[DMCA-Activists] NY Fair Use Meeting, 4/13/02

[Seth Johnson]

New Yorkers for Fair Use Meeting
April 13, 2003, East Village

Attendance:

   Jay Sulzberger
   Brett Wynkoop
   Seth Johnson
   Vagn Scott
   Leonid Gorkin
   Forest Marrs
   Lucas Gonze
   Dustin Perun
   Anonymous


This meeting was a general call for action combined with briefings on recent
successes and organizational method, combined with general input resulting
in wide-ranging discussion.


Seth called for volunteers for a Phone Bank tactic contacting the NY Fair
Use volunteers database to contact their Congress people regarding current
movements at the Federak legislative level, such as the FCC broadcast flag,
to be conducted on Thursday, April 24th at 7:00 pm, via conference call.

   6 Volunteers: Brett, Seth, Vagn, Lucas, Dustin, Anonymous


Seth called for volunteers for a Street Outreach tactic seeking volunteers
for the "Stop Palladium" campaign, to be conducted in front of the CompUSA
at Fifth Avenue and 37th Street on Saturday, April 19th at 12:00 noon.

   6 Volunteers: Brett, Jay, Seth, Vagn, Leonid, Anonymous


General Discussion:

1. Meeting began with a description of recent activities.  Jay recounted
developments over the last nine months, with others contributing to the
narrative.  Topics included the July 17 2002 Commerce Department tactic, the
FCC Broadcast Flag action, the mobilization to stop patented W3C standards,
the "Stop Palladium" campaign, and more.


2. Forest invited the group to meet at the Three Jewels Cafe, 211 East 5th
St. near the 3rd Ave end (212 475 6650).  There is free net access there if
you have a wireless card.


3. Seth presented a summary of organizing principles.

   Vagn's notes:

      "Show those who are concerned something in motion."
      "Ask people to take on roles."
      "Set their expectations."
      "Build an army" to take on the content cartels, and politicise our
area.
      "We can come and train you."


4. Brett mentioned students at Swarthmore who expressed interest.

      Talk to colleges' admins about these issues.
      Also members of Congress, all but two voted for DMCA.
      It was noted that MCs had never heard the other side of these issues.
      Noted that a goal is repeal of the DMCA.
      Noted that the ARRL board takes the "How does the broadcast flag and
the DMCA affect me personally" line.


5.  General Discussion of "Stop Palladium" Campaign

      Don't buy Palladiated products
      Do outreach in front of CompUSA stores.

      Discussion of sound bites against Palladium:
         - Don't let others take control of your computer
         - Who decides who you trust?
         - Should you get to choose, or should the choice be forced upon
you?

      "I can't program, I don't have control of my computer now!"
      People are returning things to stores that say "not MS approved"
during install.

      Discussion about the difficulty of getting the issue across to people.

      Concerns raised:

         TCPA just a chip for encryption
         Palladium not a compelling issue
            - Break Once, Run Everywhere/Anywhere (BORE/A) will work
            - Possible winners:
               Lexmark case
               DVD region encoding (Canada to US a felony)
               Non-MS games on Xbox (Play a game, go to jail).
         Palladium is invisible to most people.

      Seth said that there's a difference between private interest issues
served by encryption and exclusive rights policy, which is about public
interest.  He told how Congress handed their responsibility over to industry
stakeholders around 1910, letting them hash out copyright policy and hand
the results back to Congress to ratify, and that this procedure has left us
with a lot of the misunderstandings that are causing so much trouble now.

      Jay emphasized that we should not allow the copyright misunderstanding
to cloud the issue that people really have ownership rights to their
computers.

      Seth said we are targeting Palladium for a specific reason.  It will
be demonstrated next month and if it deploys it will be a major fait
accompli for a very wrong view of exclusive rights.

      Jay said we can win on Palladium and we should continue the fight --
people will say either 'we don't want it at all' or that they know they are
trusting MS. He said we want guarantees that you can always load your own
keys into the hardware.  he said this is a fight for private ownership of
computers, for free speech, and for individual rights.

      Seth said that the whole process of organizing is a process of
identifying issues, constituencies, and calling to action.  Jay was
inspiring motion on Palladium.

      Seth said that in organizing to build strength, the tactical purpose
is not to change the minds of the average man on the street, but to recruit
those who are looking for a way to make a difference.  Show them something
in motion and they will take up roles in the fight.


6. Jay said the Broadcast Flag would probably pass without continuing
action.  He said next would be to speak with Congress people and the Library
of Congress.

7. Brett mentioned that on May 16-18, he would be at a Ham convention in
Dayton OH.  Will have a booth and will continue organizing hams to join the
fight.

-- 

New Yorkers for Fair Use
http://www.nyfairuse.org

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