Our own George Z is the inspiration for this one, so hats off to the Z-man.

George basically said that our movement is being ignored, that WE are being ignored.

I wrote an answer in one of the threads that George is right, but that Gothic-Angel was also right, when he said that we are making a difference. How do we reconcile these seemingly contradictory statements?

Firstly, there is both an active attempt to ignore us by big media, and also, we are lost in the shuffle of the War, kidnapped kids, gas prices, 911 hearings and the rest.
There's an old saying in the news business that, "If it bleeds, it leads" which means, if someone is killed on their back porch and bleeds all over the steps, it gets lead story status in a small town, and if ten soldiers get killed in Iraq, it leads.

The RIAA knows we are here, and, I have said this over and over, if they were to even acknowledge us, it would be indicative of a major defeat for them.

When the RIAA files another round of lawsuits, that's enough to literally just get a couple of lines on the network news, and perhaps on local news if the suits are filed there.

News, by its very nature, is something "NEW" happening...something out of the ordinary.
Sadly, the suits being filed by the RIAA are becoming non-news to some extent, because it has become standard operating procedure. At some point, if the RIAA continues it present course, them filing 531 lawsuits will be as newsworthy as saying "Cary Sherman answered his phone at the RIAA today."

So, the gargantuan problems facing our country with the layoffs, war, gasoline prices, hearings,etc., serves to camouflage us as if we are not even here. You rarely notice the penny in the driveway of the gas station if the pumps are exploding.

But, in the broader context, George is right in that, not only are WE being ignored, but our whole issue is being ignored. Has anyone heard a reporter on any of the debates with the Democratic candidates, ask them their stance on filesharing or copyright infringement, or copyright reform? Copyright reform has become a non-issue, with people like Lamar Smith running around like Chicken Little, chirping that the sky is falling, the sky is falling, that copyright infringement will be the death of civilization as we know it (not a direct quote, but the gist of his reactions).

Has 20/20 , Dateline, 60 minutes done a story on the backlash to the lawsuits?
You would think it would make for some great photo ops and sound bytes.
I couldn't tell you what 12 year old (she's probably 13 now) little Brianna LaHara looks like...but her story is newsworthy. Lots of human interest and pathos there.
Imagine showing the offices of the RIAA, the big round RIAA logo, all the lawyers and legal assistants scampering around, nibbling cheese, and filing their suits...chrome, polished tile, alligator briefcases....cut to tiny little Brianna, poor... in a very modest home...a little hand raised to the left eye, wiping a tear...the camera zooms in on her quivering little lips...and the voice over...SUED BY THE RIAA. "They've brought the might of the recording industry down on a 12 year old."

OK, fast break to the present.

This is an election year. For many, if not most of us, copyright issues and digital rights are certainly voting issues. If we use the 60 million filesharers (the most commonly quoted statistic) that is a significant number of people, and an election issue which could be a sticking point for sixty million people, should be a hot topic in ANY election year. The problem of course, is that we have two candidates ( the "red team" and "blue team") who are BOTH unsympathetic to the views and concerns of this community of connected voters, at least, thus far, Mr. Kerry has been unsympathetic to or cause.

We could certainly come up with our own "platform" and I propose calling it calling the "Code platform", not necessarily referring to me, but since "code" has many meanings, one of which is the "computer code" that files are transferred in, and also, code can mean a cypher, a symbol, something standing for something else, it is apropos.

Perhaps, there is no easy way of breaking through the conspiracy of silence we face.
We have lots of articulate, computer connected people who know how to express themselves, and that's a start. After all, that's about what MoveOn.org started with.

Right now, the news is about our own countrymen, being torn to pieces in Iraq, having their bodies dragged through the streets near Fallouja. It's hard to compete with that, or with the crisis in Medicare, Social Security, or any of the other things.

But, if we continue writing, e-mailing, and bringing our issues up, we will be heard.

If anyone has a better idea, we're listening.

We should take a look at the gay rights activists as an example of getting into peoples faces and making themselves heard. We may or may not agree with what they represent, but you have to hand it to them, they are very clever at getting their message across.

They cut across the grain and broke laws, AND they got into the news ... big time! What can we learn from this? ~pepe~

pepe..did you get that DMusic note I sent?

CodeWarrior

No, I didn't, but I have a new email address and I haven't figured out how to change it here computer illiterate, so I set this one up
seacape1@yahoo.ca Fire away!

you can learn alot pepe becuase gay rights is the civil-rights movement of the 1960's.

The Indie Eye for the RIAA Guy -- Wherein a band of Indie warriors kidnaps a major label star and forces him to tell the terms of his contract.

