, just to make sure they get, at least once, the big
rush of messages that it will take to get the issue on the
radar screen. After that, coordination with others doesn't
matter so much, as long as people do write letters and
they've got a bucket to put them in.
Thank you all. I'll shut up about this now. But I felt
that it needed to be said.
Bear
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