[ale] [OT] Georgia Super-DMCA Update

[Dylan Northrup]

Mike Lockhart wrote:

>Directions?  Any ideas what kinda notes i should take to be prepared for
>this? (i'm not the most politically aware person)
>  
>

Directions should be nice.  If offered the opportunity to speak, here's 
what I'll try to say:

"Thank you for allowing me to speak.  I will be as brief as I can 
expressing my views on the broad impact of this legislation.  I am a 
computer professional and use my broadband internet connection to 
telecommute to my job.  My boss is located in Virginia, his boss is 
located in California and my company is based out of Texas.  Yet I 
choose to live, work, pay taxes and vote in Georgia because I enjoy the 
freedoms, culture and lifestyle that it affords.  In addition, by 
telecommuting as I do and not driving into an office, I do not 
contribute to the traffic congestion that is endemic to working in and 
around Atlanta.  As a computer professional, I have several machines at 
home that all can communicate with the Internet.  A desktop computer, a 
laptop, multiple servers and two game systems. I plan on purchasing more 
"internet aware" devices in the near future including a Tivo, another 
game system, a computer for my son and more test servers to help with my 
professional growth.  I currently do this all with a single internet 
connection using a device that mediates or proxies my outgoing 
connections.  It is a convenience to have my computers all connected to 
the internet concurrently. I avoid having to disconnect one host and 
connect another, one of the benefits highly touted by phone and cable 
companies when they market their high speed internet services.  In 
addition, it is a security measure.  Because the computers on my network 
are hidden behind a firewall that conceals the origin of traffic from 
and the destination of return traffic to devices on my home network., no 
computer on the Internet can contact any machine on my home network 
unless I allow it.  This affords me protection from malicious hackers, 
viruses and those willing to exploit new vulnerabilities with software 
running on computers connected to my internal network.

If this bill passes there are several provisions I will be in violation 
of.  My wireless access point is a retransmitting commucations device.  
My web browser decrypts online purchases and bank transactions without 
contacting my ISP for permission.  When I purchase a newer model of 
router and sell my old one on ebay I will be advertising for sale and 
transferring to another a communications device that conceals the origin 
and destination of traffic.  Because of the overly broad nature of the 
definitions of communications device, communication service and 
communication service provider I will be in violation of several aspects 
of this law even though I have not committed any other crime and do not 
intend to do so in the future.  I will be forced to either carry on in 
violation of the law and hope that judicial interpretation eventually 
curtails or overrules this overly broad legislative language; change the 
way I work and live thereby reducing my quality of life and introducing 
more stress into my already busy and overworked time; or relocate away 
from the state that I had hoped to make a home for myself and my family 
for years and decades to come.  I would hope the committee would 
consider the legislation before it and do everything in its power to 
prevent its passage.  I am one of thousands and tens of thousands high 
tech employees in this state that would be affected by this legislation 
and won't be the only one considering whether to take my family, my job 
and my taxes elsewhere.

Thank you for your time."


Doing a read through, this clocks in at just over two minutes.  I am 
trying to figure out how to squeeze in something about pervasive 
consumer electronics devices in the future that will be internet aware, 
but can't figure out the right verbiage.  If I can't think of something, 
I'll just go with what I have here.

-- 
Dylan Northrup <*> docx at io.com <*> http://www.io.com/~docx/
"Easy to bitch, easy to whine, easy to moan, easy to cry, easy to feel 
 like there ain't nothing in your life. Harder to work, harder to 
 strive, hard to be glad to be alive, but it's really worth it if you 
 give it a try."  -- Cowboy Mouth, 'Easy'



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