[KLUG Advocacy] Re: [KLUG Members] "Big media" and the laws they pass that destroys everyone's freedom -- WAS: And the Spam Wars continue...

[Robert G. Brown]

>b.j.smith@ieee.org (Bryan J. Smith) writes:
>
>> You see, I don't mind so much that organizations and companies
>> try to "control" a product in how it is created, how it can be
>> used and how it can be marketed.  That's just what happens in a
>> free society.
Some people are not content to leave it at that. Some people beleive
the proper role of governemnt is to break up this control a bit, keep
things open, even a little. It doesn't have to be a perfectly (break
out the laser surveying gear,boys!) level playing field, but keeping
things open is the thrust behond a whole welter of legislation and 
political movements in American history. 

>> If the DVD consortium wants to screw companies,
>> consumers and what not in the way they try to "control" their
>> products, that's their business.
Not entirely, as Mr. McCarthy has pointed out.

>> Because, in the end, the worst case is that they are only going
>> to hurt their consumers.
No, they're ALSO going to hurt their shareholders, because they do not
have any long term plans to speak of, only short term return, and to a great 
extent, greed. I wish I could point the finger exclusely at guys who run these
companies, but I can't. Most of the investment capital that drives these
corporations comes from other sources. We need something a little depper
than kicking many of the "top guys" around, we need an investing audience 
with more patience and staying power than we have now. 

Jamie McCarthy <jamie@mccarthy.vg>
>Um, which is everyone.  In case you hadn't noticed, there are no
>alternatives to the DVD consortium.
This is an area where some form of intervention in the public 
interest would be appropirate. There are many precedents, with
beneficial outcomes.

>Unless you know of some independent manufacturers and distributors who
>will handle the DVD release of Harry Potter II.
Not bloody likely! :)


>Which society has more liberty?
Is this a trick question? :)

>The one where Bill Gates and Andy Grove are "free" to drive competitors
>out of the hardware and software markets and in 2020 there are no longer
>PCs sold that will run Linux?
Hell no!!

It is interesting to note how rehtoric like "freedom" is thrown around by
people who are really acolytes of folks such as Jamie mentions above. A
traditional conservative notion is that government governs best when it
governs least; in reality governing less may mean leaving the market open
to the forces such men unleash. Thus was born the liberalism of the 19th 
century, and reform movements.

I belive liberalism's downfall was when it shifted, in many peoples eyes, to 
guaranteeing the outcome of things, er=rather than guarenteeing the availa-
bility of opportunities for as many as possible. It has yet to recover from 
that.

>Or the one where you and I and billions of other little
>guys are free to run our software because the government stepped on
>the "rights" of a handful of billionaires?
Anyone who picked this one is in good company.

Many of the Framers of the Constitution would agree that "A stage with more
actors is a freer place" (Jefferson) 

and

"I can work my will according to my means, and my ability to convince others,
 in the stead of those who are lifted up high by privilege, or even by older
 accomplishments and writs of fate" (Tom Paine).

Many of the legal tools of a free young republic were crafted to these ends. 
It is east to make a case for the notion that htese have been perverted in
recent times.

It is up to the people to organize in order to prevent this, and roll it back
into balance. The system only works if we work it.


There's a bill in Congress about allowing copyright holders to assault online
sites that they beleive are violating their IP rights. I am talking to my 
Congressman (Fred Upton) about this TOMORROW. That's one way to work the 
system, there are many others. He's highly ranked on the House Committee on
Tellecommunications, so buttonholing him will be doubly effective.

                                                         Regards,
                                                          ---> RGB <---
                                                        Regards,
                                                         ---> RGB <---