Berman Retreats, But Only To Regroup

thefinite writes "It looks like the P2P vigilante bill sponsored by Berman is going to have to be rewritten even just to be considered. A ZDNet story talks about the likelihood that the bill will get anywhere as currently written. Hopefully, the second time around will make it clear that the idea is flawed, not just the text."

Re:Stupid question...

[Meat Blaster]

Theoretically, yes, he can be voted out. He is in the House of Representatives (which, along with the Senate, makes up our Legislative branch of government). While the Senate consists of two people from every state (50 states = 100 members), with each set of two people being voted upon by the entire state they represent, the House is made up of varying numbers from each state depending on the population of each state. The state is divided into districts, and each district has one member in the House that it elects.

So, if the people in Berman's district (a relatively tiny spot of California) don't have a problem with him, or the people who run against him aren't fantastic choices, he gets back in. He's been in for twenty years (no term limits on the House or the Senate) and inertia is on his side because of things like voter apathy and lack of knowledge about the issues. Then again, Berman could be a perfectly good representative for his electorate, given the locale.

It would be hypocritical for most people to call you a stupid European, given the fact that only around a third actually bother to vote on average here in the states (and hypocritical for me because I know next to nothing about the European system -- aren't you ruled by a queen or something? :)

That's just standard negotiation

[shreak]

That's not corruption or ego or anything else.

Him: I'll sell you this car for $1000000
Me: That's outrageous! I'll take it for $1
Him: That's nuts!
Me: Maybe we should find a middle ground.

For the current topic:

Their congressman: If we think someone is pirating, we get to burn down their house and roast their children over the embers!
Our congressman: You're loopy. Anyone can copy, modify, distribute and profit from anything anywhere anytime for any reason and needs no permission whatsoever from anyone.
Their congressman: Gak! Anarchist!
Our congressman: Maybe we should find a middle ground.

Re:Regroup to fight terrorists....

[Bonker]

Funny you should mention that. I wrote a short rant about it in June:

http://www.furinkan.net/display.php?pageid=83 [furinkan.net]

Re:Stupid question...

[Otter]

Then again, Berman could be a perfectly good representative for his electorate, given the locale.

As a former constituent of his (before my block got redistricted as a token white area in Julian Dixon's fiefdom), he's wildly popular. Not because his district includes "Hollywood" but because he votes on almost all issues the way his liberal Jewish and Latino constituents want.

The reality is that his stance on P2P networks may be wildly important to people here, but it's low on the list of priorities of the overwhelming majority of voters. It's not out of the question that they're the emotionally healthy ones.

Anyway, the real point is that while we can't vote him in or out of office, we do get to vote on some other representative who needs to pass those bills.

Re:Regroup to fight terrorists....

[Anonymous Coward]

I was there at the commerce committee roundtable hearing [newsforge.com] on 7/17 with Berman's Committee. Check the transcript [doc.gov]. Although some of the comments were left out, all of the comments from NYFairUse [nyfairuse.org], NYLXS [nylxs.com], LXNY [lxny.org], Information Producers Initiative [dyndns.org] were left out, one of the leeches in favor of drm restrictions actually said that P2P users sitting at home can use P2P to upload military secrets. He compared (towards the end of the meeting when everyone was tired, getting ready to go home, and paying less attention) a kid sitting a home trading songs to Wen Ho Lee, Robert Hanssen, and Jonathan Pollard. His first or last name was Myron.(Content Guard I think?)

It should be noted that NYFairUse and NYLXS tactics at the 7/17 meeting (and our unreported by Slashdot YRO attempts to get on the invite list prior to the meeting) were severely criticized by some in a slashdot story prior to all the facts getting out. Now that time has passed, and we have seen direct [newsforge.com] results of our actions, perhaps it is time to reconsider whether those actions should have been taken or not. Especially in light of this [com.com] and this [newsforge.com], which never would have happened if we had just sat there quietly like some have suggested, and news that the drm bills (all of them, Holling, Leahy, Biden, others) are dead for the year.

Slashdotter from District 28 of CA in the house...

[MsGeek]

The trouble is, Berman might as well be running unopposed. His Republican opponent, David Hernandez, would rather be Mayor of the new City of the San Fernando Valley, and is spending most of his money on the race. His Libertarian opponent, Kelley Ross, doesn't stand a chance.

I'm going to be voting for Hernandez only because I have met with him, he seems like a decent enough bloke, he's a "McCain Republican" who also cut his political teeth with Cesar Chavez, and he's also against the Berman Bill. But I do not hold much hope out for him to have any effect. Just look at the tale of the tape, courtesy of Opensecrets.Org [opensecrets.org]. Hernandez has exactly zero in his war chest, Berman has almost $1 Million left. And guess where most of that comes from? Well take a wild flying guess, folks [opensecrets.org]. Viacom and Walt Disney are his two biggest contributors.

No matter what we do at this late date, Berman will be back, just like the freakin' Terminator, next Congress. And after the election, he won't be as kindly bent to take outside input on his precious P2P hax0r bill.

Re:Wait for the movie

[racerx509]

Funny you should say that, because one of the members of the RIAA, Disney, has already done propaganda against P2P usage. The mp3 newswire [mp3newswire.net] and the newsforge [newsforge.com] have articles on it. The show is called the Proud Family and the particular episode spews the propaganda is called EZ-Jackster.