[Free-sklyarov-uk] Corrupt CD's - Time for another protest/leafleting session?

[Julian T J Midgley]

A somewhat overdue and overlong note from me... ;-)

The CD campaign has been extremely successful, and in the UK, Jim rightly
deserves all credit for this - he has kept plugging away, answering the
sometimes huge number of emails coming in, keeping the site up to date,
and fielding some of the calls from journalists.

Whilst I have been keeping my head low (on the list and elsewhere) over
the last few weeks, Jim's efforts have resulted in a steady stream of
journalists phoning me for comment - we've had (mostly complimentary)
articles on the CD issue published in: The Guardian (several times), The
Independent, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Times (or Sunday
Times, I forget which), Tipsheet (music recommendations).  These are just
some of those I can remember off the top of my head, there are many more.
(Oh, add the Associated Press and News.com to that list).  (Both Watchdog
and BBC Newsround got in contact (unprompted), but appear to have decided
not to run pieces after BMG backed down over Natalie Imbruglia.)

A quick note on my not entirely explained absence.  Thanks to genes
carefully handed down from generation to generation, I'm variously
blessed/cursed with manic depression (which, it's worth pointing out is
not such a bad thing to have once you know what it is and have learnt how
to live with it (it's just quite shitty for the several years it takes to
get diagnosed correctly)).  After four years on lithium a recent
experiment with coming off the stuff (with approval of GP) resulted in my
briefly going manic (which was pleasantly entertaining, if not entirely
productive).  So am back on the lithium again, and after a couple of weeks
of gradually sorting my life out and getting all my cylinders firing
normally again, am back on top form.

At much the same time, I decided that it was lunacy to attempt to hold
down a full time job at the company I work for, whilst simultaneously
dedicating every spare moment to the Campaign for Digital Rights and the
Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR).  I therefore elected to
take voluntary redundancy from the company concerned in order to give me
time to work full time as a volunteer for FIPR for a while.  I'm working
out my final months' notice at the moment and finish my current job on 19
December.

In the meantime, I've been doing various bits of work for FIPR as and when
I have the chance (spent a most interesting afternoon in the House of
Lords yesterday witnessing the reading of the Data Retention clauses of
the Anti-Terrorism bill), and handling CDR related press contacts.

In the interests of ensuring FIPR's impartiality, I may well have to step
down as a spokesman for the Campaign for Digital Rights in the New Year,
but should be able to remain active on the strategy/ideas side.

Anyway, enough about me, and back on to what CDR should do next.

The three principal issues - Dmitry, EUCD, and the CD issue remain as
pressing as they always have been; I see no reason why we shouldn't be
able to make the best of our contacts, membership and credibility with the
press to do an effective job on each of them.

The Patent Office now intend to hold the consultation period on the EUCD
at least a couple of months into next year (which gives us a little more
time to prepare than we had hoped for).  FIPR will be active on the EUCD,
which means that we can restrict ourselves to generating media interest -
the right thing for a Campaign to be doing - without having to worry too
much about performing detailed legal analysis.

Dmitry's full trial doesn't start until April, but there will be
opportunities to support him in various ways before then.  Anton has
already suggested several. Martin Keegan and Gerry are some way advanced
with plans to record and release a CD in support of Dmitry (free for
download and distribution, of course).

The CD issue is still active, likely to remain so, and is a genuine
opportunity for us to provide a service to both the public and the media.
Christmas is a good time to try to capitalise on this, although has the
potential disadvantage that people often don't have much spare time at
this time of year.

Firstly, we should congratulate ourselves on what we've achieved thus far
- from the crowd of 40-odd people who assembled outside the US Embassy in
August for an impromptu protest that happened to get Newsnight coverage,
we've built a Campaign that has been extremely influential in provoking
discussion of copy-protected CDs, has a mailing list membership of some
180 members, and is regularly consulted for comment and opinion by
journalists from UK, Europe and the USA.  This is no small achievement.

Do not be disheartened by the apparent lack of real activity over the last
few weeks - we've enough support now that when we do decide to do
something the momentum will pick up quickly, and it does no-one any harm
to take a breather from time to time (although it's about time we allowed
Jim one ;-)) - the CDR is going to be around for a while and can afford to
have quiet periods.

I suspect that with Christmas this close, it may prove difficult to
organise (m)any events before 25 December (not that this should stop those
with the time from trying if they wish).  We should certainly try to get
the Dmitry CD out in time for Christmas (Martin will supply more details)
- and perhaps provoke some further discussion of the CD issue whilst
people are buying CDs as presents.   But in general I think we can afford
to relax a little until the New Year, and then start going after all three
issues in earnest.

I also think it would be a good idea to get as many members of the
Campaign together as possible for a sort of
mini-conference/discussion/party some time early in the New Year.  A lot
of our best ideas have come out of discussions held in pubs after
protests, and it's always good actually to meet the people who are
otherwise just another email address.  London seems the most appropriate
location for this - if anyone has suggestions for a venue, preferably
free/inexpensive that can accomodate at least 100 people, let me know.
I'll put my mind to a rough plan of events - the event will be used as
much as anything else to thrash out some ideas for how best to tackle the
issues next year.

So, those are my thoughts - discuss, criticise, flame as you will ;-)
And no Lithium jokes, please ;-p

All the best,

Julian

-- 
Julian T. J. Midgley                      http://www.xenoclast.org/
Cambridge, England.                          PGP Key ID: 0xBCC7863F