[lug] SSSCA to make all open source software illegal

[J. Wayde Allen]

On Wed, 24 Oct 2001, B O'Fallon wrote:

> If I recall, the weight given to correspondence with Congress is in the
> following order, from highest to lowest:
> 
>     hand-written letters
>     other letters
>     phone calls
>     e-mail and faxes
>     postcards -- the kind you get in the mail asking you to send
>     petitions
>     on-line petitions
> 
> It would appear that the more effort expended to contact Congress, the
> more weight the message carries; therefore, the best way, if one wants to
> make sure that their voice is heard, is by hand-written letter.
> 
> There is some advice on how to write Congress here:
> 
>     http://www.capwiz.com/nra/issues/basics/?style=comm
> 
> and on how to write the media here:
> 
>     http://www.nraila.org/ThingsUCanDo.asp?FormMode=Detail&ID=5

Good info ...

I especially think the issue of getting this sort of thing in the media is
a good idea.  If you could do that you would have accomplished a great
deal.  

Part of the problem with much of this legislation is that the general
public tends to feel that these are generally good ideas.  After all in
the case of the DMCA, the goal "appears" to be the protection of the
property rights of people making music, movies, software etc..
  
Unfortunately the Skylarov case doesn't reverberate quite right to make a
good media case.  Few people get past the idea that this Russian guy broke
a U.S. companies encryption standard, and at this level that simply sounds
like breaking and entering.  One guy being interviewed on NPR tried to
make the analogy to a news correspondent reporting a cover up by some
corporation and being thrown in jail.  I had hoped that that comment would
work, but the interviewer never did get past the - "but this guy illegally
broke a lock on a computer file" mode of thinking.  Sort of sounds to the
layman like this guy is telling people how to break into your house and
providing the tools to do it.

I think the issue with the University of Princeton's Computer Science
Department

   http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/293/5537/2028

"could" get past this stigma, but it just doesn't have enough impact - so
a couple researches couldn't publish a paper, so what?

Couple all of this with a general fear of computers, fear of viruses, and
fear of having your computer system compromised, and reason is pretty much
gone.  It is this kind of thing that is "being listened to".

(Thought your referenced URL's were amusing.  As political causes go
there is actually a lot of common ground.)

- Wayde
  (wallen at lug.boulder.co.us)