RIAA boss, "crack Republican political strategist Mitch Bainwol," as CNET News.com's John Borland describes him in his September 19 Why file swapping tide is turning, has been conspicuous by his absence. Crack RIAA president Cary-Sue Sherman has, instead, been doing all the out-front strategising and he's at it again.

Borman spoke with Sherman, "the man who led the group's legal battles against Napster, Kazaa and the rest of the file-swapping world for years, about backlash and future plans".

And confirming that there will indeed be another round of suits, Cary-Sue makes it all look so reasonable. What a spin-doctor! His ex-boss and instructor, Hilary Rosen, sophist extraordinaire, taught him well.

His responses are replete with answers to questions never asked and RIAA mistakes dressed as carefully weighed actions, and he never misses a chance to slide RIAA dogma in every chance he gets. Which, of course, is precisely why he's paid around $1 million a year.

On the number of people who said, "Wow, we didn't know this was illegal' - Cary-Sue responds, "... you have to try and figure out whether these are truthful responses. But it's the kind of thing that can be taken into account when working out settlements, and we will act accordingly."

On the story about the 12-year-old in public housing - "We knew that this was not going to be a good PR experience from the get-go. But the (record) companies were of the view that this was something we had to do without regard to the PR implications."

On What was the calculus in essentially going in blind? - "... you want people to understand that they face a risk of being a defendant in a lawsuit regardless of who they are. You don't want a kid to think he can get away with this just because he's a kid, or that an octogenarian can get away with it because he's in his 80s. You need to be applying the law indiscriminately to whoever comes within the range of activity that is being targeted."

On Washington's (who is this guy Washington?) response - "quite supportive. We've had a number of senators and congressmen speaking out that this has been the right thing to do, (saying) "We gave you copyright laws; it's up to you to enforce them." And, "I think the people who have looked carefully at what we are doing think we have been doing it cautiously, prudently and responsibly."

On porn-thru-p2p, parents - "should also be talking to their kids because the kids may be seeing pornography that the parent doesn't want them to see, or that the kid even intended to see."

[One can only assume he thinks that although parents and their children can see, they're all stone deaf since the RIAA's own paymasters, the Big Five labels, are themselves major peddlers of pornography - Ed]

The Clean Slate 'amnesty' program offered by the RIAA, has met with some approval from people who are worried about this, and a fair amount of criticism from RIAA critics - "We got calls when the information subpoenas started going out from people who wanted some comfort of knowing they would not be the target of a lawsuit. We wanted to provide some mechanism to give people some comfort."

On the process from here on out - "We'll be filing another round of lawsuits next month."

On whether or not 'civil liability' suits are ultimately enough to get your message across - " I think civil lawsuits are - in the long term - going to play a more visible role. Having said that, criminal prosecutions for online piracy of all forms are helpful in getting the message out that illegal behaviour on the Internet is not going to be acceptable."

A masterly performance.

heheeh at least we are winning :0

With this type of attitude, towrds the consumer base, the RIAA will fall even faster.

Cary is basically an ambulance chaser turned copyright atty that landed a good gig w/the RIAA, but , he makes comments from time to time that make me want to call the CA bar to confirm his bar status as a licensed shyster.
"You don't want a kid to think he can get away with this just because he's a kid, or that an octogenarian can get away with it because he's in his 80s. You need to be applying the law indiscriminately to whoever comes within the range of activity that is being targeted." HUH? Hasn't Sherman ever been to a juvie hearing? You don't put 12 year olds into federal prison for example, and often, the documentation of past crimes is expunged at age 18 because the law views kids as different than adults.
Children cannot make contracts for anything besides the necessities of life for example. The law does treat adolescents differentially than the adult (in general, children who are murderers are a different case in some states).

"should also be talking to their kids because the kids may be seeing pornography that the parent doesn't want them to see, or that the kid even intended to see." MAY BE SEEING PORNOGRAPHY THAT THE PARENT DOESN'T WANT THEM TO SEE!!! What the hell is WRONG with this guy. Is he now making a distinction between pornography that parents WANT their kids to see, and other kinds parents "DON'T" want them to see? Geez...this guy seriously needs a professional evaluation by a mental health professional.


"We got calls when the information subpoenas started going out from people who wanted some comfort of knowing they would not be the target of a lawsuit. We wanted to provide some mechanism to give people some comfort."
Yeah Cary, so now you are in the business of providing "comfort" to infringers. LOL...I wish I could see him say this with a straight, big lipped, face!

