[Free-sklyarov-uk] More Press Coverage

[kb1 at oisin.snaz.co.uk]

On Thu, Aug 02, 2001 at 11:13:09AM +0100, Anton Chterenlikht wrote:
> 
> 
> Julian T J Midgley wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 2 Aug 2001 kb1 at oisin.snaz.co.uk wrote:
> >
> > > Silly question?
> > >
> > > Can we get our hands on a copy of the DMCA to burn?
> >
> > Though it's a nice idea (and I'm sure a Google search would turn up a
> > copy), I'd rather we didn't burn things, as doing so makes it utterly
> > trivial for the police to demand that the protest break up (and since
> > burning things in the street probably involves commiting several offences,
> > it also makes it far too easy for people to be arrested, which we would
> > like to avoid).
> 
> I agree.
> This is probably what the palestinian protesters (they are at the US embassy
> after us) will do: burn amerian flags, burn "uncle Sam" etc. I'd like to
> distant from this. I think that we'll have much bigger impact on the embassy
> itself if we'll be totally peaceful.
> 
<For discussion.>

I'm not an expert, but:

<pro>
I think that the main goal of a picket like this is press coverage. There 
will _not_ be a diplomatic pouch going back saying "There's geeks outside:
repeal DMCA at once!"

So we need to be reasonably visual. Burning a copy of a statute at the end 
of the picket gives something visual to get on the news. Especially if 
the press are briefed.

<con>
There is the public order side of things, as pointed out.
And since we're trying to get Dmitry freed, rather than the DMCA repealed,
this could cause a lot of confusion.

<interesting>
What else can we do that would make a visual impact?

Regards

Kieran