I apologize for the cross posting. Hope everyone had a good time @ PN7. Unfortunetly, I could not attend due to a broken left clavicle. The Oxycodone gave me the same effect though. ;-)

In case you've been living under a rock this summer, the fight against the MPAA, RIAA, and monopolistic telecom providers is still raging. We achieved a small victory at the end of last spring's session to have the issue deferred and put into 'summer study session'. We are now _in_ 'summer study session' and hearings are beginning to commence.

What's at risk? Well, do you use MythTv or Tivo? Do you burn DVDs or VCDs of television content? Have a NAT box on your cable or DSL line? Use VPN from home? Or God forbid, do you have a splitter on your cable line in your home? Doing, possessing, or even TALKING about any of these activities could render you a felon in the state of Tennessee if this bill passes. Even better than jail time, you could be sued into bankruptcy without even being convicted. Civil penalties can be assessed at up to $50,000 per DAY per DEVICE in your possession (no need to have used it in the act). That's right kids. If you have 2 splitters on your line for one year and they go after you, the _minimum_ penalty you will receive is $876,000. That doesn't include fines or attorneys fees.

What can you do? Spend a few hours of your life sitting on your ass in a hearing room. Seriously. Just showing up was perhaps THE KEY reason why this bill was not passed last spring. There are two hearings this week. Day 1 is basically the 'Bad Guys'. Day 2 is the 'Good Guys'. Tuesday's agenda is as follows:
Tuesday, October 28, 1:00 p.m.

Stacy Briggs, Executive Director
Tennessee Cable Television Association

Brian Allen, Director of Corporate Security
Time Warner Cable

Todd Flournoy, Counsel and Director of State Legislative Affairs
Motion Picture Association of America

Jeff Yarbrough
Tennessee-based Charter Cable Operator

Jim Spears, Vice-President of Government Relations
BellSouth

Ross Loder
Tennessee Municipal League

Wednesday's agenda is:
Wednesday, October 29 at 9:00 a.m.

Jonathan Band
American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries and the American Law Library Association

Scott Lyon or Scott Kozicki
Tennesseans for Digital Freedom Association (sic) Tennessee Digital Freedom Network)

Arnold Grothues, Vice President of Industry & Government Affairs
Radio Shack Corporation

Both of these hearings should be held in the 12/14 Legislative Plaza hearing rooms, HOWEVER, if they are still under construction, they may be moved. Ask anyone at the Plaza and they should be able to redirect you. For specifics, you can contact Sen. Trail's office for exact instructions: 615.741.1066. Ask about the "Joint Committee on Communications Security" hearing. Yea. We thought it was about cable theft too.

If you wish to be actively involved, please call me or email as soon as possible. 615.429.4502.

Cheers,
Scott

Decius wrote:
] flynn23 wrote:
]
] ] Wednesday's agenda is:
] ] Wednesday, October 29 at 9:00 a.m.
] ]
] ] Jonathan Band
] ] Scott Lyon or Scott Kozicki
] ] Arnold Grothues
]
] 1. Are you guys going to post notes from this day's talks?

I did not take notes, and I believe there weren't many others who did as well. I doubt they'll be as detailed as Tuesday's notes, if someone does indeed post them.

] 2. Are there official transcripts that can go up on the web?
] Particular comments from the MPAA about their organization
] being a great defender of first amendment rights and about
] there being no free speech implications are easy to rebut. I
] can probably quote one of their lawyers from the New York DMCA
] trial telling the judge directly that the MPAA's copyright
] interests are more important then the 1st.

I don't believe there are official transcripts of these sessions. We had a hard time getting the transcripts/recordings from the actual session judiciary hearings back in the spring. I saw a guy recording them, but I have not been able to locate them afterward. I'll research this and post back to memestreams if I find anything.

Another reason why notes of Wednesday's hearings aren't as important is because the proponents basically left after our presentation. Both sponsors of the bills, Sen Cooper (who seems to be in favor of the bills) and all the lobbyists for the proponents weren't even in the room for these presentations.

flynn23 wrote:
] I don't believe there are official transcripts of these
] sessions.

This seems like a worthwhile project/discussion in and of itself. People ought to be able to watch their government operate. CSPAN was a good step in the the right direction, but in general it is a tool for insiders.

Thomas was a hell of a lot more useful, but this is such a minor example of what it possible.

Sessions of federal, state, and local governments ought to be available online in various streaming video and audio only formats, along with text transcripts. The stuff should be broken down by committee and subject. It should be easy to search your local government for issues you are interested in and to follow the legislative process online.

All of this data IS being kept by someone, because judges USE the discussions that occur while a law is being passed to interpret it later.