"Wire" is a powerful contributor to another mailing list that I'm subscribed to. He just posted this a few minutes ago (from when I mailed this to the list). It is a new alert from the Electronic Frontier Foundation containing a sample letter intended to oppose the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act), the Entertainment Industry movement that almost clapped Open Sourcer Dimtry Sklyarov in prison. An explanation regarding the full negative impacts of the DMCA follows the sample letter below. The sample letter is another phase of the police state countermeasures being implemented (with your help, hopefully) by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Ideally, the sample letter should be personalized by you and then sent. As has already been suggested, printing out and sending via snail mail is the most effective means for this. This is the other proposed law (by the Entertainment Industry/Democrats) that will have very negative impacts on us open source people unless we act. Negative impacts are detailed after the sample letter. Your rights are at stake. Notice: The deadline for this is April 8, 2002 !! -----Forwarded Message----- From: wire <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: A-M$: Fwd: EFFector 15.09: ALERT: Contact US House to Protect Digital Music! Date: 30 Mar 2002 00:21:38 -0700 An alert from the EFF. This one's important. Be sure to write the letter (see below). I read somewhere that the analysts that receive these letters consider each to represent the opinion of a thousand people (or was it ten thousand?). I have no idea how accurate that is. On a side note, I have only been aware of the EFF for a few months now, but so far I have not found a single action they have taken that I can argue against. They strike me as an organization completely in it for the consumer. >Subject: EFFector 15.09: ALERT: Contact US House to Protect Digital Music! >Admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation >Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 21:19:24 -0800 > > > EFFector Vol. 15, No. 9, March 29, 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 > >In the 208th Issue of EFFector: > > * ALERT: Defend your Rights to Digital Music! Congress Calls for > Public Comments > * California Supreme Court to Review E-mail Pamphleteer Case > * Constitutional Challenge in Russian eBook Formatter Case > * Mark your Calendars for EFF's 11th Annual International Pioneer Awards > * Exchange Ideas with EFF Founders Mitch Kapor and John Perry Barlow > >For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org/ > >To join EFF or make an additional donation: > http://www.eff.org/support/ >EFF is a member-supported nonprofit. Please sign up as a member today! > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >DEFEND YOUR RIGHT TO DIGITAL MUSIC! > >HOUSE CALLS FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ON FAIR USE & DIGITAL MEDIA ISSUES > >Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTION ALERT > >(Issued: Mar. 29, 2002 / Deadline: April 8, 2002) > >NOTE: The alert in the previous issue has been changed. It directed >EFFector readers to send comments opposing technology mandates to both the >House and the Senate. A House staffer has told us that the House request >for comments is limited to digital music issues, not DRM and mandates more >generally. A new alert about the House comments is below, while the >original alert, modified to direct comments to the Senate only, is >available at: > http://www.eff.org/Alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html > > >Introduction > >The U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and >Intellectual Property has requested public comment on digital music & >copyright issues. Comments must be received by April 8, 2002, at the >address listed below. > >Let YOUR voice be heard on the "management" of your rights to digital >music. It is crucial that Congress hear from you on these important issues >in order to balance the money and pressure from Hollywood at a time when >the law is still forming. Tell Congress that it's time to put the brakes on >the copyright industry's whittling away of the public's rights under >copyright law and the First Amendment. This may be the best chance >available of convincing Congress to pull back from upholding copyright >holders' interests above all others in digital music and digital media in >general. > >This request for comments is part of the Subcommittee's ongoing process of >reviewing proposals and amendments concerning copyright in the digital >environment. > >Congressional staffers tell us that your letters will have the most impact >if written in your own words, addressing concerns raised by digital music >and copyright, such as those outlined in our sample letter below (and in >more detail in the Background section at the end of this alert.) > > >What YOU Can Do Now: > > * Send your personal, not form, letter to the House Judiciary > Intellectual Property Subcommittee urging repeal of the DMCA's > anticircumvention provisions, and recognition of fair use rights as > real rights. > * Contact your own legislators about this issue. For information on how > to contact your legislators and other government officials, see EFF's > "Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers" guide at: > http://www.eff.org/congress.html > * Join EFF! For membership information see: > http://www.eff.org/support/ > > >Sample Letter: > >IMPORTANT: Please do NOT simply forward our text to the subcommittee! We >have been told by staffers working on this