JLBRMECHANIC This is probably true, but what I meant is what can this group learn from the gay rights activists as to how it pertains to this cause... like what can this group do to be heard? Form marches? Demonstrations? etc.... Place ads in newspapers all around the country? etc...

gdZiemann LOL :0) I'm sorry I have to leave now.

lol George...
Reminds me of that movie where Jerry Lewis gets kidnapped by the
Robert DeNiro character...a standup comedian that tries to exchange Jerry Lewis for a standup spot on TV...

Damn, my post got lost again. happens a lot. I was just saying that newspapers would find a way not to print the paid ad saying it was too political or inflamitory. It would be worth a try though. I'm certinly not for murdering someone over this just to get on the news either. hopfully my projects will help if I can just get them seen.

I hate to say, but having the name Boycott-RIAA sort of makes us an unreliable source in the eyes of the media. Never mind that the actual RIAA is wa-a-a-a-a-y more unreliable and loose with the facts.

To Gothic Angel: see, I told you that you have a female nick. LOL
GA's a guy.

Code, if you're proposing a third party candidate who will carry our cause...it will never work, at least not this year. Why waste the energy in that direction? George Bush has totally fucked up our country. HE MUST GO! If Kerry isn't sympathetic (or doesn't really have a clue), we need to keep hammering at him and other democrats to support us. We need to be pragmatists. And as jazzmary2 said, we also need to focus on the congressional elections. Maybe we should compile a list of states which have reps up for election and find out where those people and their opponents come down on this issue.

If you want a comparison to gay activists, get a bunch of people to go in front of RIAA HQ each with a computer (notebooks would be better), hook up a network (wireless would probably be better) and everyone start sharing. Then tell the RIAA there is nothing they can do about it.

"Right now, the news is about our own countrymen, being torn to pieces in Iraq, having their bodies dragged through the streets near Fallouja. It's hard to compete with that, or with the crisis in Medicare, Social Security, or any of the other things."

It's hard to compete with a lot of things on the news right now. First, nothing about copyrights comes on at ALL for CNNj (Japan). Every now and then there's a discussion on a new band signed by their record label (amazingly, Evanescence appeared on CNN telling how they don't care about the money only touring) But if it's true that CNN lost 50% of their viewers, who are THEY blamin? Doesn't it go against their survival instincts to stay ahead of the game to constantly talk and discuss the same drivel that we got shoved on us from Fox News at 6 pm?

No one can just lose half of their audience. What have they done to get better? Or are they doing the same thing everyone else is doing?

"To Gothic Angel: see, I told you that you have a female nick. LOL
GA's a guy."

LOL. I wasn't going to correct him. I think it's kind of cool that people make that assumption, throws the RIAA death-squads off. LOL.

Good article Code. But, yeah, I am a guy. You know, like tha archangel Michael.

I've got my angelic sword sharpened and I'm looking for vengeance on some RIAA dopes. Oops. Damn wings knocked over the monitor.

Gothic..wiping egg off my face..lol...
sorry for messing that up...have fixed the pronoun...

Me and my assumptions...
Guy or gal..you rock

BrandonH

GREAT IDEA!!!! You need lots and lots of peoples......a few thousand!!! thats the kind of thing that needs to be done.... demonstrations in front of the riaa's noses...nice, peaceable demo's, just stolling down the sidewalks.... computers, signs, whatever... that would get the medias attention. ~pepe~

The noses of the Recording Industry Ass. of America can be found at:
1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20036
202-775-0101

Gothic...by the way, you know the Prophecy movies ?
They were from a book, The Army of God, and the same author that was behind that, also wrote the "Highlander" book, made into movies starring Christopher Lambert...

He also wrote Backdraft.

Angels are cool btw!

Demonstrations are a nice reminder to everyone here that we mean buisness. I search google for a "anti-riaa demonstration" all the time to keep my spirits up.

But, (i'm going to get flames), all of us are the underground, tangent fringe of society that lurks here, reads the threads, and carries an intelligent opinion with us into everyday life.

Demonstrations are not as important to me as winning the hearts of everyone I work with or meet. Pointing out how fragile the "Bill of Rights" is, and how it is being jeapordized daily, and who is jeapordizing it, and how, is not going to gather a press meeting. But it will sway this election, or at least get some hard looks.

I still think smashing all of the RIAA "owned" material, and anything DRM in Bostons harbor deserves some thought. That would be "news" worthy.

But voting out evil and corrupt manipulators of freedom is really what I would like to see. I think you can count on a brighter future.

