Create (or find and join) a grassroots organization that's designed solely to mass-mail his constituents a pamphlet describing the things he's done that you aren't pleased with and you don't think they'll appreciate either. Get a web presence that you can direct people to in your mailing, preferably with an online forum where you can reach them on a more frequent/less expensive basis. Ramp up your efforts when he gets some competition you feel will do the job better in the next election, preferably someone who will respect the honest opinion of the electorate, and make sure you can talk to him from time to time to educate him on the issues.

That's all that the PR lobbyists do. It isn't really that hard if you can dedicate some time to it.

Chapter two of The Nature of Copyright: A Law of Users Rights by L. Ray Patterson and Stanley W. Lindberg discusses the origin of the word copyright ("Copyright In The Beginning: A Publishers Right"). According to the book, copyright does not come from a "right to copy", but rather from copie, which was a noun meaning "manuscript" (not a verb meaning "to duplicate"). The title of the copie was recorded in a registry maintained by the Stationers Guild in the late 1500's to mid 1600's to record who they gave a monopoly to to publish a given book. This right lasted in perpetuity, but was only legally binding on members of the guild, which is apparently where the big push came from to turn this arragement into a law in order to prevent non-members from breaking the monopoly.

Authorship of the work apparently did not matter. Instead, a guild member could claim a monopoly in this registry for six pence (no idea what that translates to in today's dollars).

William F. Adkinson, Jr. is Senior Policy Counsel at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a group that describes itself as a market-oriented think tank that promotes innovative policy solutions for the digital age.

The key phrase is "market-oriented." They are a group sponsored by big business. Their sponsors include:

* AOL Time Warner
* BMG
* National Cable & Telecommunications Association
* Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
* Vivendi Universal

And the article was published in The American Spectator, a shamelessly right-wing rag that caters to the crowd that believes that helping big business get bigger is the most important contribution that legislation can make to our lives.

Of course Adkinson came out with a pro-copyright rebuttal. His article is as unbiased and trustworthy as one citing the health benefits of cigarette smoking sponsored by R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris.