[d@DCC] Forming an organization

[mskala at ansuz.sooke.bc.ca]

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004, Darryl Moore wrote:
> Any other ideas? I guess that's another question. Are we looking to be 
> activists, or just lobbyists?

Well, I'm looking to *win*, and I think that some of your "activist"
suggestions (e.g. blockading libraries) would be exactly the wrong way to
do that.  As you point out, the average person doesn't know what
programming freedom is all about.  The absolute last thing I want is to
make the point that "Programming freedom is all about weird people who
make trouble for strange reasons - quick, make their activities illegal
before they hurt someone!  Terrorism!  AIEE!"

I'd much rather put on my shirt and tie and "serious computer scientist"
persona, and lobby the government while making sure that the media see me
doing it.  If we become a fringe group we lose, automatically, and we're
already teetering on the brink of being fringe.  We need to retain our
mainstream status.  It's the copyright cartel that is the weird special
interest.  We are nice ordinary average people who want to be left to
private enjoyment of the software and hardware we paid for on the
legitimate open market; and we need to play that up.
-- 
Matthew Skala
mskala at ansuz.sooke.bc.ca                    Embrace and defend.
http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/

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