“Last week, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on the ‘Broadcast Flag’ and ‘Audio Flag,’ a set of proposals by the MPAA and RIAA that would stifle innovation by giving content holders a virtual veto over new technologies and existing user rights,” iPaqAction.org writes. “But Senator Stevens, the 82-year old committee chairman from Alaska, surprised the audience by announcing that his daughter had bought him an iPod, and suddenly Stevens had a much greater understanding of the many ways innovative technology can create choice for consumers. Content industry representatives at the hearing found themselves answering much tougher questions than they typically receive.”
“That’s why we think all Senators ought to join Stevens’ esteemed company as iPod owners. Rather than wait for every Senator’s daughter, we’re taking matters into our own hands and buying a video iPod for the campaigns of Senators who work on legislation affecting technology. Plus, we’re going to pre-load each one with examples of the cultural richness made possible by sharing and collaboration – public domain content, Creative Commons content, and audio messages about the importance of balanced copyright policy. It will be engraved with the words “listen to the people.” And it will arrive at each Senator’s campaign office with a letter of explanation and a list of all the people who helped pay for it,” ,” iPaqAction.org writes. “Help us supply more Senators with their own iPods for their campaigns. Each Video iPod costs $324.42, and you can buy a whole iPod or chip in a portion of the cost. We’ll take care of the rest.”
More info and donation link here.
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This is something for people who know tech to keep an eye on. By and large people in the government are out of touch, and probably even more so on the area of technology, so groups like the RIAA and MPAA could easily pull the wool over their eyes and slide through legislation choking rights and innovation.
Any attempt by these groups to command control over the way people legally use their media should be met with sharp resistance by people who know better, and those people are us.
write our congressman.
http://www.eff.org/congress/
Screw the senators . . . send ME those iPods and I promise I’ll mention all of you in de liner notes of my next CD. Yeh-heh-hehesssss . . . come onnnnn, I swear I will.
Okay, here’s my address:
Triumph’s iPod Collection Campaign for Suckers
c/o Late Night with Conan O’Brien
NBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York City, NY 10112
And I promise to poop on anybody who sends me de U2 version.
!!! Horsesh*t !!!
Senators w/ their deep-pocket PACs can buy their own damn iPods.
This is a great demo of how stupid our reps are. They are willing to pass a law without even knowing what the situation is or what the ramifications will be. What a bunch of maroons.
Ya, I’m gonna spend my hard earned money to buy some fat rich white christian making three times as much as I do an iPod.
It’s the message stupid!
F@ck that shit, they already make to much money, let them buy one themselves.
I don’t know if this is a good thing or not.
On the one hand they all do need to be brought into the 21st century before they make a huge mistake. On the other hand, it shows how out of touch with life they truly are.
Here’s an idea. Let’s dump them all in Boston Harbor with the tea and start over with a new bunch of citizens. Bring We The People back into this country.
mw: research. As in they should do their own damn research.
… some fat rich white christian making three times as much as I do …
Priceless!
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Oh man, I can’t believe what I’m reading. This is an absolutely brilliant idea, and people are dissing it because they don’t want to “buy the rich fsck an iPod”??????
Of course these politicians can buy their own iPods! The point is, they won’t! Senators, especially senior committee members, tend to be older people who are often out of touch with the cutting edge of technology. Giving them a taste of just what they’re about to restrict might just change their mind!
That passed the Patriot Act WITHOUT reading it first.
True story. It’s a huge document and they passed it sight unseen the moment is was given to them.
Here, here!!! I don’t want to buy an iPod for some rich, skinny, gay senator either.
BTW, thank you for your tolerance, effwerd.
It will not work, since the MPAA and RIAA bought the senators.
Rich? Skinny? Gay?
Now you’re talkin!
Hey, effwerd, you dipshit — Who would you rather spend your money on (besides yourself, that is)? Some skinny, poor, brown-skinned Jew?
Racist pig.
If the comments from this post (never mind ever other one) aren’t enough of a reason to have these posts moderated, I don’t know what is. Oh I forgot, it is all about getting the traffic numbers for advertisers. Give me some demographics (or do a survey) of the users here so I can put this all into some perspective.
Next thing you know all the celebrities will get free XBOX 360s.
…oh wait…never mind.
effwerd
How old are you? 13? 14? Log off and let the adults talk now.
BTW, where I’m from we call people like you a moron, I guess where you’re from they are called maroons.
Up Yours and dawntreader,
effword has the balls to post with an email address so that you can take your issues up with him/her directly. Your feeble attempts to put effword in his/her place with what essentially amounts to anonymous posts (read: lack of email address) simply make you look like posers.
(Yes, I’m posting without an email address because I don’t expect this conversation to progress.)
Wanna-be maderator,
Hello pot, I’m kettle.
Thanks for taking the time to point this out. I have enough spam as is, therefore, no email address.
Thanks for your feeble attempt to put me in my place.
Dear dawntreader,
You’re killing me! Oh, your cleverness . . . It’s KILLING ME!
“How old are you? 13? 14? Log off and let the adults talk now.”
I’m four, bitch. What does that have to do with anything? Can you muster a real argument or do you just want to betray more of your stupidity?
And don’t even try to pull that “adult” bullshit on me. This is MDN. I don’t know how long you’ve lurked around here but for the past three years I’ve seen nothing but vitriol and venom on this site. And I like it. You want to have civil discussions? You will be ever disappointed by MDN.
And… the fact that you don’t get the maroon reference goes even further in establishing you’re complete lack of both humor and sense.
So, please, respectfully, go fuck yourself.
Oh and thanks Wanna-be Moderator.
Some of you guys need to chill. This is actually one of the better ideas I’ve seen for combatting this issue.
Our representatives are jerks for hire and would certainly pass a bill without the slightest reguards of how deep it would cut into our creative rights. We can sign petitions until our pens run dry, but giving them a taste of how good technology is (remember most of them probably spend their life on a PC and think technology is nothing to rave about), is the most direct way for us to enlighten them and ensure we’ll benefit in the short and long run.
Sure they have big $$ and can buy their own iPods, but you and I both know that’s not going to happen, and let this bill pass and you’ll see YOUR iPod (as you know it) will vanish, along with some of the best parts of iLife06, and features in half of the other techno gear you connect to your computer. Then how stupid will you feel passing on this opportunity?
You can bet the RIAA and MPAA are spending a lot more than $320 per senator to make sure your rights in this area are vanquished.
MW= food, as in “food” for serious thought.
Screw that. Most of these people make too much money and have lost sight of what their jobs as representatives and senators mean.
Remember, one of the first things Congress votes on after their vacations (which are a month long) is a raise.
I just took a took week vacation, do you think my employer will like my vote in whether or not I get a “cost-of-living” increase in my wages?
Psh. Buy your own iPod.
Hey Wanna-be Moderator, you blowhard — you and the 9-year old effwerd have proven your intellects are limited, so I’ll make this simple.
Here’s my e-mail address, juveniles. Now take your racist, bigoted, pedantic — and hypocritical, pot-kettle — attitudes, and shove them. You’re embarassments to Mac users everywhere.
Feel free to contact me here at National Geographic any time — if you’ve got the stones, that is. Which I doubt.