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Protesting DMCA
from the what's-the-d-m-c-a? dept.
It began in David Niemi's head early this year.
Niemi is a Washington D.C. system administrator who decided he didn't want the restrictions embodied in last year's Digitial Millennium Copyright Act to sweep into effect unnoticed, and organized a protest demonstration that took place this morning outside the U.S. Capitol building. Speaking a few days before today's event, he explained that the idea took hold of him "[a]bout two months ago. It started when I had just read the DMCA, and realized what exactly the problems were, and gave a short talk to DC LUG and later to NovaLUG, after which I enjoined people to take a day off of work and help protest. If we have even half of those people [who said they would come], it'll be great."
The chance to show up in person to show dissatisfction with the law and start spreading the news of its dangers ended up attracting an interesting cross section of the software community -- between 20 and 25 people -- and one observer for the Copyright Control Association. Members of the DC, Virginia and Maryland LUGs which helped publicize the event, and others who heard about the event (here on Slashdot, or through mailing lists and forums which were forwarded the information) showed up to create and hold signs with messages like "Restore Fair Use -- Repair the copyright law" and a banner reading "The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Promotes Digital Monopolies." Most of the demonstrators were professional programmers or sysadmins, students, or both.
Why spend so much time and energy fighting a law that was passed last year? In part, because not all of the provisions of the law have yet been enacted, and their implementation can still be altered. And, as Niemi points out, "[t]he DMCA is actually fairly readable -- it's quite easy to see why it's unreasonable. UCITA is quite a bit harder [to understand], especially as amended by Virginia, which was done as edits to a long piece of code." Efforts to curtail DMCA's effects will be good practice in fighting the other laws which no doubt will follow, starting with UCITA and stretching into the forseeable future.
University of Maryland researcher and some-time instructor Peter Teuben was the only representative today from the University of Marlyand's LUG. "Probably because the others have classes to go to," said Teuben with a smile. "I just took off because I didn't have to teach. The software that I write is open source, so I have been been an active participant for at least 15 years in the whole idea of open source. I come from an academic background where that's normal." But there is another reason he was in Washington today "This is near to my heart. The simplest reason is the fact that I bought a DVD player, and now that I've bought it, suddenly I 've learned that I can't play the DVDs that I buy in Holland. I was totally shocked -- I didn't know that. It makes no it makes no sense to me, because it's digital, just like CDs -- even the same size." Something as simple as watching a movie purchased or shipped from abroad is made complicated by the restrictions the DVD license holders have attached to the medium. "The funny thing is that software allows you to do that [switch region settings] five times, but that's still limited. There's ways around that, but they're illegal."
Economist Doug Galbi also took time off work to show up on the street west of the Capitol building. Galbi said his interest was mostly philosophical. "I don't do that much programming, but I have a sense that this [isuue] is huge." Galbi said that for consumers, "The fear is that reasonable, common-sense fair use would be outlawed ... that their actions would be vulnerable as a felony act under the law. What if I'm going down the street singing a Beatles song, are they going to arrest me because I don't have the rights to it?"
Marsha Wilbur, studying at Connecticut's Three Rivers College and about to continue her computer science studies at Arizona State, hopped on a train when she heard about the demonstration on a mailing list from the Open Law project at Harvard's Berkman Center. "I said 'Oh, I'm there!' Also, there's a guy in Connecticut who's being sued, and they're using this -- " She gestured at a copy of the law -- "to harrass him. That's my feeling. And I don't think it's right. That's why I'm here."
Because seniors at his school graduate in 3 1/2 years instead of four, Lenny Grover spent the morning in Washington, while he waits for responses to both job and college applications. "I'm always interested in things that affect the technological community. And I think the provision that products with, I believe it says, limited commercial potential which circumvent copy protection, would also have prevented the VCR. And that turned into billions of dollars a year! These people are so shortsighted -- they don't even see the benefit it could bring." Pointing out that programs like Napster/Wrapster and Gnutella are essentially content-neutral distributed file systems, Grover said, "The question is, where do you draw the line between innovation and breaking copyright?"
Discussions among the participants about the nature of software and the best ways to balance individual, public and corporate rights simmered throughout the protest, which ended at noon with a walk that took us from the Capitol past the Supreme Court. During the hike network engineer Rama Kant voiced a thought about the perceived lack of tolerance among copyright holders for what has traditionally been called fair use: "I feel that it impinges on your ability to watch or listen to what you paid for. I sort of disagree with that. If I buy a CD, I want to be able to listen to it at whatever time I want, whatever conditions I want." Kant, who does contract work for various organizations in the area, heard about the event through his membership in NoVaLUG. "I've been a Linux user for a while, and that's how I got into this. I use Linux, and Unix also. I use a lot of Linux boxes in my work."
