devnull

Save BetaMax!!

If you care at all about this law even having a chance of passing, you need to step up and do your part. Take the 1-2 minutes it takes to sign up and make the phone call tomorrow, and also send a fax through the website to your Senator.

Save BetaMax!!

denim

I'm looking for a bill reference. That is, which bill is this? I didn't see any such thing on their site.

devnull

Here's the proposed Bill for the INDUCE Act:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.2560:

Here's a letter from Marybeth Peters of the U.S. Copyright Office supporting the bill:

http://www.corante.com/importance/ar...n_S_2560-1.pdf

And here is a very well put together list of links that pertain to the INDUCE Act:

http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/mod...ticle&sid=1549

denim

Thanks muchly!

devnull

No problem. Just hope that this can somehow help. While I don't think the bill would get passed because it would be a devastating blow to a number of industries, the fact that its on the table and has even a small breath of life could mean problems.

yakimushi

I've signed up and I'm calling tomorrow!

These were the numbers I recieved in case the TFP wants to join in without signing up:

Congressperson John Conyers, Jr.
202-225-5126

Senator Patrick Leahy
202-224-4242

Senator Orrin Hatch
202-224-5251

We NEED to defeat this thing!

PulpMind

this is a very important issue... the title is a little silly for it, as I do not think too many care about the format of BetaMax itself , and are unaware of the importance of the original betamax ruling. Related fact: that VHS is the standard format now is a result the of the entertainment industry's influence (despite Beta being a far superior format).

devnull

Heh, I named the thread as I did because it was originally referred to as the BetaMax ruling, so I apologize for any confusion.

devnull

Here's the list of people I'll be calling today:

Senator Ernest Hollings
202-224-6121

Congressperson Nancy Pelosi
202-225-4965

Congressperson James Sensenbrenner
202-225-5101

sailor

Guys, I was just about to post this... Go for it.

Hey, think about it this way--if this thing passes, your beloved ipod would be illegal.

__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

sailor

A little update--I just made my three calls, and at all three offices, the secretary who picked up the phone sounded quite flustered and annoyed. I can only assume this is because of the large number of people who must be calling and bitching. Sweet.

Seriously folks, sign up and call. Its quick and painless.

__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

devnull

I missed my slot cause of the workload today at my job =/

Did anyone else sign up and make their calls?

DEI37

You know what's retarded about this? This would make computers illegal, as they can do both. Talk about ruining an industry, and most importantly, the WORLD'S economy. Somebody really didn't think this one through. Anything computer related would be black listed, along with DVD Recorder units, VCR's, video cameras, and all that type of thing.

Post thoughts on THAT!

__________________
Generally speaking, if you were to get what you really deserve, you might be unpleasantly surprised.

yakimushi

I made the calls to the Senators I was assigned, Leahy and Hatch (both whom I consider fuckers but thats another thread).

The people I spoke to on the phone were very polite and listened to my rant. The both also knew what I was calling about as soon as I mentioned the Induce Act. I'm sure this is going to be noticed on the Hill tomorrow.

Ha, I can hear it now:
Random Senator: "Hey Orrin, you get a bunch of pissed off callers about that retarded Induce Act you're supporting?"

Sen Orrin Hatch:"Bite me."

Last check at the site had 5000 people signed up to call. Totally awesome!

sailor

Like I said, I made my calls. It was about 10:30AM, and the secretaries seemed pretty flustered at that point--very quickly and annoyedly (is that a word?) transferring me to the comments line.

__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

devnull

I went to the site today and read the feedback. Lots of good feedback, but there wasy way too much to read it all. You can check it out here:

http://www.savebetamax.org/feedback-view.php

And to all the people here that signed up and helped out, thanks a lot for your time and effort!!!

macmanmike6100

I've been against the INDUCE act since day 1 so I'm glad that this was brought to the community's attention. It's ridiculous how powerful corporations are, but remember that the government hasn't been entirely turned over to corporations just yet. Keep on fighting for what you believe...like consumer freedom!

Stompy

I understand the concern, but this will never get passed.

There would be too big of a public outcry.