Code, I always thought angels were cool. They can be helpful and wreak terrible havoc upon mankind when they have to.

When I came up with the nick I wasn't even thinking about gender. I was thinking more about duality... Gothic = Dark, Angel = light.

Plus it sounds better than my old troll hunting nick. I don't think Deathgod would go over very well on most political boards.

Ah, the imaginations of my disturbed mind.

P.S. You know, I have every one of those movies in my library. Now I have to go watch them. All well.

like i've said time after time, i'm doing a rock show to educate young people on this in my community. i'll certainly let y'all know how that goes. its alot of money out of pocket for young man who has started living on his own.

Hilary Rosen was a gay activist.

Carla, I have a crush on you too. Hope you're not a guy...

I am responding positively to the idealism that Mary shares. But we have trouble ahead.

The election process is deeply flawed for two reasons. (maybe more if you can think of'em.)

Incumbents are deeply entrenched and impossible to dislodge.

This kind of seniority of course allows a corrupt Congressman like Hatch, Tauzin or Goodlatte to spend his time on corporate issues that have no economic consequence for his home state constituents.

I agree it is critical to target Congressional seats for our own purposes. If I was better informed, we could point to a link that shows the divided Congressional seats, and which is red or blue; and which are targeted for the big bucks to overthrow. Off the top of my head, I think only 4 seats are at risk. You heard that right, "4." The elections in the last hundred years have returned incumbents 96% of the time.


Tauzin has retired. Bob Graham has retired. Coble has retired. My Representative, Boucher (V), is in trouble, bad news. Leflaw's pal Arlen Specter is in trouble. (good news).

An exciting race is heating up...Democratic voters in Illinois made Barack Obama their nominee for the race to replace retiring Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald.

The Illinois race is more than just the Democratic Party's best chance to steal a Republican seat in the Senate; it could also put only the third African-American since Reconstruction in the world's most exclusive club (the second was the woman Fitzgerald beat six years ago, Carol Moseley Braun).

Now this brings us to the second reason that the US election process is a joke:

REDISTRICTING

This is the reason I routinely use the word "Congress MAN" instead of the more polite use referring to females. Or persons of color of any stripe. Redistricting is a code word refrerring to the Reconstruction Era type of excluding qualified voters or herding them into solid black districts. It has allowed Howard Berman of Van Nuys to erase the boundaries between his Mexican voter base in Van Nuys and swallow Burbank, where his boss Michael Eisner works.

There are not MORE representatives of color or gender, there are in fact less; and electing judges and representatives who are honkie Uncle Tom embarrassing people like Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, or Connie Rice exacerbates the problem of disenfranchising voters.

The solution is simple. 50% of the country is female; add to that the persons of color. Bush had history's lowest turnout of African Americans, around 7%!!

Add to that the elderly, the sexually differentiated and the handicapped. You have the makings of a voter landslide who DO believe that we have a responsbility to practice compassion in our governmental policy. Go Code Pink, that's my motto!

The courts have been tied up at a glacial pace for decades trying to untangle the financial interests that benefit from gerrymandered districts.

Redistricting occurs after the national census every ten years. Then the lawsuits fly. This means in the real world that swing states receive a huge imbalance of advertising funds and attention. My vote in a solid Democratic state like Clifornia is meaningless; your vote in Utah likewise. However a vote in a targeted state like West Virginia or Florida will be worth TEN TIMES AS MUCH in an election year as thsoe from the solid states. Cute huh?

If that seems unfair, many books are available by experts if you'd care to learn what the pollsters, campaign managers and professional hacks think about the subject.

I'd like to think that you would organize and unionize, demsnstrate, take the streets, snarl the bruaecratic machine in a public uproar.

Other countries have election ballots that count your third-party vote, and second choice in case of a run-off. I am vastly amused that Jimmy Carter spends his time monitoring free elections in hideous distatorships and banana republics, and our Florida UnElection of 2000 was an international laughing stock. America simply has no business interfering in other countries' self-determination if we can't even organize a potato sack race.

Having gotten that off my chest, let me say that Leflaw and I spend our time and donations working infleunce on our own Congressmen. And we expect to suit up and show up in Geneva in June and monitor the fat cats treaties at WIPO.

Carla and Mary, I love you gals, and I am not criticizing your positive thoughts. In the interest of encouraging debate, let the flames fly! Give us some ideas what, how, when and where to change society. Otherwise, it's off to Canada for me.

I for one will be attending Ralph Nader's speech tonight.

hey pepe, all of the above bud.

