Can’t say I’m always this quick; I’m working far too late tonight and your posts provided me a welcome distraction from the work I should be doing!

I worked for Harry Reid in the 101st Congress, perhaps we passed each other in the Hart cafeteria at some point.

Welcome to the site. You are not annoying me, always happy to have a dialogue. Commenters who are annoying are ones who invoke the Holocaust and other such attacks; that is why I have unfortunately had to shift to moderated comments. As you can see, I post non-hateful comments even when I disagree with them.

Yes, Paine was, well, pained by many things. Madison, however, wrote the copyright clause for the VA Constitution, then wrote it for the US Constitution. In the Federalist Papers he said its logic and benefit to society could hardly be questioned. Jefferson did question it, in a letter to his protege Madison, but Madison’s response convinced Jefferson that it was appropriately included in the Constitution. In fact, it was one of the few provisions at the Constitutional Convention to which no protest was raised.

Thank you for not denying copyright’s usefulness. In any democratic society we must always question, and ask where on the spectrum policy should fall. As a creator myself and as a member of a family of creators, I have some issue with those who would wish to abolish all rights of creators, but I am happy to debate those who differ on how robust those rights should be.

thx for your very! swift replies. respect.

some background: years ago i was an l.a. up on the hill (i shan’t say how many, but suffice to say that sen. gordon humphrey is not even a footnote in the history books of the 20-40 cohort that keeps the business of gov’t running), so the set-up of your newish organization was unknown to me. back in the day, no contribution meant no voice. thankfully that’s changed.

your wordpress install will have told you (as i’ve done more than a few) that i came to your site to annoy you through the link in the CISAC site. being from vermont, i’m doing some research surrounding our adorable munchkin of a senator (no, not you bernie…sit down!) the honorable mr. leahy, the pride of middlesex.

i suspect your corporate members and myself would very quickly come to loggerheads over their efforts to transform intellectual property into real property and this effort’s anti-consumer and essentially anti-democratic roots. please recall that thomas payne (if i remember right) was vehemently opposed in the federalist papers to the gov’t granted monopoly of copyright. this is not to deny copyright’s usefulness, usefulness that must be proscribed. a proscription my dear senator refuses to acknowledge. thus my annoyance and research. results coming soon on leahyversusvermont.wordpress.com . thank you!

Thanks for this comment.

Yes, I know we’re out of date on the version. I considered upgrading recently, but since it keeps working I believe there’s no reason to risk the problems often associated with upgrades. I use WordPress because I’ve tried several blogging programs over the last 5 years or so and this has proven to be the least troublesome (although the latest Flash interferes with my ability to upload images to the blog, but I’m told the latest WordPress hasn’t solved that).

And I promote all rights models. I admire open source developers and applaud their accomplishments and their generosity of time and talent. I also assume they — who have chosen to work within a model (FOSS) that has been found by the courts to be part of copyright law (something Lawrence Lessig applauded) — would not wish to project their self-sacrifice by forcing other creators who see value in their rights to forfeit them. Mutual respect is what is called for here.

Nope, no irony here. Thanks for your attempt at levity, however, and your cute use of an emoticon.

……using *****free***** open source software (wordpress 2.5.1 (which is way! out of date by the way. you guys are getting seriously ripped off by your developer)) to execute their publishing? that’s F.O.S.S. as promoted by the F.S.F. inter alia btw.

Given the speed with which the stimulus package needed to pass, it should not have contained controversial language which many believed would legitimize a mandatory “three strikes” rule for ISPs or other policies that should not be enacted without further debate. Separating that debate from the urgency of the stimulus bill was entirely appropriate, except in the eyes of those who wanted it railroaded in without debate.

Incidentally, it’s a real shame that Senator Feinstein has forgotten her roots in Northern California, home of a $200B/year technology industry in her rush to please Southern California’s $20B/year entertainment industry.