[Bill Traynor wrote:] > Here's the bitter truth: These efforts are mostly a waste of time. Sure, > they may make you feel better, but they're not the way to win. > Washington's political class is used to ignoring frenzied yowls from far > more organized and well-funded groups than "geektivists" can hope to > emulate anytime soon. > > Take the widely reviled Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Even > though Slashdotters have spent years buzzing around in circles over DMCA > lawsuits brought by the Justice Department against Dmitry Sklyarov, and > the big movie studios against 2600 magazine, Congress simply doesn't > care.
Ah, but they do care. Much as Americans resent paying for their CD's, they know that intellectual property in general is an export industry. As factories move offshore, mines become depleted, oil imports increase, the implacable force of American patents and other forms of intellectual property is moving into the void. This follows on my earlier remarks about Open Source being seen in some quarters as a component activity of anti-globalization. Since HMV is only 1 of many stores in a typical shopping mall, Americans (and Canadians too for that matter) can plainly see that the shopping centre lifestyle on the whole is of great personal benefit to them despite the outrageous prices at HMV. The loss to our (Canadian) culture of artists who aren't part of the HMV/Blockbuster distribution system doesn't really hit the public where it hurts. Might have beens don't impress politicians. And the public/mall-goers are unlikely to see the environmental degradation in far-away places in the wake of the scorched-earth capitalism of our day and age. And in rare moments of enlightment, say when getting their fix of the Nature of Things (before returning to their (our!!) wasteful lifestyles, they reasons that reducing their HMV annual budget wouldn't solve native land claims, save the Spotted Leopard or bring peace to the Middle East. And it might mean their daughter is out of a part-time job. Of course the people reading this list know there is possible (not proven) collateral damage to legitimate software activities. But in the minds of lawmakers that's a fight for another day. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