This lack of a "spelchk" is a disgrace in Dmusic. I promise I will type in proper text edit program next time. Having broken my hand last year is my only excuse. Not just hillbilly ig'nant.

Screw Big Media, Lets do this....

"I couldn't tell you what 12 year old (she's probably 13 now) little Brianna LaHara looks like...but her story is newsworthy. Lots of human interest and pathos there.
Imagine showing the offices of the RIAA, the big round RIAA logo, all the lawyers and legal assistants scampering around, nibbling cheese, and filing their suits...chrome, polished tile, alligator briefcases....cut to tiny little Brianna, poor... in a very modest home...a little hand raised to the left eye, wiping a tear...the camera zooms in on her quivering little lips...and the voice over...SUED BY THE RIAA. "They've brought the might of the recording industry down on a 12 year old.""


We got talent, we'll get it out there, lets do it.

Hoping not to have my cynicism misconstrued. Just trying to spur y'all to action. Here's my list of must-be defeated most-hated Congressmen. In order:

(1) Tom DeLay attack dog GOP disciplinarian. He's in big trouble with indictments on local bribery charges in Texas.

(2) Rick Santorium, Leflaw's responsibility in Pa.

(3) Bill Frist, a fellow who can't keep his religious principles out of government. Ditto Orrin Hatch, who seems to be in the throes of a nervous breakdown. You'll positively love his idea for a Constitutional Amendment to allow foreign-born Terminators to run for President.

(4) Bob Goodlatte, Virginia. For some reason, he reaches in his ass and pulls out a wacky idea of creating an Anti-Piracy Caucus. And we have no film or music interests in Virginia. Our state has massive unemployment in the textile outsourcing disgrace. We at the bottom of funding for schools. (Locally) Home Shopping Network pulled out and moved to Florida. Net loss of 2500 jobs. Bang-- just like that. We can't get a Democrat to face off with him in the election.

Goodlatte raises money nonetheless and keeps it.

Ric Keller from Florida..he MUST be included in any list like this..
Ric Keller...vote his gluteus maximum OUT!

HILARY ROSEN WAS GAY ???????

No wonder she never answered my long love letters ...

LOL..
< the above was meant to be funny btw >

Perhaps we should make it bleed so it will lead.

(Hey, I mean that metaphorically folks. Don't nobody get crazy and go climbing into the building across from Cary Sue's with rifle and scope.)



Shmoo

HILARY ROSEN WAS GAY ? still is I would imagine.

Indeed, Barak Obama is the liberal's darling here in Illinois. I have been in contact with his policy advisor, Audra Wilson, and have discussed the copyright situation. She was not previously aware of the issue. I've sent her scads of information (most recently, the PIRATE Act text) and I will be following up with her to find out if they've developed a position.

I've been hesitant to contact the Republican candidate to ascertain his views on copyright reform. Although his website statements are vague, he appears to be anti-abortion rights ("I believe in protecting life from conception to natural death. It is crucial that, as a society, we work to create a culture of respect for life"); he's against gay marriage and even civil unions ("I believe that marriage can only be defined as that union between one man and one woman. I am opposed to same-sex marriages, civil unions, and registries."); and he's pro-gun rights ("One of my duties as a U.S. Senator from Illinois will be to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States, and that includes defending the 2nd Amendment from those who wish to dilute its meaning."). So, even if by some miracle he believed file sharing is fair use, I'd still have to be against him.

I've e-mailed my House representative, Jan Schakowsky, (another liberal darling) 4 times and have not heard back. At least she voted against the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act. I believe she's up for reelection but doesn't have strong republican opposition.

Re Rick Santorum, have you heard about Dan Savage's attack on him? Dan coined the word santorum and it has quite an unpleasant meaning.

Tom--I love your spelling!

tomsong, Frist is in my district and will be voted against (again) by me.

BTW, C-Span is rerunning the Future of the Internet right now.

"gdZiemann
Date: April 2, 2004 @ 11:03 AM
I hate to say, but having the name Boycott-RIAA sort of makes us an unreliable source in the eyes of the media. Never mind that the actual RIAA is wa-a-a-a-a-y more unreliable and loose with the facts. "

I think you nailed an important problem we do have. I don't know how many times I have seen off the wall reactions in peoples faces to what i'm reading on the internet. I think the name needs to go. No disrepect intended, but it just doesn't get a meaningful reaction with most people. It doesn't spark interest unless one has some sort of issue with the recording industry already. Many do, but many more just don't care about the RIAA at all. Thye don't care about copyright laws, they think they can just follow suit and live the American dream. Many people just don't care that's what needs to change if we are going to get recognition. Right now it just isn't profitable for the government to take any head to people in our circumstance. They can do big business's bidding and prosper. We might have legitimate grievenses but what will happen if they ignore us... Well we'll either fight back in which case we may or may not win. Or we'll give up and move to canada. Either way its not a good business move for any sector of the government to pay any attention to us.

