[free-sklyarov] Protest strategy & goals

[Bob La Quey]

At 01:57 AM 7/22/01 -0400, you wrote:
>>> On Sat, Jul 21, 2001 at 07:37:08PM -0700, Bob La Quey wrote:
>>> Wrong. Adobe and the big corporations whose greed got the DMCA passed by 99-0
>>> are the root cause of the problem. The DMCA is an important symptom but please
>>> let us not confuse cause and effect here. Adobe must suffer a massive PR hit
>
>> Declan McCullagh wrote:
>> Could not another competing "problem" be the fact that congresscritters
>> are such knaves that not one voted against the DMCA?
>> 
>> Oh, no. I suppose it would be too much to hold them to such a high standard.
>> 
>> -Declan
>
>        Myself, I think the fundamental question is
>"What Is Property?". Having large corporations being able to
>redefine property to their own advantage strikes me as the
>basic problem (as has been articulated elsewhere). Complaining
>that Congress has a moral responsibility to define property
>in some conjectured Libertarian-type fashion, and then endlessly
>repeating some variant of government-bad when they do not - well, 
>it seems to me that's unproductive in the extreme. Maybe it 
>fills column space. But in terms of analysis, in terms of having
>any utility whatsoever besides preaching (maybe not even to the
>choir), I just don't see it.
>
>        Here's the key difference; When someone looks at the motives
>of the corporations, they understand *WHY* the law was passed,
>and that can lead to some possible insight as to how to change it.
>In contrast, when someone merely proclaims their scripture as
>to what the government SHOULD do, it's the net equivalent of
>bible-banging. Both the courts and Congress are noticeably
>unreceptive to it, and it leads to nothing besides more
>bible-banging as they will remain unreceptive to it.

Right, while banging on Adobe is a short term necessity, in the 
longer term we are looking at a law that is broken. Worse,
the real driver is broken business models derived from 
the predigtal era, which the DMCA tries to preserve artificially. 
Those who are thinking creatively about the longer term need 
to be thinking about, sharing and creating new business models, 
and new businesses based on these models. As I see it, the real 
opportunity lies in the Free/Open Source community providing a 
way out of his mess. Viva la Gimp, to hell with Adobe.  

I do believe that for the short term we must give companies
like Adobe a very big PR problem in order to defang this 
draconian law. Who among us will be next to feel the wrath 
of some multi-billion dollar corporation allied with the
FBI and the DOJ? 

For now though I do hope that all those concerned with these
issue will meet at the OSCON in San Diego next week. Our 
prelimenary meeting to address the immediate  issue is:
 
8:00 PM in the Lobby
Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina
1380 Harbor Island Drive
San Diego, California 92101

This is really a natural place for old friends attending the 
OSCON to meet first anyway. We just hold up a few "FREE DMITRY" 
signs and then self-organize from there. If it is crowd then 
we will find a place to take it. Hotels have plenty of places 
for crowds. 

We can then do an instant plan for Monday's protest. 


Bob La Quey