[free-sklyarov] Letter-writing

[Seth David Schoen]

Tomorrow, Saturday, September 8, is a letter-writing day for
supporters of Dmitry Sklyarov.  In a few cities, people will gather
for letter-writing parties.  (People in the San Francisco Bay Area:
come by the EFF Share-in Concert, in Golden Gate Park, and there will
be a letter-writing table there.)

Wherever you are, please write well-researched, well-written, polite
letters -- on paper would be best -- to

(1a) Your members of Congress, if you live in the U.S., asking for
     their condemnation of Dmitry Sklyarov's arrest and prosecution,
     as well as a reconsideration of the DMCA.

     http://www.congress.org/

(1b) Your local legislators or political representatives, if you don't
     live in the U.S., asking for help to prevent DMCA-like legislation
     from coming to your area.  (The E.U. Copyright Directive is one
     concern, as are anti-circumvention provisions in a _large_ number
     of international treaties.  Most countries do have something to
     worry about here; if you haven't heard about proposed
     anticircumvention legislation in your country, please ask me.)

(2)  Interim U.S. Attorney David Shapiro, in charge of the U.S.
     Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.
     (His title is "US Attorney Shapiro"; address him as "Mr. Shapiro".)
     Address: United States Attorney's Office, 450 Golden Gate Avenue,
     Floor 11, San Francisco, California 94102 USA.

     Some people have recommended a brief mention of the effect the
     DMCA has had on _you_ (e.g. "I have not published my PhD
     thesis", "I decided not to take a vacation in the U.S.", "I
     turned down a job offer from a U.S. company", ...).
  
(3)  Publishers which are members of the Association of American
     Publishers.  I've been filling in their addresses on my web page

     http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/publishers.html

     but haven't quite finished yet.  Again, important points: the
     DMCA is harmful to the freedoms of speech and press; it's
     shocking (outrageous!) that publishers would...

     ... and in conclusion, we hope that publishers will repudiate
     the AAP statement.

Please, in your letters, get your facts straight!  Double check!  It's
especially easy for someone to discount a letter if it has factual
errors (possible examples: "Dmitry was arrested for giving a talk").

More suggestions for letter-writers, as well as some sample letters,
are most welcome.  I'm sorry I haven't had enough time to put together
further details.

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Its really terrible when FBI arrested
Temp.  http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/ | hacker, who visited USA with peacefull
down:  http://www.loyalty.org/   (CAF) | mission -- to share his knowledge with
     http://www.freesklyarov.org/      | american nation.  (Ilya V. Vasilyev)