From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@messagenet.com)
Date: Tue Sep 11 2001 - 14:49:56 MDT
Would this be reasonable? I don't know, I'm just speculating here. Also,
I'm trying to gear the writing toward the general public (U.S.
specifically), so please keep that in mind. I welcome edits and/or
complete rewrites.
No doubt there are 100's of thousands of computer programmers really
pissed off right now, rallying around the flag in a big way, perhaps
even for the first time in their lives. Many of whom have hacker skills,
and more importantly, many of whom have *international* contacts via
their work. Contacts in which race/religion/nationality are ignored in
favor of shared interests and expertise. Contacts that often use pen
names, and aren't necessarily compromised if appropriate information is
passed to authorities. Despite the probable desires of the intelligence
community to have sole responsibilities for anti terrorist intelligence
gathering in the U.S., this -- the geeks, nerds, and hackers making up
the computer community -- is a resource which should be nurtured.
Yesterday, we lived in a different world. A world where legislation like
the DMCA, and subsequent events including the 2600/DeCSS case, the
cancellation due to threat of lawsuit of a presentation relating to
security defects in SDMI, the arrest of a Norwegian teenager linked to
DeCSS, the Skylarov arrest, and, most ominously, the proposed SSSCA
bill, was really causing a lot of anger among this community. Anger not
just against the MPAA and RIAA, but also the government. It may not be
very visible, since demonstrations against such things often consist of
only a couple dozen people, but the simmering resentment is there.
(Consider that many in this community are too busy to take time off to
demonstrate, and many are geeks and nerds who prefer the glow of
computer screens in a darkened room to daylight). This resentment is
leading to serious discussions of which free country to emigrate to.
(Russia is a recent candidate, being probably furthest from the reach of
the MPAA and RIAA, with the possible exception of China). If it
continues we may well see a major brain drain from the U.S.
The discussion coming from some congressmen about re-examining civil
liberties, and computer community discussion about how this day will
lead to further repression of (for example) encryption technology (since
that could be used by terrorists), isn't helping. It's time to think
differently. It's time to get the hackers on our side. (They always
were, in most respects anyway, and especially so in this country, where
there is plenty of opportunity for talented people).
The choice is really fairly simple. Do we want to make every electronic
networked device a tool of copyright law enforcement, as Hollywood and
the music industry desire and legislation like the DMCA and upcomming
SSSCA would enforce, and anger almost every hacker in the country? Or
can we ease up a little, restore some rights instead of eroding them
further, (recognizing that yes, a few Hollywood films or Brittany Spears
albums are gonna find their way onto the Internet) and turn this
community into an ally?
Thanks,
-Mike
-- ====================================================================== Michael Wiik Principal Messagenet Communications Research Washington DC Area Internet and WWW Consultants http://messagenet.com mwiik@messagenet.com ======================================================================
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