NOW, HERE'S THE BIGGIE!
I told you in MANY posts where I thought Cary and crowd were REALLY going with these suits, and a lot of people said..no, that would be crazy.
Well, he's tipping his hand in this interview, couching it in a subtle message...
" " I think civil lawsuits are - in the long term - going to play a more visible role. Having said that, criminal prosecutions for online piracy of all forms are helpful in getting the message out that illegal behaviour on the Internet is not going to be acceptable."

NOTE THE "...criminal prosecutions for online piracy of all forms are helpful ..."

I guarantee this is coming!
~code

next he will want to sue babies and invalids....what a weasel

i agree with code and the poor suckers that sent that amnesty info in will be the base for the criminal lawsuits

This must've just been posted. Can't believe I am only the 2nd person to respond.

I am still confused by Cary-Sue: Are you trying to increase sales or decrease sales? If you're trying to increase them, why would you sue your customer? Do you think that file sharers don't buy CD's? If so, you are more ignorant than we thought. If you're trying decrease sales, you're doing a good job. But mostly I am confused becuz I can't tell for sure if this is about "illegal file sharing" or if it's about "low sales". The RIAA's actions are CLEARLY contradictory. If you want to increase sales, u can't sue people. Dumb a**

If I was paid $1 million a year, I certainly wouldn't admit that I 'screwed up'.

"You need to be applying the law indiscriminately to whoever comes within the range of activity that is being targeted."

So, is Sherman lying now or did he lie to Senator Coleman when Coleman was told the RIAA was only going after "egregious infringers"?

These two statements are mutually exclusive. Both cannot be true.

Therefore, Cary H. Sherman is a liar. The question is whether he is lying to the press or lying to the government to continue to perpetrate fraud against the United States, a mitigating factor for harsher penalties under the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Cary's attitude seems to be, "Dammit, we're going to stop file sharing even if we have to incur the hatred of the American public and destroy the music industry in the process!" Talk about a scorched earth policy. I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point, some of the recording companies might want to dissociate themselves from the RIAA. As sales plummet, more likely there'll just be consolidation within the industry. The big 5 becomes the big 4, 3, 2, 1, and then the not-so-big 1, etc.

Part of the lawsuit deal from the RIAA, probably somes from Cary. A person usually responds to a perceived "threat" by relying upon their weapons and past threat management skills. For example, you got slap a pro wrestler (or fighter like Tyson) and they are liable to use physical violence. You slap a lawyer, they slap you with a lawsuit. There is much to say about the way a person of any profession or occupation, interfaces with the world, based on their tools, and sometimes, I assert, that the tools that a person uses daily, will influence the way they respond when they need to deal with a perceived problem or threat. To me, it's never been a surprise that an "association" run by a copyright attorney, would respond to perceived loss of income through filesharing, by suing the networks, then, after an advserse decision, go against the user.
Cary secretly knows this civil crap is going to backfire, and that's why they are readying their friends in law enforcement in the background...

meant "comes" NOT "somes"...darn these crazy fingers

George...are you SURE you wouldn't like to go to the hearing and call Cary-Sue Big Lips "Don't Squeeze the Sharman" Sherman that's he's a liar to his face. Since he does lie, and truth is an absolute affirmative defense to any allegation of slander (and libel) it wouldn't be actionable!
Z >-< Man RULES!

This is so typical of their strategy..send out a few subpoenas, have a few victories, wait to see if that breaks the file sharing community, sit back awhile, await the results, then threaten again. It's the cat and mouse game. They're in for a rude awakening. They may call it a sue everyone approach, but they really can't sue everyone. And don't believe a word he says about people phoning them out of fear and that the Senate is all on their side.pepe

Code, what I'm wondering is if the government pursues file sharers with criminal charges, will this turn the tide of public opinion even more against the RIAA, or will it give them more of an appearance of legitimacy? After all, people will reason, if the government is going after file sharing then it must be really bad. The one thing I fear here is if the government starts throwing file sharers in jail and mandates DRM on all electronic devices that access digital content. If those things happen it really would stop file sharing, as well as allowing Big Brother to control all that we see and hear. That would be a society I would not want to live in.

Cary-Sue Sherman is just making up excuses for his FASCIST behavior on the American public. He's trying to get people to think the RIAA's being reasonable and fair with it's lawsuits against everyday ordinary American men, women, and children. BULLSHIT you BASTARD Sherman!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nobody listen to anything he says! The more he talks, the more angry I just get! Maybe we should all start writing letters to the FBI to arrest this guy and his affliates on criminal charges for PRIVACY FRAUD!!!!! How much farther can Sherman and the RIAA go???!!! They sued a 12 year old girl living in public housing with her mother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cary Sherman's making it sound like kids involved in music file swapping are just as bad as kids doing drugs!!!!!!!!!

