Remember those disgraceful Homeland Security mod chips raids that targeted not terrorists, but U.S. citizens, during the summer?
A World of Warcraft gamer by the name of Jason Richey sure does, and he wrote a letter protesting the federal action to his elected representative, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH):
I am a concerned citizen writing you about the negative repercussions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)... Installing a mod chip is similar to installing a V-8 engine in your car, or changing your own oil...
There are many legal reasons for mod chips... a person should be able to do whatever they wish to things they own, including reprogramming them to do things not intended by the manufacturer.
I urge you... heed the will of the people you are sworn to represent and push for the revocation of the DMCA...
Nor was this a mere academic exercise for Jason. As he writes, a friend of his was caught up in the mod chip sweep. In any case, here at GamePolitics we respect what he has done for a whole bunch of reasons.
First, it's an example of grassroots democracy in action - a gamer/voter exercising his right to protest what he sees as an abuse of federal law enforcement power. Second, the guy is clearly passionate about the topic. Finally, he's putting it out there for everyone to see on his blog, Richtastic.
Unfortunately, Jason's story doesn't exactly have a happy ending:
I got a reply today from Marcy Kaptur... The first line read "Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the Copyright Royalty Board's decision to raise music royalty rates."
That's right, I wrote a detailed letter about the problems with the DMCA... and in return I got a form letter on the topic of internet radio... I just wish our governmental leaders would take the time to read whatever it is that they are responding to...
Jason does give props to Rep. Kaptur (seen on the big screen at left) credit, however, for favoring Net Neutrality. He has included copies of both his letter and Rep. Kaptur's response on his site.
Comments
My current MP does the same. You could be ranting about current policy, and you'd still get the same "thanks for your support of me voting for unrelated policy X"...
Translation: get a bunch of your friends to write, too. Organize a mini-campaign.
famous last words
Heute ist "ACG Logistics" einer der weltumfassenden Fuhrer in der Guterverkehrssphare. Au?erdem verwirklicht der Unternehmen seit 2003 die Grosshandelslieferungen der elektronischen Ausrustung und arbeitet mit 50 bekannten weltumfassenden Produzenten zusammen.
Dank den Bemuhungen des Personals "ACG Logistics", hat der Warenumsatz die Summe im Wert von 8 Milliarden Euro in dem Jahre 2005 gebildet.
Unsere Gesellschaft sucht nach den Manager fur die Arbeit mit den Kunden.
Die Hauptforderungen zum Kandidaten:
das Alter ab 18 Jahren,
die Arbeitsfertigkeit mit den Programmen Microsoft Office und Outlook Express
Internet
der Kandidat soll ehrlich und verantwortlich sein.
Seinerseits "ACG Logistics" gewahrt:
das stabile monatliche Gehalt von 1000 Euro kostenlose Ausbildung/Weiterbildung
monatliche Pramie bis zu 100 %, je nach den Ergebnissen der Arbeit
die Uberlassung der sozialen Programmen, um den Lebensniveau der Mitarbeiter zu erhohen
Die Hauptpflichten, die der Manager erfullen soll:
die Annahme und die Bearbeitung der Paketen
Verkauf dieser auf den Online-Handelsplatzen wie Ebay usw.
Operationen mit den Geldmitteln
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GP: I like this one as news because it shows that gamers can engage the political process. And that when elected officials fail their gamer constituents, they will be held accountable, just as they are held accountable by other special interest groups.
A shame really, especially the pre-typed 'n' ready letter to fire away at will.
This wasn't politicians. It was something far more vile and repellant - Bureocrats.
He sent me a picture of his cat.
It didn't take me more than two seconds to become jaded and full of sarcasm.
maybe the picture of his cat was supposed to cheer your brother up due to absurdity? it certainly made me laugh.
but seriously, the system is in a downward spiral of mediocrity and what can be described as the politician's version of "senioritis."
but wolfman don't got nards!
