[free-sklyarov] Thank You All!

[Paul Walmsley]

On Tue, 24 Jul 2001, Declan McCullagh wrote:

> It's reasonable to disagree on tactics, but the folks here who have
> been beating up on EFF since Friday perhaps owe the group an apology.
>
> Without EFF's sober negotiators sitting down with Adobe yesterday,
> Adobe would not have backed down. Without protesters in the streets
> outside, EFF's position would not have been as strong.

Declan,

the problem arose when the EFF tried to do something that it didn't have
the authority to do, which was, "PUT THE JULY 23 PROTESTS ON HOLD."

We -- and the EFF -- are fortunate that their Monday meeting with Adobe
produced results.  The alternative would have meant a significant loss of
face for the EFF.  Perhaps they had some advance knowledge that this was
the likely outcome.  But with the news coverage in several venues that the
EFF was "calling off the protests," they ran the immediate risk of sapping
crucial strength away from the protests.  As you and Robin point out, it's
a good thing this call was ignored.

It's one thing for the EFF to choose not to participate in protests, and
another thing entirely to try to "call the protests off."


- Paul