See, IFeel..I think that the RIAA thinks if they get the law enforcement involved, that it WILL get people to thinking not only "this filesharing must really be bad, they're putting these people in jail", but the RIAA will think..."Now criminal charges, surely THESE will deter these people"
and if they are able to say that the P2Ps are mainly used for either criminal and/or civil copyright infringement, then they will either file a Civil Rico suit, or pressure John Law to file a criminal Rico. Either way, they could claim that the P2Ps are used to connect and facilitate "organized criminal activity" and they could have the P2Ps shut down/outlawed on that basis.

And, I unfortunately believe your worse case scenario is eminently possible within the next 5-7 years.
~code

CodeWarrior
You got it Right. Check your mail

Short of the "nightmare scenario" I just mentioned, the RIAA is going to lose, big time. Cary talks about this process taking a long time to change public opinion:

"These kinds of things take a very long time. Think of how long it took to change people's attitudes toward smoking."

Does he really imagine that the RIAA is going to keep suing average Americans month-after-month, year-after-year, and the public won't boycott the music industry into oblivion? For all I know, Cary Sherman may be a good lawyer, but he knows absolutely nothing about public relations, and should not be allowed to set, or be a mouthpiece for, corporate policy. Someday this will be remembered as the biggest corporate policy blunder in history. Cary Sherman will likely be remembered as the man who steered the music industry into it's own destruction.

"Our legal strategy has prompted long overdue conversations across dinner tables across the country" Oh please!!!
Mother Theresa can rest easy in her grave now that Cary Sue is defending the last bastions of morality and rightousness....Harry Houdini couldnt pull better tricks than this shyster

WHAT REALLY MAKES ME MAD IS THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN THINK OF CREATING A P2P Software LIKE ITUNES FOR PC USERS, HE JUST SUES AND SUES, the BACKLASH LOOKS TO BE WORKING.

RIAA

What I'd like to know is there any evidence that people are taking his amnisty offer or how many lawsuits they are settling from the 261 that were filed. I would think that Sherman would be thumping his chest with pride about those that are knuckling under

Code, I'm more optimistic than you. I don't think the American public will go along with criminal prosecution of file sharers, or will accept DRM. In the case of DRM, the backlash would hurt the electronics and software industries as well. I don't think they'll be as anxious as the music industry to alienate the consumer. I think the music industry will contract due to falling CD sales and we'll see more independent companies coming up. I see a long, slow evolution in which the music industry middlemen lose power, the artist gains more control, consumers get a better deal. It will be impossible for the music industry to maintain an "artificial scarcity" of their product as technology advances. (Even deBeers is losing control of the diamond market as high quality "artifical" diamonds flood the market.) Call me an optimist, but that's how I see it.

I really hope you are right IFeelFree..but, I listen to a lot of radio that seeks to expose the "New World Order", and hear people talking about not putting up with RFID (radio frequency identifying chips) in their products, and saying they will fight in the streets and all that stuff...but the fact is, we probably won't have a mass revolt. For example, there are "tax protestors" who are refusing to go along with paying income taxes because they say there is not a single law (not even the 16th amendment) that says individuals must pay income tax (they claim on corporations do). One lady who works as a pilot one here case, but many more are sitting in jail. There are folks refusing to use Social Security numbers, but the government is actively prosecuting people who oppose tyranny every day. The bottom line , unfortunately, is when people have to think about either going to jail or spending fortunes going to court for five to ten years, fighting the powers that be, most will cave in and say,
"I can't afford that". And, that's what the RIAA and gov are counting on.

I don't know what anyone's resources are, but, if you personally were sued tomorrow by the RIAA (be honest) and you were offered a 10,000 settlement, or even 2000, as opposed to spending the next 2 or 3 years in federal court and hundreds of thosands of bucks defending, could you afford the money and time to go the whole way?
Or, if a law was passed making P2P networks illegal as a federal felony, would you really risk all that to keep downloading? I honestly don't think most folks would.