Not to mention, if my ipod was ever illegal, I would gladly shoot the first law enforcement agent that tried to take it away from me.. so they definitely know the public will fight back, and hard.

__________________
I love lamp.

SecretMethod70

Stompy, the political argument is that the INDUCE Act wouldn't "really" make iPods, etc illegal. However, when you ask people in the industry and other concerned experts who have actually read the bill, as opposed to politicians, you get a very different answer. But, where do most people get their info? Politicians. So, no, there wouldn't be much of a public outcry, and there would be even less so because the effects of the bill would be slowly integrated as opposed to an immediate confiscating of iPods, etc, since that clearly WOULD create a public outcry.

Anyway, here's an e-mail I received at the end of the day yesterday:

Hi everyone,

The Save Betamax call-in day was a huge success. Not only did we send a loud
message to Congress that the INDUCE Act needs to be stopped, but we're in a really
good position to stay on top of this bill for the fall. If the bill makes it out of
committee in the Senate, you'll get an emergency alert from us, so watch for that.

With over 5,000 participants making roughly 15,000 phone calls, you just put Senate
and House leaders on notice: not only do advocacy groups, hardware manufacturers,
and giant internet businesses not like this bill, but voters don't like it either.
That's a force that can tip the scales.

From some of the comments we've received, it sounds like this was a real
educational experience for the staffers at the offices you spoke with. We didn't
give out any canned talking points. But people have been following this bill so
closely that most callers probably knew more about what the INDUCE Act really means
than the lawmakers you called. And if you want to learn more, these two blogs are
essential reading:

http://www.corante.com/importance/
http://www.corante.com/copyfight/

Unfortunately, everyone still has to be very vigilant; we've heard that Hatch is
extremely committed to getting this bill passed. Within the next two weeks, one of
two things is likely to happen: a new draft of the bill will justify a new hearing
in the Senate Judiciary committee, or Hatch will push the bill through to the Senate
floor. The moment either happens, Senators will need to hear from all of you. And
we'll let you know.

Have a look at our most recent blog post. We posted some of the feedback we
received throughout the day and it's great: http://downhillbattle.org/

And for all day Tuesday, the lead story on Wired.com was about Save Betamax. Check
it out:
http://wired.com/news/politics/0,128...w=wn_tophead_1

Finally, thank you everyone for the great effort you put in.

Sincerely,

Holmes Wilson
Tiffiniy Cheng
Rebecca Laurie
Nicholas Reville
Downhill Battle Team

__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

xepherys

The truth of this is the fact that the creators of the Betamax format refused to license studios affiliated with pornography, but those that backed VHS had no such restrictions. With pr0n being the major factor of bringing video cassette recording devices into the mainstream (oddly enough), VHS won out over Betamax rather quickly.


Actually, that's not true at all. The concept would be that hardware IN your computer would need to follow strict Digital Copyright and Watermark technology... software writers, CD-RW/DVD-RW manufacturers, PVR card manufacturers would all have to allow for bits that would prevet copying of data. Both Slashdot and ARSTechnica have had threads regarding this that got pretty in depth as to what would or would not likely happen. Computers wouldn't go anywhere, and existing technology would not be outlawed. If iPods ended up violating the rules, Apple would be prohibited from manufacturing them (wouldn't be an issue due to their exisitng AAC watermarking scheme). However, your existing iPod would not be illegal to have. Just hope it doesn't break. Maybe this would be a huge boon for the repair industry. *shrug*

Strange Famous

The mass media industry is dying, of course some of it will survive, but in a radically different and smaller form... obviously there is very little they will not sink to in order to try and save their own hides... this is a direct attack on the people, and they may well be able to bribe this into existence. This is just another reason I dont buy CD's or go to movies anymore. The internet has achieved significant gains against the process of commodification, to try and repeal them is only to try and repeal history, it is impossible,

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

devnull

Just received this email today from the Savebetamax.org People:
If you've got the time to place a call and express your concern, please do so. Thanks!

denim

Just called Kennedy's office. They took the comment.

devnull

Awesome. I called Specter and was redirected to leave a message. Ah well.