Contact Your Senator and Rep About The SSSCA

Irvu writes: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an Action Alert on the SSSCA along with a sample letter. They are urging you to send it, or a variant of it, to your Senators and House reps. Click here to locate your rep's Homepage complete with Phone #'s. Click here to send e-mail to your House Rep. Click here for the Senate Homepages. And click here for their e-mail addresses. Personally I would suggest faxing or calling your reps or at least their local offices. Wads of paper and well-prepared phone calls seem to make more of an impression on them than e-mail. However you do it, it would be good for them to hear from the actual 'consumers' that they are so eager to malign/protect."

Re:My question is..

[b_pretender]

I remember reading about it on Slashdot. We nerds were against it back then. Maybe it took a nasty law such as the DMCA getting passed in order to realize just how important it is to stand up for a liberties.

Sometimes, being part of a Democracy can take hard work. Let this be a call to action for everybody to send a letter to their senator (mine's Hillary) to tell them what we believe in and why you don't support the SSSCA.

Re:My question is..

[martyn s]

Democracy shouldn't be hard work though. I remember talking to a friend about the problems with a two party system, saying that it's not really a democracy because you have to be approved by a party to even run, and without belonging to one of the parties you cannot win. So he said, well enough people vote for him he can win. Like if there's a big backlash and everyone gets upset and decides to vote for a non-major party he can win, so we really do have a democracy. But according to that line of reasoning, pre-Revolution France was a democracy, because, hey they got what they wanted by staging a revolution, so their voice really was heard!

The wheels of democracy should be greased so that things automatically work fairly and the way the majority wants it. It shouldn't involve extreme effort or a revolutionary spirit. It should happen automatically. Not that a revolutionary spirit is a bad thing; it's especially good in times like this. But it shouldn't be necessary.

Re:Why bother?

[Eppie]

I've been in politics. The letters matter if there's enough of them. The form letters matter less. The phone calls matter a little less than that. The emails matter not at all.

Often, the letters and phone calls are simply tallied. Nobody reads them, they just note your position. Make sure you state your position clearly at the top of the letter. Don't bother putting too much nuanced argument in there. Save that for a face-to-face meeting.

Also, putting a check in the envelope helps a little too. Give a congressperson a couple hundred dollars, and you can hold his or her attention for a minute instead of a second.

Phone calls can make a difference, but there needs to be a lot of them. When the NY Times published a list of representatives to call about Shays-Meehan, the public overloaded the switchboards. Congress noticed that, and the pressure had a lot to do with the passage of Shays-Meehan.

Oh, and no threats of illegal vengeance. The FBI takes those pretty seriously these days.

Not to be a party pooper...

[Masem]

Note the date on the Action Alert; Issued Sep 2001, to expire Oct 2001. This is about when the SSSCA bill was 'leaked' to the net.

Not that pro-active writing can't hurt, but if you look at the various tidbits that came out today, it appears that Hollings will hold back on SSSCA as a threat to tech industry, saying that if they don't help with DRM, they he'll introduce the bill and let the 'fun' begin. Which means that *at this time*, SSSCA as a bill in Congress doens't exist. In fact, say a few more months down the road, things aren't working out and Hollings decides to introduce it, the bill's name might be changed, or similar action. And thus, warning your Senator or Congressman about a non-existant bill might go unheard.

It's still not unreasonable to write them now, telling them how you feel about the overpowering of commercial interests and refer to comments made of late about this situation, but now's not the critical time; only until the bill is put befiore the committees prior to going to the full house is when letters will be most effective.

Re:Not to be a party pooper...

[Irvu]

I disagree. Holling's threat only works if he can pass the bill. By informing your reps now that you oppose it you can weaken his position and reduce the chances of this bill ever being broaght to the floor. If we wait until the bill is on the floor then the proponents of it will have already been able to win some supporters to their side. If those supporters are made aware that there is opposition now, before they sign on, they will be less likely to do so, and the threat loses force.

Of course the most effect would be acheived by comments now *and* comments later.

If your senator's on this list, send them mail!

[leviramsey]

These senators are on the Commerce Committee, which is where the SSSCA currently has hearings. If we can nip it in committee, then that's really good!

• Ernest Hollings
• Daniel Inouye
• John D Rockefeller, IV
• John Kerry
• John Breaulx
• Byron Dorgan
• Ron Wyden
• Max Cleland
• Barbara Boxer
• John Edwards
• Jean Carnahan
• Bill Nelson
• John McCain
• Ted Stevens
• Conrad Burns
• Trent Lott
• Kay Bailey Hutchinson
• Olympia Snowe
• Sam Brownback
• Gordon Smith
• Peter Fitzgerald
• John Ensign
• George Allen

If you live in Oregon, I notice that it's absolutely critical that you get in on this: both of your senators are on the committee!

Also, Barbara Boxer is critical. The interests in Hollywood will try to convince her. If you live in the Valley, send her mail! If she sees large numbers of voters from the Bay Area pushing against this, she'll at least abstain.

I'm going to add this line because of the incompetent lameness filter.... People at slashcode should be working on this. I'd help, but I don't know Perl, just PHP.

Guess the lyric: "Hate the way you act, and I hate the way you smell. Hate the way you look, girl, 'cause you just look like hell. You make me sick! You really stink, girl."