Moreover, I'd say the word "ignored" doesn't start to scratch the surface as to our movement viz the major media. It's more like "blacklisted," if you ask me.

The number 3 thing on the FBI's to-do list is ignored by the media. The media conglomerates are who are doing the suing. They do not report on themselves. Sometimes they'll flay an individual, like Marv Albert, when there is unignorable wrong-doing but they never report on themselves unless it is in the most positive light. Therefore, we will be ignored.

details

There it is, 60,000,000 people, all write your representatives and tell them you're moving to Canada. That should get some attention. Either that, or we'll be invaded! ~pepe~

The problem is getting out to those 60 million people. Its not like we can just send a message the "the file sharing community". Yes we get a large chunk, but not enough. We need to get these people that are downloading involved and interested in the real issues behind what they are doing before the RIAA does. Like it our not the RIAA is having a large influence over these people and at this rate they just might win. Not because they are right but because the people just didn't get involved. People just continued to download whatever they want until the laws were passed and they had to slow down and become a persecuted underground operation. We need to get those 60 million people to stop thinking they can just continue to share with each other and they will never be stopped. This mentallity has gotten most of them throught the past decade just because the RIAA is suing people just isn't enough to get the point accross to them that they need to stand up for their rights if they want to continue to share information so openly.

I would have to put Feinstein & Boxer at the top of the must be defeated list, thoug only one is up for re-election this year since it is the Senate. And if Kerry runs for re-election in the future, put him on that list. Also I would put the entire House Judiciary committe on that list. There was a bill that passed the committee posted here a day or two ago dealing with making file sharing a criminal offense. Or maybe we could come up with a who to keep list as it may be shorter. I need to figure out who to replace Tauzin with since he ain't running for re-election.

As far as the name boycott-riaa goes, I think this site has evolved into a much wider scope. Maybe something like restore-freedom or restore-liberty would be more accurate.

Code - With patient persistence the message will never be ignored. Just be persistent with the same message and the industry will not be able to ignore you. If anything just remember how many times they step on public relations landmines, they are due to step on another pretty soon.

purfus

Newspaper ads? is the only thing that comes to my mind. A well written editorial...Codewarior? and half or full page ad, one a week, different target cities, whichever you guys think would be best, for a month...expensive, yes, but we can raise funds can't we? We need that box number...

That's a real shame about Feinstein and Boxer. You have to make sure that whoever would replace them is better. I think you would be hard-pressed to find someone in CA who would go against the movie/record industries.

lets join Ideas.

Which journalist are on our side? Might be on our side? Are willing to expose our views for attention?

Can we send the story for free? Can we negotiate terms?

Has anyone yet e-mailed/contacted Air America? We have a great advocate in Chuck D on there. Should there be something official from boycott-riaa?

Well, classifieds aren't really all that expensive.

Some of us have been outreaching to other forums, we might try that some more.

Maybe if we drew up some flyers saying "Support local and independent musicians" and put DMusic's address on it instead of the Boycott-RIAA address... I don't think the supermarket bulletin boards would get pissed about that.

I still like my sword idea though.

carla60626 Another great idea!

"Has anyone yet e-mailed/contacted Air America? We have a great advocate in Chuck D on there. Should there be something official from boycott-riaa?"

That is a real good idea. I think we should go for it.

P.S. Carla, sent you a note.

Gothic-Angel

Up here we have little once- a -week information newspapers that reach a fair majority of people and they are a whole lot cheaper than papers like the New York Times...do you have such papers down there...community newspapers and the like? Maybe start there.

GA-where would the note be? I don't know the ins-outs of this site.

I found my messages! One from leflaw from last October. How about that.

All great ideas and they should be implemented, certainly there is not one all powerful method we will find for spreading the word. I must say tho that we know our target, they are p2p users. We have really been ignoring those people though because our stand is not to share anything illegal. Which is great and I agree with it completely. But the fact is that our target audience does not want this. I'm not saying we need to start advocating copyright infringement. I am saying however, that many of the people that hold a lot of potential benefit for us could be turned off by the bluntness of our stance. Also I think the big p2p networks need to realize that they need to work with us if they want to be succesful. As we need to work with them. The best strategic alliance is betweent he big p2p networks that have the power to get information out there and the groups like ours that have a real cause and real issues with the legal system. It's just not enough anymore for people to share and think everything is alright, we need to turn these so called pirates into pianeers of a new way of sharing information. It is a very new form of thought, sharing everything with everyone that is, but its people like us that see the potential in such a system that will keep the internet free.

