Democrats trying to sell the Internet to Karl Rove? Why?

Here's a shortsightedness problem for you. As Doc Searls points out, California senator Dianne Feinstein is introducing an RIAA-backed DRM mandate on digital and net radio. The weird angle on this is that she's selling out the netroots scene that helped get her party a majority in Congress. If she gets it passed, the database marketing crowd gets to control politics in the USA again, and she's back in the minority.

Anyway, here's my letter to my Rep. about this issue -- permission granted to copy in whole or in part. Also permission granted to enjoy a cool beverage to get the envelope glue taste out of your mouth. Aaaah! (Notice the "call to action" at the end is to please sponsor DMCRA. Always ask for something specific when you send these.)

BEGIN LETTER

Every two years, the Internet has been helping to make a communications improvement in national American politics. In 2004, the "netroots" phenomenon was blogs and discussion boards. Howard Dean, the most famous netroots candidate, didn't succeed, but his campaign, along with that of Gen. Wesley Clark, helped build the software infrastructure required for individuals to participate in political discussions.

In 2006, mashups, podcasts, and video sharing joined the blogs and boards, to help power our national debate about the issues. Congratulations on a Democratic majority in the 110th Congress.

Strangely, in the aftermath of her own party's 2006 victory, which was helped by citizen media, Sen. Feinstein now seems determined, with the "PERFORM Act", to attack the "netroots." Political speech depends on fair use quotations of sources and opponents -- people who would not give you permission to quote them in your own work, but whose quotations help your argument hold together.

By enforcing a "Digital Rights Management" (DRM) mandate on Internet media, Sen. Feinstein's "PERFORM Act" would give major media companies such as The News Corporation, as well as political ad producers, a stifling level of control over Internet political speech in 2008. DRM does not significantly affect copyright infringement, but does impose a chilling effect on legitimate political speech.

A DRM mandate would roll American political communications back a generation. Not to the TV generation that Kennedy used to beat Nixon, but the top-down database marketing generation ruled by Karl Rove. Please don't let Sen. Feinstein restrict the independent Internet political speech that is today's version of pamphlets, soapbox speeches, weekly "underground" newspapers, and zines. To have an open and fair 2008 election, we're going to need an Internet with parodies, mashups, blogs, podcasts, and whatever people invent next. Breaking our communications with a DRM mandate will break our decision-making process.

We need the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act, which would protect fair use of political speech from corporate attacks without affecting law enforcement agencies' right to use the DMCA and other Federal laws against actual infringers. Please talk to Rep. Rick Boucher about this bill and become a sponsor of the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act in the 110th Congress. Thank you for your consideration.