SSSCA renamed and introduced in Senate!

Fri, 22 Mar 2002 10:32:18 -0700

Alan,

Actually, the most important part of a letter campaign like this is volume,
and secondly content. You are right, the same staffers read the letters, but
the report to the senator is something like "We had 3,570 letters for the
issue and 450 against." Unless I misunderstand the issue, our primary goal
is to express the opinion "we do not like this proposed legislation" versus
"Here is a plan to replace this legislation." From that standpoint, we need
numbers more than unique letters.

The one caveat is that the letter needs to be polite, well thought out,
concise, and express why the proposed legislation is bad in an intelligent
manner. If not, then the letter goes into the crackpot pile and may not be
counted.

Just my opinion!

Mark

Phillips Marketing, Inc.
e-business and new ventures
480.945.0798
480.945.9197 fax
phillips@usa.net
http://www.phillipsmarketing.biz
Helping Build the Tech Oasis - http://www.techoasis.org

-----Original Message-----
From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
[mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of
alandd@mindspring.com
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 10:15 AM
To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
Subject: RE: SSSCA renamed and introduced in Senate!

This is not a bad idea as far as having a sample letter for everyone but it
should not be sent "as is."  When a senator's office gets letters, the same
set of staffers open and read them.  They will discount the sincerity of the
letters if they are all the same, thereby blunting the message.

I will work on letters this weekend and will be happy to post the text of
one to be used as a sample ONLY.  Each of us must take the time to write our
own from stratch or re-word any sample letters so that they are each unique.
(And just re-rranging the paragraphs does not count as re-wording.)

REFERENCE MATERIALS:

The text of the act and some press releases:
http://politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/

Sample letter (change to read CBDTPA instead of SSSCA):
http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010921_eff_sssca_alert.html

Some points for a letter (taken from slashdot discussion):
by Kwil on Thursday March 21, @09:52PM (#3205211)
(User #53679 Info)
1. It is the CBDTPA, not the SSSCA. Make sure you reference the correct
legislation. It may be the same to us, but there's a world of difference to
the congresscritter.
2. This legislation will create nearly insurmountable challenges and cause
serious harm to the computer hardware industry for the benefit of the
copyright control industry which is only one-tenth the size.
3. This legislation eliminates the need for the copyright control industry
to create partnerships with the hardware industry to achieve their goals,
thus robbing the economy of that growth as well.
4. Do not insult your congresscritter. Do not accuse them of taking bribes
or being stupid. Do not accuse them of being bought off. They may be any or
all of these things, but don't accuse them of it.
5. Tell them you support them, think their ideas and ideals are worthwhile,
and voted for them in the last election because of this. (If you do not and
don't feel comfortable lying, don't say anything about how you voted or who
you support)
5. Your vote in the next election rides primarily on this particular issue -
larger than any individual candidate's ideas or ideals.
6. The copyright control industry has refused to use the legislation already
in existance to prosecute copyright infringers - only those who would
provide the means. How serious can the problem be if they do not even make
cursory attempts bring actual offenders to justice?
7. Stay calm and very courteous. Write your letter, leave it for two hours
or more, then look over it again.
8. The issues of audio cassettes and VCRs, both of which were supposedly
going to kill the industry - have not. This is certainly an equivalent
over-reaction
9. The legislation assumes that you and the congresscritter are criminals
already, and cannot hold yourself in check without some sort of technical
provisions. Feel free to say how the legislation insults the
congresscritter.
10. The software industry has been dealing with this problem since its
inception, but has not required legislation forcing another industry to
change their business, why is the copyright control industry different?
11. If your congresscritter is Democrat:
This legislation unfairly impacts the less fortunate who are not able to
afford the new DRM equipped devices and may in future be unable to access
content.
12. If your congresscritter is Republican:
This legislation will work as an unfair tax on hardware makers who will have
to research and develop this technology. This will wind up most affecting
those who make the majority of computer hardware purchases - the successful
American businessman.

ALSO: Look at the tech company comments and send email and paper letters to
the heads of companies or organizations that are standing against this law.
THANK THEM for their position.

Alan

On Fri, 22 Mar 2002 09:09:53 -0700 Mark Phillips <phillips@usa.net> wrote:
I
suggest that someone in PLUG who is well versed in this topic compose a
letter
and distribute it to the rest of it. We can then choose to send it as is, or
modify it as needed.

In my
experience on public issues such as this, you can get a much higher
participation if you provide the letter than asking everyone to write a
letter
from scratch.

Just
my opinion.

Mark

Phillips Marketing, Inc.
e-business and new ventures
480.945.0798
480.945.9197 fax
phillips@usa.net
<A href="http://www.phillipsmarketing.biz/"
target=_blank>http://www.phillipsmarketing.biz</A>
Helping Build the Tech Oasis - <A href="http://www.techoasis.org/"
target=_blank>http://www.techoasis.org</A>

  -----Original Message-----
From:
  plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
  [mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of Joel
  Dudley
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 8:20 AM
To:
  'plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us'
Subject: RE: SSSCA renamed
  and introduced in Senate!

Arizona residents are in a unique position in regards to
  speaking out against this bill. Arizona Senator John McCain is on the
  Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee with, you guessed it,
Senator
  Hollings who is the chairman of the committee. Please send as many
  well-written, anti-sssca letters as you can to Senator McCain.

- Joel

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan
  Dayley [<A
  href="mailto:alandd@mindspring.com">mailto:alandd@mindspring.com</A>]

Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 10:48 PM
To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
Subject: SSSCA renamed and introduced in Senate!

Go here for all the details.

<A
  href="http://slashdot.org/articles/02/03/21/2344228.shtml?tid=103"

target=_blank>http://slashdot.org/articles/02/03/21/2344228.shtml?tid=103</A
>

IMO, we MUST fight this!  Do the online petitions and
  email all you want
because it does some good. 
  But if you really want your voice heard, send a
written letter.  Written letters are more effective because your
  email will
get lost in the flood of data.

Don't rant and rave.  Write reasoned, well though
  ideas.  One page, maybe two
at the most.  To
  your own state senators and to the any others you feel like.

Study it and decide for yourself but open source software will
  be hampered,
if not destroyed if this becomes
  law.

Alan
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