Carla, I've read that Santorium thing before, that is mindbloggling.

Siva Vaidhyanathan is a great friend of Barak Obama & he points to a news piece here http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=38

Lawrence Lessig went to law school with Obama also. They are both promoting his race. I think that Obama is quite aware of IP issues. He is a media scholar after all and has heavy friends. You should email Siva and Lessig and get a dialogue going.

Maybe some new name suggestions are in order.

www.free-music.com
www.free-the-music.com
www.freedom-usa.com
www.free-the-world.com
www.music-rights.com
www.justice-for-all.com

I dunno some are cheesey and probably already registered. Any better suggestions welcome

Code, I'm not sure exaclty what you mean by a "code platform", but I do agree strongly with the jist of your article. It's hard to get the word out with Iraq, Elections, etc. going on.

I don't think we are yet in a position to resort to mass demonstrations like the gays or civil rights advocates have done. We should learn from history and remember that long before the demonstrations, there was a lot of publicity for their causes in the media.

This brings us to pepe512000's idea (which I very strongly support) that we should consider trying to raise money to put out paid ads expousing the key points which will win hearts and minds.

To raise money for an ad campaign, we probably need to refer to the post that purfus has put on this thread. 60 million people is a heck of a lot of people, and even if only 5% of them contributed a few bucks to an advertising campaign, you could build up a nice war chest.

Ok, I checked the spelling, it's Barack Obama and Rick Santorum.

I didn't know that about Lessig. That's excellent news. I should contact him.

How about filesharingisfairuse.com

Carla, Siva's note (and email address) is at
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/2004_03_17_blogarchive.html#107956293949029819

Lessig's article (and email address) is at
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/001788.shtml

Code-- regarding your comment on "60 Minutes." I Tivo'd their news segment on Piracy and mailed a VHS tape to Lisa Rein. It was jawdropping incompetent. Leslie Stahl was so ignorant of computers that it makes you almost think that their parent company CBS TV edited together a vicious media attack. Typical segment showing pimply computer kids madly downloading MP3's.

It doesn't help that the only person "60 Minutes" can find to discuss how P2P works (or is indeed impossible to filter)---than Wayne Russo from Blubster. The guy looks like a fat greaseball porn producer. I wish I could think of how to get a Tivo MPEG2 file transfered to QuickTime. Then I'd post the video online. I'll think that one over.

Tom email me, christopher_scerbo@umit.maine.edu
I'm good with A/V stuff I'm sure I can help you.

And perhaps another thread should be made to get some attention to the new name. I'm going to come up with some ideas, but a thread would probably get a pretty big response.

Americans Against Corporate Domination (AACD)

We are only being ignored by the ignorant. The solution is to educate the ignorant. And by educate, I mean share information with them, unlike the RIAA's interpretation of the word, which is brainwashing.

Oh wait, that won't work. Silly me, I forgot: Sharing information is illegal!

purfus hit me with a big blunt hammer here;

"Also I think the big p2p networks need to realize that they need to work with us if they want to be succesful. As we need to work with them."

who can I trust? Email answers only!!

If it bleeds, it leads.

Then we know how to get on the news don't we?

I'm not clear as to why the quote by purfus is a "big blunt hammer".

But it certainly is a very good point.

Suppose, for example, WinMX or Grokster posted a little advertisement to collect donations for an ad campaign which would highlight the need for copyright reform, more music choice on the radio, etc? This activity should probably be coordinated between P2P United and Boycott-RIAA.

We are being ignored, but i think we're getting through at the same time.

The election last time was close, very close, and I won't get started on that to say anything but this...it's possible the election THIS time will be close...

And, with those odds, we CAN make a difference. A million people can make a difference, a hundred thousand can make a difference, and yes, even one hundred could make a difference, and I know we have at least that here.

My point is this. We have issues which are important to address. They are privacy issues, they are issues about digital consumer rights, there are issues about our constitutional protections such as the fourth amendment, and many more.

We are on the side of reason, freedom, and dare I say it, our side really is the American side, as opposed to this globalist nonsense.

Back to the notion of the "Code platform". The word code, can really be a symbol for a movement, born from frustration with efforts to limit digital freedom (computer CODE issues), but which spread outward to embrace other social and geopolitical themes.

