[NBLUG/talk] OT: [Fwd: Stealth DMCA. Be afraid. Be very afraid...]

[troy]

On Tue, Apr 22, 2003 at 11:46:15AM -0600, Crawford Rainwater wrote:
> Just an FYI, several states (including CO where ITEC is HQ'ed)
> has passed variants of this already.  The CO one was passed last
> Monday, 14 April after many LUGs in the area sent in opposition
> emails to the local reps, yet no luck.

Don Marti (Editor of Linux Journal) spoke at LUGOD about DMCA/copyright/
stuff.  Don is a very good speaker, reminiscent of Tim O'Reilly in the
ability to speak well and conversationally about complex topics.
He made several points:

1) e-mail isn't really effective.  Snail mail gets noticed.
2) Be persistant (be a pain in the ass).  while (ignored) { send another
   letter }
3) You *can* have an effect.  Don't underestimate your ability to
   influence your elected officials.  

He was quite convincing on the last point -- it's what inspired me to
go from being irritated to actively trying to do something about it.

Folks, if you care about this stuff, get informed and be loud and
annoying about it.

-troy