[ale] those of you reading this while within US jurisdictionshould have a care....

[tfreeman at intel.digichem.net]

Well, I see the trend as continuing in the wrong direction since perhaps 
the Eisenhower admin, in fits and starts, but that is of little importance 
here. What is of importance here is the destruction (IMHO) of the DMCA 
and the defeat or at least control of the Palladium initiative in the near 
future.

The obvious, less expensive activity is to write snail mail to your 
congress critters, the newspaper, and a national news outlet of some sort.

In this particular instance, a less obvious, more expensive activity might 
be to obtain the signed legal opinion (from more than one source) that 
accessing this information places you at significant risk of fines and/or 
incarceration.  As such, you would have some ammunition to seek either/or 
both publicity against the laws or legal action as interfering with your 
ability to make a living/privacy/etc.

I _hope_ that Red Hat will consider making a bit more noise in the 
national media about this, but will understand that legal crusades are not 
usually commercially viable.

On Wed, 16 Oct 2002, Dow Hurst wrote:

> Livin' in the USA doesn't mean what it used to....
> 
> Between the DMCA and the Palladium initiative, American citizens are not 
> going to keep the freedoms we assume we still have.  The thing is is 
> that the security and political topdogs like having control.  Look at 
> KSU as an example, not to slight anyone, but I can see how low level 
> control with legal backup being very attractive to the ITS and 
> administration.  It lets them keep control of the assets and legally be 
> in a strong position.  Abuse of public computer labs is a *big* problem 
> here due to reliance on MicroSoft and lack of morals among the population.
> 
> I have hesitated to click thru to view the stuff at thefreeworld since 
> stupid lawsuits have been brought against people in my position by 
> administrative departments.  That hesitation shows how far my freedom 
> has been curtailed.  I want to click thru but *fear* the consequences. 
>  Sounds crazy for an American citizen working in an academic, normally 
> more free than the private sector in what is allowed, environment!  That 
> is the new reality we live in, where the security, legal, and political 
> professions are looking for examples to explore the power of the new 
> laws.  After reading the Palladium article in the Linux Format UK 
> magazine, I am depressed.  So I need some positive words from ALE'rs 
> about how Palladium will fail, the DMCA will be revoked, and MicroSoft 
> will go belly up.  I think I could still click thru from home, but 
> Earthlink keeps a record of network traffic, from my understanding, so 
> I'll still be at risk.  Time for revolutionary thinking,
> Dow
> 
> 
> Jim Popovitch wrote:
> 
> >A very good read:
> >
> >"The patch itself is on the Red Hat site, on this page, and the oddity here
> >can be seen if you go down to the bottom. Under the heading "references"
> >there is a link to http://www.thefreeworld.net/non-US/. At this point, those
> >of you reading this while within US jurisdiction should have a care"
> >
> >Full Article:
> >http://www.theregus.com/content/4/26656.html
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >---
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> >
> >
> >  
> >
> 
> 

-- 
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If you think Education is expensive
Try Ignorance
                   Author Unknown
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