Why do I think this is important? To use an old saying, you have to stand for something or you will fall for anything, but to update it to the 21st century, if we see things going wrongly, and we demand change, we MUST be able to codify or, distill into writing, what we believe in, what we want to accomplish.

Now, we are a melting pot here, different ages, races, nationalities, professions, etc., but I think we have a nexus, a core that we hold in common. Right now, I am watching CNN and it says Travelocity is closing its Virginia Call Center and moving 250 jobs to India. Earlier I posted about Sun Microsystems is laying off a large number of people, as well as Gateway. So, I think outsourcing of jobs is something we have a consensus about.

I think if we are to become a force to affect change, we must forumlate a stand, a platform, that goes beyond just saying the RIAA is bad.

So, am going to open another discussion on just that issue.

You now, even if we got one good full page editorial somewhere out there, or via radio, whatever, you could put in a plea for donations. We just need to get this ball rolling...

Hermit -- Try Kelly Larson at Kazaa, if you can find contact info for her. Although Kazaa will tell you to go through AltNet, because that's how you post "legal" songs on P2P.

It's been more than a year since I talked to Kelly, so things may have changed.

It appears to me that the P2P networks, in general are more concerned with their battle for survival than that of the independents.

One thing is for sure -- If the major labels are all cutting acts, they can only put out LESS material than last year. Fewer releases.

Last year, out of approximately 35,000 releases, only 450 sold more than 100,000 copies, according to some PR newsletter I received with information about a recent (early March) Billboard-sponsored meeting of people with large heads.

This means they choose wrong 98% of the time when deciding what the consumers want (surprise surprise). So being ignored by the RIAA itself is actually a good thing.

But I have noticed that the media will link to my stories if they appear on my site or elsewhere, but not if they're posted here.

In fact, the Register just upgraded one of my articles into a "study" (but now I can't find the link).

So the media is not actually ignoring the movement. It's just that the name of this site implies bias. However, there is no doubt whatsoever what we stand for.

I was not at all suggesting changing the name of the site, which I think would ultimately be a mistake. I was just pointing out the reality that we have to accept.

"It appears to me that the P2P networks, in general are more concerned with their battle for survival than that of the independents."

Your absolutely right. Unless they can gain ground in the legal environment they will be out. It is clear that the big labels have no interest in combining forces with the P2P networks, they want their own market. But with the help of those file sharers the networks can succeed. But nothing will change as long as the people doing the file sharing continue to avoid the issues.

Congress and other terror networks like the RIAA are becoming more and more of a threat to the constitution.

Terrorism is not intended to directly assualt an enemy.

George, you said something which I found extremely interesting and something I didn't know, namely, that deal about sites agreeing to link to your articles UNLESS they appear here,

Now, do we have a bias, which is evidenced by the site name?
Hell Yes! I am PROUD to be against the RIAA and boycotting them. But, if sites are equating "bias", which just means you are for or against something, with "unreliable" or "untrue", that's a big difference.

And, ya know what? I am sure that other sites and news services visit this site, so, I'm making a challenge to any of them here and now.

I'm challenging ANY of the news services to find an untrue statement I make in anything I write here. If they have proof I have made ANY untrue statement, I will not only change it, but make a public apology for making such a statement. Now, the final arbiter of my opinions of course, is me, because no one knows what I think or feel about something more than I do, so my opinions are self verifying and self validating.

That does bother me though. Bias is NOT the same as untrue.

So, if they are not ignoring us...we are beyond where we started, which was at ground zero.

Next step, moving forward, one step at a time.

"deal about sites agreeing to link to your articles UNLESS they appear here"

There is no "agreement" to it. It's not like anyone has ever said that. I've just noticed that this is what actually takes place.

Even slashdot is reluctant to link to something from here because people will (and have) posted things like -- "Well, of course that's what THEY say..."

On the other hand, about 90 percent of the people on slashdot seem to share our point of view, so...

Carla how about: citizensforfairuse.org or citizensforcommonsense.org, however I did like your filesharingisfairuse.com as the link is informative, just like boycott-riaa.com.

The people on this site really are a mixed bag regarding politics. I'm not liberal by any means, but I'm sure we have something in common regarding filesharing and similar ideas on copyright law. If this site were to specifically latch onto liberal candidates and force our ideas, boycott-riaa could easily be written off as liberal wackos, which isn't who we are.

I support a name change, but given a written platform of ideas on copyright reform and sharing philosophy, maybe a name change isn't necessary. I also support the creation of a list of politicians, regardless of party, who are up for reelection who are against our cause. These politicians names need to be made public, perhaps via the newspaper ads.

