“Questions questions questions. Can a small record label run a virus too, or just the monopolies? How about a software company? How about the Department of Justice? Can they install a virus on our systems to look for terrorism and report it back to the FBI? Do you think that would be constitutional? What if there’s a conflict between” a record label’s virus and a car dealer’s virus, which one survives? Can a record label rent space in its virus to do someone else’s bidding?…” – Dave Winer, Scripting News, July 26, discussing Rep. Howard Berman’s bill.
The TeleRead take: Dave Winer and others are trying to organize Netfolks to vote these crooks out of office. It would then be fun to see how many nanoseconds elapsed before Berman and the rest got job offers from entertainment conglomerates–to work for them in a more open way.
Followup, July 28:Winer and Ed Cone note that Howard Berman is apparently running unopposed, but that another congressman with an interest in these matters, Howard Coble, may be approachable–a good thing since Coble “got 91 percent of the vote in 2001.” Ed Cone says: “Individual liberty is part of Coble’s message, and big corporations like the ones who bankroll him aren’t very popular just now. He has another election in two years, and even with the recent gerrymandering that strengthens his political base he would have to pay attention to a concerted information campaign on this issue.”
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