Savebetamax.org National Call-in Day

Rinisari writes "Savebetamax.org, a project of Downhill Battle, has set up a national call-in day for September 14th. They ask that on that day, each person signed up call a specific congressperson about the INDUCE act in an effort to keep a steady stream of calls all day. The "Save Betamax" nomenclature comes from the fact that the INDUCE act could reverse the decision in the 1984 Sony v. Universal case regarding Sony's Betamax VTRs and copying of copyrighted movies."

Finally!

A chance to slashdot congress!

Re:Finally!

A chance to slashdot congress!

Well, just think... I know not everyone here on /. is an American, but if we can take a server down, we're very likely to get somebody in Congress's attention.

Re:Finally!

What is really annoying is that this Act is supported by Barbara Boxer (California Democrat). For some reason California's Senators are extremely anti-tech industry and yet they keep getting elected. The movie/music industry is big, but it doesn't hold a candle to the tech/consumer electronics industries in CA.

I just don't get it. I hope we do slashdot them. Heck, you can hit the EFF Action Center [eff.org] and faxslashdot them.

First thought...

...was "damn, are they DECADES to late! These Sony BetaMax nuts are worse than Mac people or Amiga owners -- and that is saying something."

Could the come up with a worse name?

Honestly, could they come up with a worse name? (Well yeah, now that I think about it, I guess they could. But still.)

The names (downhill battle, save betamax, etc.) almost sound like they're trying to turn people off to their cause--which, by the way, I agree with. Why couldn't they call it "Fair use" or "Save our constitutional rights from corporate greed!" or something.

Even "File swappers for truth" or "ShareOn.org" (both of which suck) would be better names than what they're using.

-- MarkusQ

Re:Actually Beta is quite Popular

Almost, not quite. Beta and BetaMax are two different animals.

Beta was Sony's commercial endeavour and it was quite the hit, as you are claiming. BetaMax was the related, but different physical tape, consumer attempt that died a horrid death.

They'll call this terrorism.

a conspiracy to affect communications and actions of the country's leaders.

who the hell do these people think they are anyway deserving the attention of congressmen? they don't even pay the campaign bills.

Not the INDUCE act again...

Considering what the RIAA is doing, music, movie, and other media companies shouldn't be given any privledges at all, nevermind the ability to veto technologies because they don't like them...

Uhhh

Umm the 80's called... they want their format back.

Re:Uhhh

We have to admire Betamax. It died way too young... but without what it did at the Supreme Court, VHS and DVRs might not be considered "fair use" and therefore might not have even been born.

Uhhhh, a mime called...

We've heard this song before...

We've heard from these Downhill Battle people before. They proposed the a scheme to try to collect Apple/Pepsi winning-cap codes for iTunes downloads [studioqb.com] that neglected the fact that there were limits to how many songs a given person could download, neglected the fact that the rules said non-transferable, and that the group didn't disclose just how they selected the artists they wanted to favor.

In short, these guys come up with nice ideas that don't work due to real world constraints.

Re:We've heard this song before...

In short, these guys come up with nice ideas that don't work due to real world constraints.

Oh, they're libertarians?

Why all in one day?

Wouldn't it be better to spread it out over a long period of time, otherwise they will know it is an organised compaign and will just disregard the calls? Is there any advantage to do this all in one day whatsoever?

Re:Why all in one day?

If Congress was actually in session, it might cause congresscritters to talk about the fact that their office phone people are getting overloaded.

Of course, annoying a congresscritter's staff is a good way to NOT get whatever you want. Staff members sometimes have the critical influence over the congresscritter they work for on technical issues they don't understand.

So, this means

... I can watch my old Betamax tapes again? Good, I hate Congress interfering with my video formats. Next thing you know, they'll make DVD+R illegal, and only DVD-R formats will be allowed!

No, seriously, they could have chosen a better name. "Save Betamax" doesn't mean shit to Joe Consumer (How many people actually remember that decision?). If you phrase it as "They're going to make it illegal to set your VCR to tape a show while you're away on vacation", that'll mean a lot more, although it would be a crappy domain name. But I'll be calling anyway, and you all should too. Write letters to the editors of your local papers,while you're at it.

Intent of the law

I hear alot of people claiming that the intent of the law is only to go after so called bad actors, and will not be used against VCR makers or computer makers. What those people forget is that in court, the intent of the law doesn't matter, only the actual wording. Anyone using the intent of the law as a defense in court will lose and possibly be laughed out of court. That means this law will be used to sue Apple, Intel, IBM, and Microsoft for making general purpose computing hardware. Even with the new wording, the EFF mock complaint against the ipod is still valid, as apple could have used "reasonable measures" such as only allowing the ipod to play DRM encoded files and have Itunes verify the CD is a pressed CD and not burned before allowing any ripping. The same applies to general purpose computers, which could have been locked down like the Xbox to only run OSes and software that use strong DRM and require checking with central servers before a document or whatever can be transfered (to prevent a user from retyping a copyrighted work like a book by hand). Keep in mind no one intended the DMCA to be used against third party printer cartriges, but it was.