Code; Prohobition was repealed and so will the DMCA.You can't turn half the population into criminals with the stroke of a pen and expect everyone to accept it for long. Common sense will prevail....eventually! pepe

Lol, u think that now im going to go out and buy a few CD's to help the record companys make a profit??? Never. In fact, i would rather pay my butt off in a lawsuit then Ever go back and buy a single CD. People need to know what is goin on with this issue, too many people are in the dark. Light up thier lives

Hoping you are right Pepe..at least, if you're wrong, you're in Canada

"On the story about the 12-year-old in public housing - 'We knew that this was not going to be a good PR experience from the get-go. But the (record) companies were of the view that this was something we had to do without regard to the PR implications.' "

Last week the story was that they didn't know who they were suing. Now he says they do. The first lier doesn't have a chance but it's real pathatic when he's both the first and last one.

I would use him as a BAD example for my kids.

Cary speaks alright, out of his ass.

Imagine a scene if you will..
Little big lipped Cary-Sue is sitting in third grade. Being a pompous little jerk, he never has any friends to play with, and sits in his room at home studying math all day.
On a math quiz, a kid behind him whispers "Cary, man what's the answer to number four?"

Cary jumps up from his desk, paper and pencils flying and starts screaming "Teacher, Teacher, little Johnny is a cheater, he's a pirate, he's a thief, he is trying to copy my original answers...call the police, flunk him right now,I demand it!"...

Thus began the seedy tale we have begun to know as the life of
Cary-Sue!

Channeling the spirit of Johnny Cash...
"A Boy Named Cary-Sue"

He was a whiney little shrimp at the age of two
But with parents like his, whatcha gonna do...
He held his breath to get his way,
but just turned blue....
And voted he would rule the world
when he got old enough to sue.

That's the ballad of Cary-Sue

meant vowed, NOT voted...darn crazy fingers o' mine

If it ever gets to the point where there is rapid prosecution of file sharers without half or more of the American public standing up and revolting, I will just leave the United States and move to another country. We can'y let this happen and we need to get as many people to stand up for our freedom and privacy as possible before the RIAA could possibly secretly impair the minds of many Americans to beleive that criminal prosecution for file sharing is ok!!!!! I think enough Americans already are angry as hell at the RIAA as it is, so I don't think the American public would put up with it if the time ever comes. I want to try to be optimistic.

http://news.com.com/2008-1082-5078418.html
"Second, I think that the privacy implications of investigating your targets would be even worse than suing without knowing who the target is. What would people think if we had stakeouts or were combing through private records to determine who it is who was a possible defendant? And what kind of message would that send about our deterrence program? It would basically establish that this is a cynical program that is designed to avoid suing the wrong people, like a senator's daughter. We've really made very clear that it doesn't matter who you are and that's why you don't do investigation."

Oh, now Cary is a champion of PRIVACY?
lol..now if that doesn't get an LMAO,
ROFL, what does?

"They should be talking to them about the fact that their hard drive may be open to the rest of the world to browse through because the kid didn't know how to set up a shared folder properly and the parents' tax returns, credit card information, medical records, resumes and other private information is being shared on a public network."

You don't HAVE to "figure out" how to set up your SHARED FOLDER in kazaa..it does it by default. It creates a NEW folder that is EMPTY. You would have to intentionally drag (or copy) medical records or financial records into that folder. They would never just "appear" there. Sometimes, I really would like to do some sort of online debate with Cary-Sue...it's clear to me his forte is lying. And, in the symbolic card game of life,
lies may be great to try to fake someone out with, especially if you are used to lying and have a good poker face...but the truth will trump a lie on the long term.

And, speaking of poker faces..
check out:
i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/mugs/lg/lg_sherman_c.jpg

Doesn't it look like someone jabbed him in the mouth on the picture right with a poker..he looks like an asymmetrical Terry Thomas?

CodeWarrior:

Ultimately, we'll win not in the courts, but in the marketplace. The boycott is our best weapon. That applies to DRM, as well. If the software and electronics industries figure out that the consumer doesn't want DRM and will curtail purchase of DRM-enabled products, they'll backtrack on it. Even the government mandating DRM won't protect the companies from lost sales.

As for government prosecution of copyright infringers, I just don't see that happening any time soon. I think your analogy with people who don't pay income taxes is not an accurate one. The government won't allow people to withold tax payments for obvious reasons. However, even among our elected leaders there's quite a diversity of opinion about how the entertainment industry should response to copyright infringment. While some support the lawsuits, some in Congress have voiced concerned about the impact of the lawsuits on ordinary Americans, and the invason of privacy allowed by the DMCA. In that kind of atmosphere I don't think there's sufficient support for government prosecution of ordinary citizens for file sharing. I'm sure that many in govermment don't want to be seen as being at the beck and call of the entertainment industry.