Perhaps the least-expected person to show up this morning was Penny Kozakos, an employee of public relations firm Burson-Marsteller who came to observe and collect literature from the protesters. Kozakos seemed puzzled by the demonstration, and listened curiously to an explanation of what computer operating systems have to do with watching the movies her agency's client keeps encrypted, and why the DCMA was poised to drastically change the scope of what consumers and computer scientists could do legally and without asking industry permission. "This is all new to me," she said, explaining that she was merely doing a favor for the Los Angeles branch of the company by showing up to make a report. "This isn't what I deal with normally at all."
Was today's demonstration a success? Perhaps not in any spectacular way; fewer people showed up than Niemi initially hoped for. However, the flyers and DMCA summaries handed out today were mostly to passers-by who expressed no knowledge of the DMCA at all, and most of whom seemed shocked by its brazen assertion of control over purchased entertainment media. Cultivating public knowledge that there even is such a thing as the DMCA seems like a minor success to me. And if more than 20 Linux users can collect themselves at short notice for three hours on a Washington weekday, it bodes well for similar actions in the future.
See pictures of the event taken by Sally Lynch, by Peter Teuben, and by Declan McCullagh.
Re:Conventional Tactics? (Score:3)
I'd love to see that too, but let's face it, we're fighting a traditional, legacy culture: the US Legislature. We all know how clued in to the digital age they are, don't we? Using distributed tactics to influence the thoughts and opinions of that segment of the population wouldn't be very effective.
It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to write an email. I suspect most legislators therefore probably give a physical letter snail-mailed more consideration than email. Physically getting up and going to protest requires even more effort, implying how important the issue is for those voters doing the protesting. Hence it should, in ideality, carry even more weight in the minds of those whom the protestors are trying to influence.
Sadly, I don't think we'll see our distributed culture being able to use native methods of communication to make their presence felt in our Republic for quite some time. Hence, we probably won't be a noticable factor in the political landscape until at least another ten years has gone by. Just look how long after World War II it took for a member of the post-WWII generation, aka the "baby boom" generation to become elected to President.
Media manipulation for fun and profit (Score:3)
What do the media consider newsworthy? The media want sensationalism! They want IMPACT. They want to improve their ratings, sell more newspapers and the like. And what is best? Something that grabs the attention of someone so they watch this channel, or buy that newspaper.
So you need a bit of planning. A peaceful protest with 10,000 people is often good enough to make the news, especially if traffic is blocked, or other peaceful disruption occurs. But if you've only got 25 or 50 people, the protest alone will not be enough to grab the attention of the media.
So you need something that grabs the attention. You need a media stunt.
What constitutes a good media stunt? Look at what Greenpeace does. They sail their boats between whaling ships and factory ships. They climb tall buildings and display huge banners. You need something attention-getting like this.
Often, the attention-getting stunt might involve something like trespassing to display that banner, and it is inevitable that some people might get arrested, so you need a group fund to cover bail if people are arrested. And in fact, getting arrested increases the sensationalism factor, so you might want to get arrested on purpose.
The best stunt in the world won't do anything though if the media isn't there to see it. Don't post stuff on the web and hope the media find it. The media isn't going to come to you. You have to go to the media. Call the news lines of all the major media outlets in the city, and a few others elsewhere for good measure. Tell them what you intend to do, the itinerary if any, and what the protest is about. Aim to have as many television and photographic cameras there as possible.
Once you have the cameras there, the protest is underway, the stunts have been performed and the like, the media want to know why you're doing this. They might interview people at random, so it's best that everyone is coached on what to say. Have everyone issued with flyers as well.
Remember, too, that the television news media operate in "sound bites", five to ten seconds of someone saying something that they can include as a segment on the news. You need to provide that sound bite. At some point in the interview, you need to summarise what your protest is about, in 25 words or less. This is usable as a sound bite, and the television media may then choose to use it.
Above all, treat the news media that show up with great respect. It's often hard work lugging that camera around, because they often meet unco-operative subjects in their day-to-day work. Co-operate with them, and if they want to stand on the roof of your car with the camera for a better shot, let them. This protest is probably not the only one you stage, and if you treat them with respect, they will return the favour.