Clarification on Betamax decision

From the story summary:

1984 Sony v. Universal case regarding Sony's Betamax VTRs and copying of copyrighted movies

Not exactly. It covered time-shifting, of which copyrighted movies were a particular example. The Supreme Court was almost at a loss of what to do due to ambiguity of Copyright law and the lack of widespread VCRs in the home when the last major Copyright law was written (1976). They dared to divine the intention of Congress by saying that time-shifting constituted fair-use, and hinted that Congress should follow up with a more specific law in the future. Now Congress is doing the clarification, and it looks like it won't be in the consumer's favor.

Shameless plug: this was covered almost a year ago in my blog article U.S. corroborating with WIPO to overturn Betamax decision and also eliminate public domain [underreported.com] (which I've shamelessly plugged here before).

More trivia: before the Betamax decision, movies would come on HBO before videotape release (prime example: Star Wars -- HBO copies for a time were the only way to get a Star Wars videotape). Due to the assumed illegality of taping off HBO, movie studios considered HBO airing to constitute less ownership than selling videotapes. The Betamax decision reversed this notion, and thusly also the order of release.

What This Actually Means

For those of you who don't want to read the decision or Downhill Battle's site, the Betamax decision is what basically allowed us the technology of DVD/CD burners, tape recorders, and VCR's (along with possibly P2P networks) by saying that, just because some people are using them (VCR's at the time) to participate in illegal activities (copying copyrighted movies or shows), the technology itself is not the culprit. Therefore, the technology is legal. This is a vital decision for the technological world and a good thing to get involved in if you can.

Not too worried - I live in a free country

Man, the US... Land of the free.

I'm not too worried, I live in Canada. It's a little better here.

Maybe Canada will have to occupy the US soon to liberate it. =P

Lost Cause

While I also support our 'data rights', this is a lost cause at this point. Its over, and we have lost.

Congress does *not* give a damn about the citizens, they are only concerned about the people that line their pocketbooks ( i.e. the 'media' and other large corporations ).

The very structure of this country has changed, and the citizens are going to be mowed over.

Fight it all you want, but id rather pick battles that aren't lost already.

The 2nd revolution is long over due, before the "American experiment" fails, and its remains fall into hardcore socialism.

You're mostly right

The structure hasn't changed though. Do a bit of digging and you'll find the common man has never had any real power except right after WWII (and only then because there was a shortage of workers thanks to your friend and mine, the Machinegun). _All_ complex societies throughout history have been centered around satisifying the wants of a lucky few. Ours still is, it's just that technology and Globalism has expanded the number of Lucky ones, and the losses of WWII allowed the unlucky ones to make out OK for a while.

Trouble is, just about every single poor and middle class bastard wants to join the oppressors. And every time you add an oppressor, you've got to add some oppressed. This is just the way human economy works. As soon as the masses make some gains, along will come someone to take them away so he can join the ranks of the wealthy and powerful. There is a way to stop this: forced birth control. Either that or War, famine and disease will work just as well. So long as there are too few people to effectively oppress. Capitalism needs lots of cannon fodder.

Oh, and give me Socialism over capitalism any day. Adam Smith envisioned a world of small time shop keepers and factory owners with a stake in thier communities because they lived there. Globalism breaks all that. What's been keeping your job from going overseas is isolationism broght on by the Cold War. Now that that's over capitalism's busted. Capital will flow where ever labor's cheapest, and that flow will keep standards of living down. You're not gonna feel this too bad, but you're children will. Their lives are gonna suck.

Wrong!

This is perhaps one of the most important legal battles in this area for quite a while. If the Betamax decision is overturned, it will be an enormous setback to proponents of fair use. As for the INDUCE act? Not only is it full of ridiculously vague wording, but it boggles the mind in terms of the rights it would take away. If it passes, things could change in a big way . . . and not for the good of the people, but for the good of the big corporations backing it.

Re:Obligiatory Simpsons Quote

And this, boys and girls, is why we at least read the description of the article, even if we don't RTFA. We're trying to save the right to fair use on media, not trying to save the abandoned video format.

Re:It's hard to fight

800,000 geeks vs $800,000 (campaign donations?)

It'd be great if it'd work, but it's hard to beat the money of the big corporations....The more I read the news, the more I see the big boys on the hill getting in on this....

Ask any politician which he would prefer: 1000 voters going to the polls, or $10,000 (extra '0'.) You'd be hard pressed to find one that would take the money. Interest groups for corporations hold power, but there aren't 1000 Jack Valenti's in each and every district to vote for Congressman X.