I would gladly donate to a newspaper ad campaign, and am willing to donate my time toward peaceful protests in support of our general philosophy.

www.sharingisnocrime.com
www.proudtoshare.com

or an address with opposite meaning:

www.andjusticefornone.com

"I'm challenging ANY of the news services to find an untrue statement I make in anything I write here. If they have proof I have made ANY untrue statement, I will not only change it, but make a public apology for making such a statement. Now, the final arbiter of my opinions of course, is me, because no one knows what I think or feel about something more than I do, so my opinions are self verifying and self validating."

Shame you didn't wager money Code. You called me a "she".

And yes you did correct it. Code is a man of his word.

I like "free the music."

"Even slashdot is reluctant to link to something from here because people will (and have) posted things like -- "Well, of course that's what THEY say..."

On the other hand, about 90 percent of the people on slashdot seem to share our point of view, so..."

The same reason whenever I use one of our articles on the other forums I always use the DMusic version. Boycott-RIAA has a reputation out there of being adamantly anti-RIAA and have even been accused of brainwashing.

There is no reason not to ignore file sharers right now. We aren't organized, and many people here will probably end up voting for one of the two parties anyways, or not vote at all.

I personally am planning on voting Libertarian this election. I am sick of the two parties, and their support of the despicable practices of the RIAA. Vote third parties this election...let's show them we are serious!

"...have even been accused of brainwashing"

Cool! We may be on the way to a cult following.
Maybe Stephen King can write us into a story...

Just say NO to changing the name of this site. Our name, and evne the symbol itself are PERFECT as is and nothing else would describe us to the "T" like boycott-riaa does. DO NOT WUSS OUT CAUSE THEY CALL US BAD NAMES!
Of course we are biased, we are biased against the recording industry and all that it stands for. Our name is what unites us. NO NAME CHANGE NO NAME CHANGE NO NAME CHANGE!!!!!!!!!

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
Support Local and Independent Music!

I do like the dmusic version of the forums tho... we got all these cool icons to play with

I agree Schmoo. Just acknowledging the truth is all.

Well, I agree that the major media all look down on us...

...or is it that they are AFRAID of what we represent?


Ponder that a moment folks...

It may not be such a bad thing how they treat us after all.

Shmoo

The issue IS newsworthy if we can make a statement. On cnn they aired long segments detailing the victories in canada. The anchors laughed at the CRIA.

It shouldnt be so hard to get exposure, but im tired tonight and have no ideas.. whatever you think of ill go with it.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/61e7/

Yeah it's an online store, but from the loos of the above T-shirt, they're sympathetic to our cause. Lots of people go to that site, let's email them and ask them to run that shirt on the front page for a few days. Maybe they'll even link to us in the item description.

There was a time when religion, which controlled the government, enforced their own view of the world, including science , physics, etc.. One such idea was the notion the Sun went around the Earth...

Scientists who looked at the way it really seemed to be, and held a view contrary to the official Church/State position could be, and were, imprisoned or killed unless they recanted.

Speaking truth to power has never been safe or popular, and control of the media is always at the top of the "things to do" list for fascists.

Well...the emperor has no clothes, and filesharing per se is not illegal....

and, here's a big surprise to anyone refusing to carry our message for fear that we are "biased"....we are delivering the truth, and the truth, based on facts, has an irritating (to some) habit of leaking out into the mainstream.

The truth will out. We are in the right.
The harder you squeeze a fist, the quicker the sand gets loose.

Sometimes you get to hear the issue raised, but its always pro RIAA rhetoric, even when you have a supposedly "balanced" program like The News Hour w/ Jim Lehrer.

What did you expect, all the channels and stations are part of one of the Big 5 media conglomerates. All of them are in bed with the RIAA in the first place. You're not going to hear a dissenting opinion on tv, ever.

If a show is advertised as balanced, it isn't.

So what happens when a network does it? Right..

Down with all 24 hour news networks. It's same crap all the time anyway. If they had so much to report that they need to scroll it across the bottom, why do they report the same crap 30 times a day.

"So the media is not actually ignoring the movement. It's just that the name of this site implies bias."

lol. And we know how much the media hates anything biased! Sorry that was funny. It is true, but hey that's no reason to rename the site. There is one goal that everyone here holds in common which can be summed up by the name of our site.

Let them get their news from George then. If nobody wants anti-RIAA news from this site, I don't blame them. That's bad journalism. But if you want all the anti-RIAA perspectives, ideas, and beliefs that you can handle, your home is here. To change the name to something neutral would be a sellout. There's other sources for the media to cite if they wish (EFF for one. There's others).