Even if the government did start prosecuting people for file sharing, what about CD burners? Now, people can easily make copies of CDs for all their friends. Are they going to throw people in jail for that? Not likely. (How would you enforce it?) The government would have to both prosecute for file sharing AND mandate DRM in order to effectively stop copyright infringement of digital content. Unless I'm wrong and we're moving toward a police-state, this isn't going to happen.

hmmm, lets see, that 261 ppl down. At a rate of 261 per two months thats 60 million devided by 261. Ummm that's only 3,831 and a half years to go Y'know that really is cautious.....

Code: Just like the new policy suggesting we refrain from obscenities on these boards, yelling "Liar!" at a Senate hearing would be counterproductive.

Unless I am allowed to present cold, hard facts and put the bast... (oops, almost forgot) in jail for defrauding the government, it really isn't worth the effort.

BTW -- I'm still waiting for Oppenheim to respond to my request for information he invited on PBS. Did he answer anyone?

More lies.

cary sherman is just talk. he is a forked tongue liar that believes that the law is with him. the words of this man sould not be taken as true and they are spoken form an idiotic buffoon that is burrying his corporation and himself "six feet under".

"On Washington's (who is this guy Washington?) response - "quite supportive. We've had a number of senators and congressmen speaking out that this has been the right thing to do, (saying) "We gave you copyright laws; it's up to you to enforce them." And, "I think the people who have looked carefully at what we are doing think we have been doing it cautiously, prudently and responsibly."




Does anyone know the names of these senators and congressmen? I would like to have a word with them!

Bladestorm, I can list those in politics who have taken the most money from these people. You will find most of their supporters there. Money talks louder than votes I guess. Try George W. Bush, Al Gore, Carol Moseley-Braun, Hillary Clinton, Bill Bradley, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Richard Gephardt, Charles Schumer, John McCain, Howard Berman, Howard Dean, Fritz Hollings, Rick Lazio, Conrad Burns, Tom Daschle, Diane Feinstein, and Edward Kennedy. And of course there others who stand to gain in other ways such as Billy Tauzin. Read this article at MSN. http://slate.msn.com/id/2085071/

As a life-long democrat, it dissapoints me that so many of the politicians supporting the RIAA are democrats. They can bet they're not going to my vote next election. (Hear that, Boxer and Feinstein?) There's a high probability that I'll voting for some republicans in the next election.

I guess that's why he makes the big bucks.He is able to spin the fact that they had a law suit against a 12-year-old girl,and then pretends like it was good.
Man,maybe he shouldn't make the big bucks then.

lol George, I know that, I was just trying to get you fired up to go...but I know that you have good reasons for not being involved in hearings even if they ask. It was my pitiful attempt at saying I respect you George, and I hold nothing but contempt for Cary-Sue.
I'm just glad you are back posting at least.

Props to you George, my friend.
~code

IFeelFree- I think we ARE moving to a police state...face scanning software hooked to surveillance cameras on public highways are not just for "Amber alerts"...tracking chips (RFID..see www.nocards.org ), all new phones are being enabled to track you whereever you go (Global Position Sat. tracking)...but, I guess that's for Freedom Plus...just like the Patriot Act and the upcoming "Victory Act"...hmm..they have actually named it the Victory Act...anyone who has read 1984 will recognize this...
"Winston followed her down the passage. These amateur repair jobs were an almost daily irritation. Victory Mansions were old flats, built in 1930 or thereabouts, and were falling to pieces ...
From somewhere at the bottom of a passage the smell of roasting coffee -- real coffee, not Victory Coffee-- came floating out into the street. Winston paused involuntarily. For perhaps two seconds he was back in the half-forgotten world of his childhood ...

"Where can we meet?"
"Victory Square, near the monument."
"It's full of telescreens."
"It doesn't matter if there's a crowd" ...

Winston sat in his usual corner, gazing into an empty glass. Now and again he glanced up at a vast face which eyed him from the opposite wall. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said. Unbidden, a waiter came and filled his glass up with Victory Gin ...."- George Orwell, 1984
http://billmon.org/archives/000434.html

I am not sanguine about this country's future.
I'll be happy to be wrong though
~code

And, about tax protestors..one actually one hers..
http://www.givemeliberty.org/mailroom/2003-08-09.htm
"A federal jury Friday found FedEx pilot Vernice Kuglin not guilty of evading income taxes on $920,000."

"Kuglin, 58, was charged with six counts of tax evasion that could have meant up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.

The government accused Kuglin of filing false W4 forms for the period from 1996 to 2001.