Important Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page). Jesus Christ, still not enough characters per line. People will think that I'm sort of page-widening troll or something. Moderators, this is just to counteract an incompetency in the Slashcode. I hope that you don't hold this against me. Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 20.7). Apparently 21.4 characters isn't enough. Nor is 21.8. CmdrTaco, Krow, and anybody else involved in the lameness filter, please accept this as an example of why the lameness filter is broken. I mean, I've had to double the length of this post with filler material because that's the only way that a post which I think is genuinely informative, insightful, or both (and I hope the moderators agree with me on this). I'll be filing this in a bugreport to Slashcode. If you are reading this and have editorial priveleges, you might want to consider editing this crap out of the post, starting with "I'm going to add this line to". My God, 28.1 characters/line is not enough for you people. I'm beginning to think that some sort of black mark has been placed next to my name. The lameness filter ends up adding lameness... maybe it should be cleaned once in a while. In da CD player right now is "I Think I Lost My Headache", by Queens of the Stone Age, off of their album Rated R. After some connection issues from UMass to Cable and Wireless, I'm back here, with a 31.8 character/line post and just utter crap dominating this post. I don't give a fuck what Slashcode says, I'm posting this bad boy. Now it's 34.1 characters/line and Apocalyptica's rendition of "Refuse-Resist", off of the album

Inquisition Symphony is playing. I highly recommend this CD, along with the other two Apocalyptica CDs. Now, at 36.3 charcters per line, Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" is playing. Did you know that Freddie Mercury died from AIDS over a decade ago? Now coming up is a song from an artist I don't know the name of, but it's titled "I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper", off of the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange, an amazing film by Stanley Kubrick. You know, another amazing film which spawned a great video game was Goldeneye, and we've got a great jazz bit inspired by the game. I'ts Goldeneye - Controlled Jazz, by Scott Peeples. I'm sure lots of peoples out there will be tapping their toes to this. If you have any requests or dedications, you can just post a reply, and I'll try to get them. Goatsex trolls not accepted.

Re:If your senator's on this list, send them mail!

[fluffhead]

Uh, "U Stink (But I Luv U)" by Billy and the Boingers? (flexi-disc in the Berke Breathed Bloom County Billy & the Boingers comic strip collection ?)

That's the only one I can think of... unfortunately I lost it a long time ago.

Re:fascist american-centric money driven crap

[wganz]

Unfortunately, the RIAA doesn't only have plans for the tokens in our pockets but yours as well.

To ignore the growing censorship in the USA by the rest of the world is as foolish as Americans to ignore the erosion of civil liberties outside of our borders. The international corporations don't care about lines in the sand, just our tokens lining their pockets.

Sample letter is not good enough

[LordNimon]

The problem with the SSSCA is that it effectively ignores the nature of computer technology. Implementing DRM in every digital component produced is ludicrous. It will prevent engineers from DEVELOPING technology. See this post [slashdot.org] for details.

We need to explain it to our politicians. Frankly, I don't know how.

Don't write your Congressmen

[NumberSyx]

Thats right, Don't bother. Instead write to the CEO's of the companies that make our computers. Michael Dell has alot of clout, when he talks, people listen, including President Bush. If he and his fellow CEO's can be convinced that the SSSCA is bad for business, they themselves will lobby congress for us. CEO's get alot less mail than Politicians, they also take Email seriously. To a Politician we are a small demographic, easily ignored, but to Michael Dell and his peers, we are customers, or potential customers, we are their bread and butter, we are the ones who pay for thier $20 million dollar houses. If each one of the CEO's of the top 5 OEM's recieves even a 1000 emails, they will listen. As always, be polite, be clear, but make them understand, that we vote with our money.

Target Ted Stevens?

[Adam J. Richter]

If anyone is thinking of making a campaign contribution, you might want to look at whoever runs against Ted Stevens in his November 2002 senate reelection in Alaska, for the following reasons.

While most Replublicans seem skeptical of SSSCA [wired.com], Ted Stevens cosponsored it [yahoo.com]. Without Stevens' support, this kind of bill will seem much more partisan, reducing its chances unless the democrats manage to get control of both houses of congress and the white house.

Alaska has a small population, so a little money should go a long way in an election. Stevens has $1.5 million, including PAC contributions [opensecrets.org], an amount within the fund raising capabilities of a bunch of slashdot's wealthier nerds, less than half of the 1996 national average of $3.6 million [knowthecandidates.org]. Also, Stevens might not get critical support from his fellow Republicans if he finds himself in need, as he has embarassed his party with his pork barrel politics, netting Alaskans $766 per capita of federal money (making the state #1 in this category), in comparison to the national average of $25.52, as calculated here [webguild.com]. By the way, I'm not trying to pick on a Republican. It's just that the Democratic sponsor of the bill, Fritz Hollings, does not run for reelection until 2004 [opensecrets.org].

Please note that I really have not done much research on this. Other more researched specific suggestions are welcome.

A suggestion

[Hostile17]

To the person who writes the 100 lines of C code that disables whatever copy prrotection scheme they come up with. If you live outside of the US, post it anonymously, if you live inside the US send it to someone outside the US and have them post it anonymously. Don't endanger your freedom and well being for the "Glory of the Hack". I am not fooling myself, this time next year, we are going to be screwed and these people are going to be VERY serious about enforcing this. If you get caught you will be held without bail for a few years while the government, the MPAA and the RIAA mount a multi million dollar court case and you will either plead out or loose.