[free-sklyarov] URGENT: factioning to avoid looking like we are factioning seems highly quixotic

[Stanton McCandlish]

Apologies for the earlier insinuation that EFF was "deciding" to
put the protests on hold.  That was an error of internal EFF staff
confusion as to how this was being organized.  I'm *asking*.  So's John
Gilmore our co-founder & boardmember who's gotten Adobe to agree to the
meeting.

[Replying to several at once.]

> The EFF should distance itself from the protests.

We'll have to distance ourselves from protests happening prior to or
simultaneously with us trying to get them to about-face on this (unless
you're a gangster, you can't ask people to cooperate when you are
beating them).  If the protests held off, and then went forward a day
or so later if Adobe won't play ball, we would not need to distance
ourselves, and I think they could use our "good name" attached to them
in that circumstance.

> However, meeting with
> Adobe is not a guarantee that Dmitry will be released, or that Adobe will
> withdraw the charges.

We know that.  We don't want the protests to *stop* (unless Adobe
completely caves).  Even then, they should still happen, but be
targetted against the DoJ.  We have *MOMENTUM* here.  Protesting when
it's not really needed yet could easily spend it all wastefully, while
not continuing to follow through with a DoJ protest should Adobe bend
over backwards simply would dissipate it all.

This is a matter of priorities and goals, it's that simple. If you want
to get together and bash Adobe because they were mean, and it's fun to
bash them, that's one thing.  I don't see much point in it.  If you
want to actually help Dmitry Sklyerov, that's another matter entirely,
and requires some strategy.

> I also think it will be bad for the EFF to call for a halt to the
> protests. They will continue,

We don't want to do that.  We want to call for the protests to wait until
Adobe says what they're going to do.  We've all already gotten them this
far, just by *threatening* the protests.  You have a "stick" here.  If
you threaten someone with a stick and they agree to listen to what you
want them to do to avoid being beaten by it, you don't beat them anyway
just for fun.  You see if they agree to your demands or not, and then
whack them if they don't.

It'd just be a day or a few days at most.  (Days that could actually be
used for better planning, more organizing, etc.  EFFector did NOT go
out last night with the alert, and is on hold until we sort this out.
If we can have a joint plan pulled together, we can issue a new alert if
Adobe won't back down.  EFFector is **28,000** subscribers.  That will
swell the rallies/protests, esp. if people have more lead-time, e.g. for
a Wed. rally/protest.

I can't agree with Macki that it won't be possible to rekindle.  The
spark won't have gone out simply because of a rescheduling.
Organizations that pull off rallies & protests regularly understand the
value of targeting the timing as perfectly as possible, and this sort
of thing just happens sometimes. We should learn from that.

> but if the EFF does that, we'll lose
> momentum.

Yes, it would.  and...

>And, we may distract people with the story that we've factioned.
>
> If the EFF simply bows out of the protests gracefully, I think everyone's
> goals are met.

... I strongly disagree.  Even THAT will look like factioning, and it
will look highly suspicious, like EFF's has been bent over a barrell by
Adobe.  This is precisely the opposite of the truth and the opposite
impression to give!  If "the" freedom-over-intprop org is seen as
having been pressured out of the protests, the remaining protesters are
likely to be treated by the press as "those freaky extremists" and
marginalized.  If we continue in an organized-together fasion, this
won't happen.

> If Adobe asks why the protests are still occuring, say
> "We're not the protesters; they won't be happy until the charges are
> dropped."

This will look very disingenuous to them.  If I were an Adobe rep, I
wouldn't buy a word of it.  EFF genuinely DOES have to discourage and
distance itself from Mon. protests.  And I personally think they will
be counterproductive.  IF Adobe sticks to its guns, we CAN endorse
and advertise protests, and those protests would be highly on-point.

Look, we *already have a victory* in one battle in this "war".  This is
not a loss of steam or momentum.  We've got the upper hand, we can
afford to hold back the stick-whack, and with this sort of positive
spin it will NOT be difficult to get people to show up for a later
rally.  I've been doing activism for 9 years straight.  I know we can
do this.  Interest doesn't just disappear after you get some traction.
Unless you're utterly ineffectual in organizing and alerting, which
this gathering certainly isn't, the interest just grows and peaks.

> The down side --- of course --- is advocating protests --- and then backing
> down having gotten all hyped up. I personally enjoy a good protest and it's
> somewhat of a letdown --- and we have egg on our face. And there's
> reluctance to do this. But -- it's the way things are right now.

It's not a letdown if you follow through later. It's just good
planning. Now, if we called for a delay the day of the protest, that
would be a different story.

PS: I think just sticking to the first schedule but protesting the
DoJ/FBI will look like a cop-out. (no pun intended)


--
Stanton McCandlish      mech at eff.org       http://www.eff.org/~mech
Technical Director/Webmaster         Electronic Frontier Foundation
voice: +1 415 436 9333 x105                    fax: +1 415 436 9993
EFF, 454 Shotwell St.                    San Francisco CA 94110 USA


-- 


--
Stanton McCandlish      mech at eff.org       http://www.eff.org/~mech
Technical Director/Webmaster         Electronic Frontier Foundation
voice: +1 415 436 9333 x105                    fax: +1 415 436 9993
EFF, 454 Shotwell St.                    San Francisco CA 94110 USA