Re: [Cdn-DMCA] Political contributions

From: Kristofer Coward <kris _-at-_ melon.org>
To: No DMCA in Canada <canada-dmca-opponents (at) flora.org>
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 14:28:59 -0400
References: <20020429015149.GJ1828@melon.org> <Pine.LNX.4.44.0204290749280.20502-100000@calcutta1.flora.ca>

On Mon, Apr 29, 2002 at 07:55:36AM -0400, Russell McOrmond wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Apr 2002, Kristofer Coward wrote:
> 
> > Any interest in scanning Hansard? Any interest in putting together a
> > page where we can "keep score" for given politicians? Anyone interested
> > in encouraging others to make contributions based on our assessments?
> 
> 
>   I don't know if contributions will make the difference, but publicity 
> and votes will.

I've heard a rule of thumb that every letter represents the opinion of a
thousand voters (i.e. only 0.1% of all voters care enough to write a
letter on an issue that would affect their voting preferences)

I'm working on the assumption that there's a comparable rule of thumb
for donators (at least those who write to justify their donation). I
could be quite wrong.

>   What I suggest is this:  I have a database that I set up for a political 
> party during an election which allows one to type in a postal code and 
> find ones MP.
> 
>   What I would like to do is 'prime' this database with answers from a 
> questionaire that we send out.  It would ask for answers on key questions 
> we have, and include links back to a site for more information (IE: We 
> need to ensure that the politicians understand the difference between "TPM 
> as a choice" and "legal protection for TPM").

That would definitley be a useful extra piece of information to throw
in - of course I suggest that we keep the reviewed Hansard too. Also,
when possible we should try and improve our reviews with "expert"
annotation (eg. write Bryan Adams re: The Hon. Ms. Copps' rant that was
pasted here a while back and ask him if he personally objects to
cd-owning fans copying it to to tape to listen to while
jogging/driving/whatever without paying him)

>   The questionaire can be educational as well.  We can ask them about the
> right to compatability in the European Union Council Directive 91/250/EEC
> of 14 May 1991 on the legal protection of computer programs.  To answer, 
> they will be forced to read it and recognize that other regions took a 
> very different approach than the USSA.

I think our questionnaire could use to have some educational material,
but we can't provide examples that are too one-sided, or else the
politicians will know our agenda and respond accordingly (instead of
responding truthfully).

>   I will sign up to set up the database, and can 'help' on the 
> questionaire, but can't spend much more time on this campaign than I am 
> already.

That's quite understandable, you've already put a great deal of time
and effort into this (thanks).

>   Would having this under http://www.digital-copyright.ca/ be appropriate?  
> I believe it would be a good place to start, even if we'll be talking
> about non-digital and non-copyright things.

It seems a sensible place to put such a page, especialyl since I don't
see how it's non-digital or non-copyright :)

-- 
Kristofer Coward				http://unripe.melon.org/
GPG Fingerprint: 2BF3 957D 310A FEEC 4733  830E 21A4 05C7 1FEB 12B3
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