issue that form letters will not >count for much if anything. The sample below is just a model to help give >you ideas. Your letter can be long and detailed, it can be about your >high-tech business's concerns, your issues as a consumer, your concerns as >a programmer, musician, reviewer, vendor, etc., or it could be very short >and simply advocate repeal of DMCA and clearer upholding of fair use rights >because of the harm to consumers, researchers, publishers and software >authors. So long as it's in your own words and you send it before the >deadline. > >Your letter should be sent to: > > Hon. Howard Coble, Chair > Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet & Intellectual Property, > House Judiciary Comittee > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > fax: +1 202-225-3673 > >The submission deadline is April 8, 2002, 5pm (EST) > > > Dear Chairman Coble and Members of the Subcommittee: > > I write to you today about the troubled future of digital music. The > entertainment industry is attempting to lock down all access to and use > of music, with questionably constitutional laws like the Digital > Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). These new powers would allow Hollywood > to completely remove a whole spectrum of legal and legitimate fair uses > of digital music and other digital media, with criminal prosecution > hanging over the heads of anyone who attempts to bypass their "digital > rights management" systems for perfectly legal purposes. We don't need > Columbia Records, Disney, or Time-Warner managing our digital rights. > > I urge you to seek and support immediate repeal of the Digital > Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anticircumvention provisions. These > controversial provisions outlaw the act of bypassing access controls > that "protect" digital works and prevent fair, legal uses (including > time and format shifting, making of backup copies, lending, resale and > excerpting, among others). The DMCA outlaws making or providing any > technology, including software and simple information, that could help > another person to bypass access or use restrictions, even in the > absence of any criminal intent or evidence of copyright infringement. > These provisions have already been used to threaten legimitimate, > law-abiding scientists, game network programmers, and makers of eBook > access software. The DMCA is anticompetitive and harmful to innovation, > shielding in an coat of legal armor the entrenched entertainment > industry's preferred but obsolete business model from any more-inventive > competition. > > The DMCA has also undermined the first sale doctrine, which has always > allowed consumers to loan, resell, or give away their records, tapes > and CDs. The first sale doctrine also protects public libraries from > copyright liability for loaning music to the public. Copyright owners, > using Internet "music rental" systems such as MusicNet and pressplay, > are now "tethering" the music we have purchased to a particular > computer, fundamentally undermining the first sale doctrine because the > DMCA makes a criminalizes even fair use circumvention devices or > software. I urge you to take steps to correct this problem. > > In addition to fixing problems with the DMCA, I encourage you to > support legislation such as the Music Online Competition Act (MOCA), > H.R. 2724, which would level the competitive playing field for Internet > webcasters. In addition, I urge you ensure that the ongoing copyright > arbitration royalty panel (CARP) that is setting webcasting royalties > leave room for small, noncommercial webcasters. The growing problem of > "copy-protected" CDs should also be addressed. If I want to make a fair > use copy of a CD I have purchased, I should be able to do so. And > technology companies should be able to build the tools that would > enable me to "fix" these malfunctional discs. The DMCA currently makes > this impossible, and new legislation is about to make the situation > worse. Please oppose such bills as Senator Hollings' S. 2048, that > would mandate copy-protection in all future digital media devices. As a > law-abiding citizen, I am outraged at the notion that the federal > government would require my MP3 player or CD-ROM drive to punish me in > advance for infringements committed by others. > > Finally, please consider adopting legislation that will affirmatively > guarantee my fair use rights in the digital music world. Copyright > owners, with a mix of legislation, litigation, and unilateral "digital > rights management" technologies, are apparently intent on rolling back > my fair use rights and treating me by default as if I were a criminal. > This is destroying the balance between the rights of the public and > those of copyright holders. Please support a "digital consumer bill of > rights" that will prohibit copyright owners from taking away more of my > traditional fair use rights. > > I am a user of digital music today and will be in the future. I'd like > to retain the right to make backup copies, to format-shift from CDs to > MP3s, to give a CD to friend or borrow one from a library, and all the > other fair, legal uses that the industry's plan would take away from > me. I am a legitimate user, not a pirate, and I should not be locked > out of full access to and fair use of the music I have legal access to. > I ask you in the strongest terms to help stop the intellectual property > industry's "rights land-grab" by ensuring fair use is upheld, and by > reining in the runaway DMCA. > > Sincerely, > > [Your