[free-sklyarov] Proposal -- Start an Online Petition Drive Regarding Sklyarov Arrest

Keith A. Glass salgak at speakeasy.net
Thu Jul 19 11:41:00 PDT 2001


> As one who helped with the anti-CDA petition drive a few
> years ago which got about 130,000 signatures, I propose
> that we start an online petition drive concerning Sklyarov,
> Adobe and/or the DMCA. (I recall there being at least one
> web site for the purpose of running online petitions so
> we could use such a service or simply put a web form up
> somewhere -- I prefer the former.)
> 
> Of course, we need to decide upon:
> 
> 1) Does it make any sense to devote energy to it?

Yes
 
> 2) If so, what should be the wording of the petition
>    statement? Who and what should it be focused
>    towards?

Thinking that issue: Primary focus: Get Dmitri out of jail 
and on a plane home.  THEN we fight the DMCA. . .

> 3) How do we promote the petition to get the
>    general net community interested in it and to
>    e-sign it?

www.petitiononline.com looks like the obvious place.

I'd also suggest vote.com, because THAT autogenerates email
to to proper parties. . .

> Regarding 2), the petition statement wording must be very
> carefully worded -- concise, non-conspiratorial/non-libelous
> and moderate in tone, must focus on the important issues, and
> of course to state something we "all" can agree upon, rather
> than trying to be too extreme. It must also convey reference
> sources for the interested person to look up and study the
> issues surrounding the DMCA before deciding to e-sign the
> petition.

That's along the lines that I've been counseling people.  ESPECIALLY
with the G-8 meeting this weekend.  We have to stay rational, calm,
and logical.  We're already going to have an uphill publicity
battle with Joe and Jane Public, because Adobe and the Feds are
guaranteed to cry "HACKER!!", and get a lot of sheeple to back them
on the h-word alone.  Yelling and flames don't just do nothing, they're
actually COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE....
 
> Regarding 3), we certainly need an aggressive campaign to "get
> out the vote". We will need a couple dozen or more core
> people to circulate the petition to relevant online forums/
> lists/boards/newsgroups etc., and to solicit others to pass
> it on to their friends and so on. There are probably other
> ways to promote it as well (geez, if we can get Matt Drudge
> to report on this petition, we'd get several hundred thousand
> signatures from that alone!)

Wired.  Slashdot.  ZDNet.  We also need to get ACLU onboard.  The
Libertarian Party is a natural here, as is CDT and EPIC.  And
some of the more active political sites.  I've been pondering all
day as to how I want to broach the topic on FreeRepublic. . .

> Finally, we need to act and get this out within hours, not
> days, since we have momentum at the moment, and much interest,
> but this is fleeting, and we must strike while the iron is
> hot -- if anything, the petition will keep the momentum going
> as I observed with the CDA.

Do we need another "turn the web black" day ?? The obvious day for that
is next Tuesday, followed by that IT Sick-out I've heard mentioned....






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