One last thing. You need to form an organisation. Call yourselves something like "People against DMCA" and always use that name when calling the media to tell them about upcoming protests. If you then organise a series of protests, use of that name will give your protests continuity, and will help your cause. Whatever you do, don't be a disorganised rabble.
These methods are used frequently by the environmental movement when they try to get their message across. And they have succeeded, because you've heard of Greenpeace, and environmentalism is now taught in schools. Follow their methods, and you will succeed.
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Re:Conventional Tactics? (Score:3)
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More demonstrations (Score:3)
A live demonstrations shows a real commitment to an issue - even if it involves only a few people. It's also likely to be taken more seriously than a bunch of "Fsck you" and "Hot grits" emails which will probably only be skimmed and binned by a secretary anyway.
Conventional Tactics? (Score:3)
Why don't we use distributed tactics: Email writing and the like?
Re:Is there a DMCA FAQ? (Score:3)
timothy
CNN has a report on this. (Score:3)
Making a difference (Score:3)
[Also - I'd really like some feedback on this - both the RIAA and MPAA have alleged that there is a licensed DVD player for Linux - is this true? (and no "yeah, windows" jokes). If it isn't, AND you are absolutely certain of this fact, the reporters who wrote the stories that included those quotes would be very interested to hear this. There's nothing reporters hate more than being lied to. If the information is presented well, it may even result in a favorable follow-up story)
As long as you are taking the time to come out and do some Rah Rah (the term of art for a group of people 10-10,000 rallying on the Capitol grounds,) Why don't you actually schedule time to come in a see the congressional staff - the people who wrote the DMCA in the first place. [someone had mentioned that they didn't have much luck with this - usually the only people who don't get a meeting are clear crackpots ("the UN is building the staging point for a US invasion at the local community college") - if you could not get a meeting with a staff member, and you were a constituent, I would take a close look at your approach] One poster had mentioned hitting representatives at town halls in their districts and states. While this should not be discouraged, the end result will be the member going back to their staff, asking "have you heard many complaints about the DMCA" and when the answer is no, filing you away as a crackpot. Yes, the MPAA and RIAA are here, so is the Patent Bar lobby, but none of them are grassroots organizations, they represent business interests, and they are treated as such (for better and worse). [What this means is, the staff will take their (voluminous) information on an issue, and may take time to meet with them, but usually only if they a representing a constituent interest or company]
AIPAC (the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee) is often ranked as the most effective lobby in Washington by other lobbyists and legislative staff. Every year they bring 3-4000 members to Washington for a 3 day conference. This includes a "Hill Day" when members "storm the hill", groups going to the office of their own Congressmen and Senators. Offices will never say no to meeting constituents in DC. The AIPACers sit down with staff and push their legislative agenda for the year. Backing up these visits is the other end of AIPAC is a very intelligent, thoughtful group of academics who can supply supporting material for any pro-Israel argument a member or hill staffer would like to make. This small group is located in DC, they understand how to make material relevant to the legislative process, and they know how to target the individual members [interests, sympathies, security].
The point of this is, I know the tech crowd has some roots in the ex-hippies of the 70s and early 80s, and barricading the doors of congress (as suggested by one post) seems like a effective idea. [I find it interesting that the first poster regarded these as "conventional" tactics] Most techs are very intelligent, if not eloquent, individuals. The web is the single most effective tool for political organization we've ever known, and it's your domain. Organize and communicate. [Develop concise, informative materials that a congressional staffer can use to advocate your side of the issue] When you come to DC or NOVA, make time to meet with the staff of your Senator or Congressman. Maintain lists of members, rank their votes on issues - know who your friends are, stay in touch with the staff. Once you have the business card of a congressional LA, you can call or e-mail that person at will (or at least until you make a nuisance of yourself - be professional). Stop whining that Congress won't take a personal interest in you, take a personal interest in Congress.
If you truly believe that the government is out of your reach and it doesn't matter what you say, why bother to even come and protest? You should be hiding from the black helicopters by now. If you want to get something done, get involved, grok the system, and work it.
What we have to do! (Score:3)
These laws can change the way we use and work with our computers, for the worse. They allow the Microsofts of the world to become private dictators.
We have to first become politically active. Register to vote, and let your elected reps know how you feel. And then vote against them if and when they screw up.
Next we have to educate. The news media is not reporting this stuff. Maybe because its not sexy. Maybe because CNN is owned by a company that is also in the movie and music business.