name; > include full address for maximum effectiveness] > >Tips: > >Again, please don't just forward our sample letter - it won't have any >impact. > >Our letter is considerably longer than yours should be (because we are >trying to give you more ideas for your own letter). You can also send a >similar letter to your own legislators, and be sure to mention that you are >their constituent when you do so. When writing to the subcommittee please >remember that (although the technology and legal issues are the same >regardless of what digital medium we are talking about), they are only >interested in comments focused on the digital music, not HDTV, DVDs, SSSCA/ >CBDTPA, eBooks, etc. While they can be mentioned, the focus should remain >squarely on music. When writing to your own legislators you should discuss >the issue more broadly. > >Please remember to be polite but firm. Ranting, swearing, or lack of clear >focus and resolve will not make a good impression. Try to make it brief (1 >page or less written, or a few sentences spoken) and clear, without getting >into nitpicky details. Re-casting the letter in your own words will be more >effective than copy-pasting our sample. > > >Activists Around the World: > >This alert is primarily for U.S. residents. However, this issue is of >importance globally, so keep an eye out in your own jurisdiction for >related matters you can act on. Many countries are considering legislation >like the US DMCA and SSSCA/CBDTPA. > > >Background: > >1. Repeal the DMCA's Circumvention Ban > >Urge Congress to repeal the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital >Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). These legally-enforced technological >restrictions are used by copyright holders to control use of creative >expression. These controversial provisions outlaw the act of bypassing >access controls and making or providing any technology, including software >and information that could help another to bypass access or use >restrictions. > >Because the DMCA gives force of law to whatever use restrictions the >copyright holders dream up (no matter who trivial they are to work around) >the public's side of the copyright bargain is eliminated, or at least >greatly reduced. The public's rights, such as fair use, allowing customers >to copy works for lawful purposes even when the copyright holder does not >wish to permit it, are disabled by technology that it is illegal to bypass. > >We all enjoy the right under copyright law's First Sale Doctrine to sell or >give our old and unwanted CDs and tapes to others for further use and >enjoyment. But major labels restrict First Sale Doctrine privileges by >requiring music to be tied to particular devices, and then seal the >requirement through the DMCA's outlawing of any means of bypassing those >restrictions. The Copyright Office Section 104 Report issued on August 29, >2001 ignores how the DMCA is being used to restrict First Sale privileges >and the public's ability to make back-ups. The loss of public domain, fair >use, and first sale rights under recent developments in copyright law >presents a powerful threat to freedom of expression. Congress must address >the loss of important consumer rights under copyright in the use of digital >technology. > >The Copyright Office and courts have been looking to Congress to clarify >and amend many of the controversial provisions. But Congress should address >the chilling effect on freedom of expression presented by the DMCA's >circumvention of the public's rights under copyright. Advise the House >Subcommittee to repeal the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions in order to >protect freedom of expression and fair use in a digital environment, and >thus restore balance to copyright law. > >2. Fair Use as Affirmative Right > >Inform Congress that it's time to formally recognize copyright law's fair >use privilege as an affirmative right. Traditionally fair use has been >considered a defense to claims of infringement when a person has a lawful >right to use a copyrighted work in ways disapproved of the author. >Copyright law also permits the making of back-up copies and personal use >copies of works by individuals regardless of whether the author permits >such use. Since copyright holders wrap their works up in "digital straight >jackets" that control all uses, including disabling fair use rights, and >DMCA makes it illegal to bypass those digital controls, fair use must be >recognized as an affirmative right in order to restore balance in copyright >law. Tell Congress that you want your fair use rights and you vote. > > >CAFE Campaign: > >This drive to contact your legislators about the future of digital music is >part of a larger campaign to highlight intellectual property industry >assaults against the public's fair use rights, and what you can do about >it. > >Check the EFF Campaign for Audivisual Free Expression (CAFE) website >regularly for additional alerts and news: > http://www.eff.org/cafe/ > > >Links: > >For more information about access-control and copy-prevention systems see: > http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/ > >For essays and articles about fair use and digital media, see: > http://www.eff.org/CAFE/resources.html > >EFF's Fair Use FAQ: > http://www.eff.org/IP/eff_fair_use_faq.html > > >Contact: > >Robin Gross, EFF Intellectual Property Attorney > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > +1 415-436-9333 x112 > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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