Kuglin, a pilot for FedEx since 1985, said she had paid taxes like anyone else for most of her life. But about 10 or 11 years ago, she began to question the federal tax system. She began to read court documents, legal opinions and the federal tax code.

She said she found what she felt were contradictions. She wanted to know where in the federal tax code it said she was liable for taxes.

Kuglin wrote the Internal Revenue Service twice in 1995 with questions but said she didn't get a response."

My point basically was that, I don't beleive that large numbers of people will put their lives on the line or risk going to prison, no matter how tyrannical this government gets. And, I predict that if this current government continues to be in power for 4 more years, Reichfuhrer Bush, Obermesiter Ashcroft, et al, will be driving us down the road to a dictatorship behind big green HumVees

~code

You hafta admit...this guy is scary. Not caring about people's lives and stuff, I mean. "Screw 'em all"...scary.

meant "Obermeister"..

God this sounded so familiar, and when I hit Code's post about 1984 I shivered! Way too similar, wayyyyy to similar.... brrr!

i agree Zeon...
check out
www.infowars.com

Closer to Fahrenheit 451.

This guy.......needs to be shot. There's nothing more to say.

Though I do wish there were some good hackers out there that would do to Sherman what they did to that FBI guy in the movie "Hackers". Make computer records say he was deceased, make it look like he was bankrupt, put an ad in the gay want ads etc.

I would like to see Cary-Sue use the law enforcement in my city. I am in law enforcement and I've spoken to a couple of lawyers and judges. They would laugh in his face and the judges would throw out the suit or let me file a class action retalliation suit againt the RIAA for EVERYTHING!!!

to CodeWarrior:

There was a time when a government oppressed its people. They imposed harsh and unfair taxes, and limited how people could obtain and use very basic items. The government pushed and pushed and pushed. And the people rose up, and with a great revolution, established a new country that was based on freedom.

It is unfortunate that our own government has become strikingly similar to the one we fought then. It is also cause for alarm. Democracy, Monarchy, Dictatorship. It all comes down to who leads, not how they are chosen. Pick a bad president, and in just 4 years he can do to US policy enough damage to set policy back 20 years.

Humans will only be pushed so far. If you give a person some freedom, and then take it away, they are much more likely to fight for to get back that freedom.

Ultimately, the more the government pushes, the more the big buissiness grips, the more freedoms we lose, and the more intrusive policy becomes, the closer we come to a new revolution. After all, alot of people would rather die then have to fall beneath oppression.

Personally, i favour death to oppression. Perhaps i am just radical. Perhaps i am only speaking what alot of people are thinking. Either way, vivá la resitance.
---Silence the Poet---

Silencethepoet-
I hope that the more optimistic view wins, because , I have had discussions with my wife and family, and friends, and NONE of us wants to live in the kind of world / country we are headed toward. And everyone wants to beleive they would stand and fight if need be,
but,look at the level of intrusions that people already accept from the government...and, the people in the 1930s were not that different than we are today..human nature is in many ways the same as it was in Shakespeare's day...how many people refuse to electronically sign at Best Buy, or refuse to give their thumbprint when they renew their driver's license, or refuse to use a Soc Sec number (there are those who are doing this, but not many)..and think about how hard life would be if you were to refuse to use, or give anyone your "number", i.e. soc sec number...intrusions are being silently, and incrementally put upon us daily...and few are standing up against them...
~code

The fact of the matter is that people will put up with a level of intrusion, a level of governmental control. after all, government is put there to serve the people, but also to MAINTAIN CONTROL. however, when a government pushes to far, people either leave, or they stand and fight. But people will only put up with so much before they fight. The anti-war effort in the 60s was a revolutionary war, fought without guns, and mostly with peace (note: mostly). War is a clashing of ideas, not guns being fired. And we will have one shortly if the government keeps pushing. And i refuse to give anything to best buy, or rat shack (read as: radio shack). I only use social security number for jobs, but no where else (my phone company does not require it, so why should i give it to them? i don't, and i am still on DSL (secondary note: at least SBC values privacy (my provider))). And as for the thumb print, the government takes that at birth (along with footprints), so why should i attempt to hide it? I agree they shouldn't, but they do, and you are too young to protest. But i will refuse to allow my childs foot and finger prints to be taken at birth. And i will take it to the highest court i fneed be.

Ultimately, government is there to maintain control. tighten it too much, and they will collapse. Every empire in history has done it. And every empire has either been forced to give up that control through war, or collapsed under it.