So educate your friends, neighbors, family, etc.
Because... (Score:3)
Because it takes no effort to send an e-mail. It makes much more of an impression if someone cares about an issue enough to actually take the time to travel and physically show up somewhere to protest.
No matter how wired we get, I know I'd be more impressed by someone using up a whole day to travel somewhere than spending 10 seconds cutting/pasting an e-mail that they probably don't even know why they're doing it.
Not to mention that e-mails can be forged extremely easily. How do I know as a representative that 1,000 e-mails aren't coming from the same person?
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The Protest (Score:3)
The original posts about how small the protest was and how pointless it is to have a small protest only futher emphasize that it's up to you, the invididual to show up to these kinds of events. If more people would have showed up, then we wouldn't be getting this "no one showed up" feedback. If you care about the issue, go out and make yourself heard.
For most of the event, I handed out flyers with two or three people holding signs. Some people were interested in what I had to say, others not. But I was able to gain attention with only three people. If everyone contributes and makes thier presence known to another event of this nature, then it will be more difficult to ignore us.
I hope to be putting up a web page on the event as a whole by the day's end (I'm collecting media coverage and images and whatnot), so if anyone has any which haven't been mentioned yet, send them along to me.
Thank you all again for your support,
- Serge Wroclawski
You can't comment. Screw my karma. (Score:3)
It sounds like you aren't a veteran yourself, so you can't speak for us.
As a member of the U.S. military, I was asked to support and defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That means I was defending our country's interests, be they political, or economic.
Do you really think that as I hauled my dead friends out of the water after their helicopter went down that I was thinking about "Gee this sucks. Screw these Iraqui bastards, we just want the oil." I was thinking, "What did politicians get me into now?" Many of us risked our lives for what you call opressive or futile purposes. We didn't have a choice. We swore an oath.
I swore an oath, and I followed up on it. It's a hard thing to do. Try it yourself sometime. I swore that oath on the U.S. flag. That flag is a symbol of my oath to support my country. Tell me what's wrong with doing that. So, the flag means a LOT to me, and to people like me.
Maybe it's unconstitutional to burn the flag. Fine. We have EVERY right in the world to try to protect it from people who don't know or care what that means to us. Think of anything that means a lot to you. Do you go to church? Would you permit me to waltz in and scream obcenities at the altar to "express my feelings?" I doubt it. How about art? Maybe I don't like the art you created. So I burn it. I'm just expressing my feelings, right? I have the right to do that, right?
I don't have to like your opinion of flagburning any more than you like mine. That's the beauty of the U.S. Everybody gets an opinion. And, in the represenative DEMOCRACY that we live in, if enough people feel that a certain way, well then a LAW gets passed. That's what these veterans are trying to do. You don't have to agree. We want people to know what's happening.
But don't you EVER belittle our sacrifices as the judgement of the military. Try asking your civilian congressman or your president what they were thinking.
Maybe you should ask another veteran or two how and why we feel the way we do about the flag. See if they give you a different answer.
Contact Congress information (Score:3)
Go to this web site [visi.com] for an up-to-date database of congressional contact information.
- tokengeekgrrl
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions
Protesting. (Score:3)
Best of Luck!
Someone forgot to call the media (Score:4)
* They stayed there for a longer period
* Newspapers and other media were there
* More people showed up
We need a supplemental protest NOW. People will quickly lose interest unless those three conditions are met. Anyone in Southern CA willing to help set up a protest?
Protests aren't the only thing we need to do. We also need to set up a site kind of like the @dopt an MP site at www.stand.org.uk where you can fax and email your senator or representative.
Re:CNN has a report on this. (Score:4)
"He [Mark Litvack, the MPAA's legal director for worldwide antipiracy] added that there are authorized Linux-based DVD players on the market."
Is this accurate? Can anyone provide a link to a commercial or non-commercial Linux player authorized by the DVD-CCA?
Re:You wanna talk about irony? (Score:4)
You have to be careful about assuming that veterans risked anything "for your freedom". Many US veterans risked their lives to suppress the freedoms of other people (Vietnam), or to keep oil prices low (Iraq). There are no Civil War veterans left alive, but were you able to ask I'm sure you'd get at least two different viewpoints on who was fighting for what.
Re:CNN has a report on this. (Score:4)
He says, in part:
"Linux users are not being barred from playing DVD movies on their systems. The professor obviously is not aware that all Linux users have available to them a licensed application to do precisely that."