However, I love the car analogy. If modding a product were so illegal why not arrest all the auto mod chip, and nitrous oxide manufacturers? Their products are designed to increase the speeds of cars, allowing them to exceed the speed limit. Isn't that illegal too?
Just shows that politicians are just as addicted to what is popular as the celebrity chasers.
Yeah, Burstow's a dick isn't he..
Good luck, brother.
This just shows how out of touch elected officals are.
September 30th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
No disrespect to Jason Richey, but in the end, you went about it all wrong. If you want something read, don’t send an email. Take that email, print it out, and send it to your representative in an envelope. If you don’t get a response in a week, send it again, and keep on sending it until you get an answer. Send them directly to her, her secretary, her professional aide, whatever you have to do, but at least that way they’ll be forced to at the very least OPEN the damn thing, rather than highlighting it and clicking ’send to trash’.
Good luck, brother.
Oni has it right.
(God! That is way to many "people").
Deal with it.
Make yourself heard! They can't ignore you forever!
Most of the problems that the industry and gamers face can be addressed in broader issues.
Why confine debate about consumer rights and censorship only to gaming when it effects all kinds of entertainment/ expression?
The Issues that have arisen will only stop effecting the Gamers when we bury them as a whole.
Also, LOL AMERICAZ!!!!!11111!!!!
Jesus, I'm sorry about that.
I had to get it out.
$50 says if we go through her old campaign commercials we'll find her go on about how she'll listen to the demands of citizes and whatnot.
What a load of crud.
The shit they did to internet radio is absolute bull.
I actually did send the letter into her via USPS, along with the first hand account of my friend. You can read his account here:
http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EElyEEkAllysyVJWYQ.php
That's the reason the pictures on my site are pictures, I scanned the paper copies of them.
I mailed my letter Saturday, August 4, 2007 and almost 2 months later I got her form letter response dated September 27, 2007.
Just figured I needed to set the record straight. Thanks again for the interest. Feel free to copy my form and mail one yourself, just change the names to your's and your representative's.
I believe the agreement signed by the user to operate consoles includes clauses which prohibit the modification of their equipment. Granted, it's a strange move, but I suppose a perfectly legal one.
Anyone have any more specific information on this?
It's too bad that american politicians really don't give a shit about what most people write in letters to them.
You can't legally sell a license to use the physical device, unless you are renting it. You can do so with the software to run the device. However as long as they have the only software that can run the device they are essentially doing that.
Of course the xbox 360 has some circuits that can be fried via software to prevent changes to certain software and to even change hardware.
They control the only network the device can communicate with using the only software that makes the box work.
Once you have an alternate software, they can't do jack shit using the legal system. They can bitch, and possibly break your device using a software patch to the harder to hack stuff at the bios level, but once they go to actually disabling the hardware they can be sued out the ass.
Thats the reason I modded my (last gen) consoles anyway...
@ Conejo
Wahahah! I remember the move that's from. Monster Squad i believe? Supremely funny (old0 movie that.
Now, as to the issue of "form letter". Well, yes and no. For all topics there is a style for writting these letters. Standardization if you will. The letter starts off thanking the writer for contact the elected official about . Then you have a paragraph describing what's going on/been done about the issue, why it's important. Then, and this is where is gets tricky, you have a paragraph informing the voter that they will be pleased to know that the elected official agreed with their position and took appropriate action, that the issue died somewhere were the elected would not have to touch it (some committee the elected is NOT on), but the official will take your concerns into consideration should the issue come up again, or (and this is really hard) as politely as possible inform the constituent that unfortunately we didn't see eye to eye on this issue. Finally you close by thanking to constituent again for contacting the office and offering to be of any assistance in the future should it be needed.
A commercial back in the 80s were some chick is running with a hammer and cops are chasing after her. There is a giant screen with someones face on it and she runs up and tosses the hammer into it freeing people from the goverments control.
While true, the thing is, the topic wasn't overarching, it was unrelated.
It's just considered polite or "good form" to provide a trackback if you reference someone else's article. It basically is giving credit where credit is due.