Guest LilBambi Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 Forty-Eight Hours To Stop The Broadcast FlagThe Broadcast Flag was Hollywood's plan to point its remote control at your digital TV. It was a set of bits in the DTV standard that let broadcasters meddle with what could be done with publicly available broadcast video - even if those restrictions stomped on your fair use rights.The courts struck down the original FCC proposal. Now, the lobbyists have turned to Congress. Rumor has it that a senator will introduce an amendment on Tuesday in the Senate Commerce, Justice, and Science sub-committee to reintroduce the flag. On Thursday, it goes to a full committee vote.If your state is listed below, then your senator is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and you can help stop the Flag - but there isn't much time. Please write now.For Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin constituents.Only thing is ... you can only object if your state has someone on the Appropriations Committee! Even though it will effect everyone!Please make your voice be heard if you are in one of the above states ... there are only 48 hours to do this.http://action.eff.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ADV_homepage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 Shucks, I live 10 minutes from one of those states, but...in Canada (I don't suppose that's good enough )Good luck stopping this thing!Curious: this can't actually stop analogue recording because it records right off of the signal, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 After looking at the list of states one has to think how many people actually have avalilble DTV in most of those states? regular over the air DTV. Besides the few major markets in that listing most is minor market or rural market.Another example of big business trying to govern thru political pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 Yes, sad isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewmur Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 (edited) After looking at the list of states one has to think how many people actually have avalilble DTV in most of those states? regular over the air DTV. Besides the few major markets in that listing most is minor market or rural market.Another example of big business trying to govern thru political pressure.<{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm in firm agreement about opposing the passage of this bill, but I'd really like to know how you define "major market." From what I see, the only "major market" that isn't represented is New York. Chicago, San Fran, Houston, Denver, L.A., Seatle, San Diago, Kansas City, New Orleans and Birmingham don't appear to be "rural" to me.Edit: Oops! I missed Dallas, San Antonio, Philidelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleaveland and Cincy. Edited June 21, 2005 by lewmur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 (edited) committee membershttp://appropriations.senate.gov/Too bad I'm unable to personalize the message and I refuse to look like an idiot and send a generic message.Maybe old, but I found the email address here http://vietpage.com/archive_news/politics/...Sep/9/0121.html that I need so I'll write my own message. (Not I don't have most of the high tech products so it won't impact me but I'm opposed to more control on what I can and can't do with the media I purchase!).I'm happy to report that I copied the gist of the email on the page, opened my email program and sent off my original email to Senator Specter. I also let him know that I was a voter in my 50's who feels that honest consumers are getting harmed by trying to clip the wings of pirates. I'll stop buying items, if they don't allow me to do what I want with them. (I still have and use VCRs and the old computers don't have all the DRM stuff in them). Edited June 21, 2005 by zlim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 What I mean by major is the list includes the #2 market but not the #1 market.My problem is the "Committee" way of running bills thru that some business thinks is for the "Good of the people" but is only good for business. Then there is only a partial representation in the committee.Then there is the fact that if you were in the know there is no real way of finding out about these types of things. I'm sure they want it that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 I guess Arlen Specter doesn't want email or the filter is set to bounce all unknows because my email bounced back.Anyway know what this means? Reporting-MTA: dns;SHARED-BH03.shared.ussenate.usReceived-From-MTA: dns;senmail3.senate.govArrival-Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 14:03:15 -0400Final-Recipient: rfc822;senator_specter@specter.senate.govAction: failedStatus: 5.1.1I haven't given up yet. I'll try sending from a few more email addresses that I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 I'm guessing it was an old email address that is no longer existant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 (edited) Specter's been in the senate forever...I wonder where I find an email address that works? My 2nd email from a different address bounced back.Finally found his web page and did an email through thathttp://specter.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAc...ontactInfo.HomeSomeone will contact me shortly. Let's see what I get. Edited June 22, 2005 by zlim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Hi zlim,That's great! I was just coming in to post his website that had the contact form for you when I saw your edit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebone Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 The EFF note could be personalized with additional text. I added:"I found the original text of this message, which follows, on the web site of the Electronic Freedom Foundation. I am in complete agreement with its text and want to add my personal opinion. The US has recently been favoring business over individuals in bills being passed by Congress. For example copyright extensions stifle innovation by suppressing the free dissemination of ideas a reasonable amount of time after an copyright holder has profited from a work. Also, the recently passed bankruptcy bill protected the business practices of banks, allowing them to extend credit to individuals whose credit history does not warrant getting credit. These same banks are not being held accountable for not protecting the private information of their customers. Witness the recent MasterCard and ChoicePoint data thefts. I urge Senator Feinstein to please oppose the implementation of the broadcast flag as a first step in protection of her voting constituency over the interests that work counter to those citizens. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Way to go littlebone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Amazingly, the canned response I got back from Senator Specter's site had the email address that I had been using to try and contact him. I guess they only accept emails from the website.Anyway, I'm still waiting for some sort of reply (and not holding my breath). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Ya know...that doesn't surprise me at all.At least one of our VA senators/house members doesn't accept emails either and I had to use their contact form to submit after a bouncing on a previous item I submitted for their attention.Guess it cuts down on the spam, huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corrine Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Cuts the spam as well as communications with those they represent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Thanks Adam for the info.Hey the people have spoken!!Check out these details listed in the EFF Deep Links today:Within the space of a few hours, the committee was Slashdotted, BoingBoinged and Instalanched.By 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the 27 members of the Senate Appropriations Committee received more than 11,000 emails and faxes. That's nearly 500 faxes an hour. Dianne Feinstein alone received more than 2,600 messages in her inbox. Kay Hutchison, the senior senator for Texas, received 1,441 letters.And these are just the numbers EFF has. We don't track telephone calls. But we do know that many of you listened when we joined Public Knowledge in urging you to call your senators directly. If you tried to call and the line was engaged, it was likely occupied by someone else griping about the same amendment. Staffers say they were "swamped."Today, the phone calls, email messages, and faxes continue to flood in. This is a mass protest even without voices from many of the more populous states, which don't have senators on the committee.Suffice it to say that you don't get that kind of reaction except for very controversial bills. You did it. You got the attention of every senator on the Appropriations Committee.And so far, it's working. No one proposed a Broadcast Flag amendment in the sub-committee on Tuesday. The next opportunity will be Thursday at 2 p.m. By then, everyone on the committee will have been briefed by their besieged staffers. And in the briefings will be words to the effect that this is an issue with "a great deal of voter concern."For these senators, the Broadcast Flag now comes with its own red flag.It's not over yet. The entertainment industry won't give up easily, and there are plenty of sneaky tricks left to pull.But by acting now, you've given your legislator a reason to decline Hollywood's advances. You may even have given a few the back-up necessary to keep declining.We challenge you to keep the momentum going. Tell your friends about the Broadcast Flag and forward this link. You can make a difference -- you already have.More in the article and on Slashdot and BoingBoing, etc. etc.http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/003730.phphttp://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...147259&from=rssKinda collated some of it with various links on my blog today (see sig.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Temmu! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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