[free-sklyarov] EFF to Meet Friday July 27 with US Attorney's Office

[Izel Sulam]

mike castleman mlc67 at columbia.edu wrote:

>Now, don't get me wrong. The money I've sent to the EFF is some of the
>best money I've ever spent. But it seems clear that the EFF, while
>very good at litigation and negotiation, has no clue when it comes to
>grassroots[1] movements or democratic decision making. It annoyed me
>the first time; it's pissing me off now; next time, I'll probably be
>angry. And the factionalism that that would cause is totally
>unnecessary.

Mike,

Easy now.

I don't want to call you naive. Clearly, your email address indicates that 
you are anything but. However, it may be the case that in this area of 
human endeavors, you have less than adequate experience.

When the EFF tells me "We respectfully request that protests be postponed." 
I hear "We respectfully request that protests be postponed, nudge, nudge, 
wink, wink."

In other words, they tell us that they cannot officially or unofficially 
associate themselves with any ongoing protests while showing a good faith 
effort to negotiate with the concerned parties. This really should not come 
as a surprise to anyone. It's plain bad negotiation skills to act in any 
other way.

With that said, EVERYONE knows that EFF has no power to stop independent 
parties to protest whenever they want, against whatever cause they want. In 
fact, if anything, EFF makes it easier for these independent parties to 
arrange their protests by announcing their negotiation efforts reasonably 
ahead of time through the appropriate communication channels. However, they 
make a good faith effort to distance themselves from any potential 
protests, as they must during negotiations.

So there you have it. EFF is involved in official negotiations, and they 
cannot associate themselves, officially or unofficially, with any protests 
that may simultaneously happen on the same day at the same location.

Please understand this, respect this, and then go ahead and do what you 
would have done anyway.

Thanks.
- izel