I believe the "licesned player" he mentions is also known as
timothy
I was there, and will be happy to protest again (Score:5)
There were a few logistical problems caused by, well, the fact that this was the first such protest the organizers had done. We had some difficulty coelescing at the outset and I heard some complaints about lack of proper notice -- particularly more might have come a long distance to the protest if given sufficient warning.
Still, these were niggling issues and I consider the protest a success. We had a lot of curious folk approach us and ask of the DMCA and why it was a Bad Thing. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my behalf, but most seemed to come away better educated and rightfully concerned -- kudos should go to the articulate spokesmen who clearly explained what the DMCA was and its associated problems.
There was casual discussion of another protest. If one should materialize, you can count me in again.
On another note, the hordes of veterans seen swarming the Capitol yesterday were there to lend their support for the anti-American Flag desecration Constitutional amendment. Kinda ironic considering we were defending freedom,and they were there to, in a way, curtail it.
Cheers!
Mark
MPAA's VP of Public Relations says: Sigma (Score:5)
He seemed unsure about availability, though, and promised to send me more information. He forwarded to me a press release, which can be found on the Web at:
It says, in part:Sigma Designs, Inc. (Nasdaq: SIGM), a recognized leader in digital video solutions, announced today that it will
add Linux support to its new REALmagicâ NetStreamÔ 2000 card and EM8400 progressive MPEG-2/DVD decoder chip."
The Sigma Website [sigmadesigns.com], however, still says such support is coming "soon."
The company, and their plans to release a Linux DVD player, have been discussed here on slashdot before.
Re:CNN has a report on this. (Score:5)
What I want is a re-affirmation of the principal that if I buy a book/movie/tape/CD I own the book/movie/tape/CD and not just a license to use it under certain conditions as decided by the publisher. I am willing to deal with copyright protection, that is to say, "I will not re-publish this item under my own label for fun or profit. I will not make copies of this item and give them away, but I may make copies for personal use, such as archiving or interoperability." I am not willing to deal with, "I hereby admit that I have bought a license to use this item under certain conditions dictated to me by the copyright holder."
This is a fundamentally new idea, it recently saw its most obvious and egregious application with the late and unlamented Divx, but is seeing a rebirth under DVD restrictions. Up until recently, if I bought a book, copyright holders had no way to stop me from loaning it (or giving it) to my friend in Japan. It's my book, if I want to give it away, that should be my business. Suppose I want to do the same with a movie? The current copyright owners want:
1. Technological restrictions to prevent me from doing so.
2. Legal muscle to prevent me from doing so if the technological restrictions fail.
Therefore, I consider if I "buy" a movie on DVD, the people who sold me the movie consider that they still own it. Not just the right to copy the movie (otherwise known as copyright:), but they still own the actual disk they sold me.
Consumers rejected Divx, but the MPAA and its ilk never did. They just realized that Divx went to far too fast, and that they couldn't fool people into believing that a "gold" level Divx, which would play on your home Divx player.... as long as you kept your Divx account open and the player plugged into the phone line... but not on your friends player was equivalent to buying the same movie on a tape.
DVD restrictions seem mild by comparison, but they are still indefensible. There is no reason why geographic borders should be used as tools for censorship and price gouging. There is no reason why control of content should be used to maintain the monopoly of a company like Micros~1.
The DVD CCA may throw us all a bone, and allow a licensed binary for Linux. Heck, they might even give away a free version where you can view the source and just maintain their rights over it (i.e. give it away under there own license rather than GPL it, like AOL/Time/Warner did with the Netscape code). I would hope that the people who are against the MPAA and DVD CCA would see that that isn't the point, and that it was just, "Here, now maybe they'll shut their yaps and we can go back to screwing over the average consumer." They need to rethink their Draconian and absurd position on copyright, and return to fair use and a balanced view of consumers rights. Otherwise, I will resist them until I die. What's the point in buying something if you aren't really allowed to own it?
Re:Excerpt from my Comments to patent office (Score:5)
Your "blind reader" comment got me thinking of another analogy.
Consider a device that scans a book and outputs braille, either on paper or electronically. If these things are expensive, our clever blind hacker might decide to make his own.
If this worked the same was as the deCSS case, then that person would be legally prevented by the publisher from using his home-made device to translate into braille the books he's bought!
In one case, the translation is decryption. In the other case, it's a 'known' translation method. It doesn't matter! Fundamentally, you are translating the contents from an unreadable form to a readable one. That's it!
Let's see that addressed by the RIAA and company.