[sklyarov-chicago] from Adobe

[Nate Riffe]

On Wed, 25 Jul 2001, Peter A. Peterson II wrote:

> 
> Mentioning EULAs and their "contextual legality" on the other hand MAY
> be something that we could tie in because of it's similarities to
> DMCA-like law perversion.  MAYBE if we put http://www.boycottadobe.com/
> on the posters and people asked why we still wanted to do that we could
> explain it. But to try and attack all those fronts, to focus on the
> Adobe issue, I think is just going to divide our message and confuse our
> audience. We're not going to seem like a well-informed, cohesive unit of
> Citizens Like Them, we're going to seem like raving, out of touch,
> "computer nerds". Adobe played their cards well -- to take precious
> minutes and try to expose their broad chicanery is, I think, not the
> best use of our time at this point.

On the matter of Adobe, I have asked Mike if he would write a concise
report of the facts of Adobe's involvement from DMCA to arrest to EFF.  
Mike seems to know the most about their involvement.  If that brief is
ready (as in scrutinized and impeccable) by the time of our next protest,
I suggest that we use this tactic:

A pedestrian asks why we are calling for the boycott of Adobe.  The
protester summarizes Adobe's involvement in the DMCA and the arrest in a
sentence.  Then the protester says something along the lines of "but
that's really just a summary.  This explains it from top to bottom." and
hands the pedestrian a copy of Mike's brief.  This breif will be rather
involved and most people would just throw it away, so I think it should be
reserved for the people who ask for it.

Adobe's involvement is not something we can relate to our other issues in
a streetcorner minute (I like that phrase. Kudos to Pete.), but after some
thinking and reading over Mike's and Igor's comments it is a worthy
sideline that we could persue under the right circumstances.  However, and
I don't think it is possible to overstate this, we should be preaching and
proselytizing the anti-DMCA-free-Sklyarov meme.  Those two issues are
intimately related, since Sklyarov's case exemplifies the horrors of the
DMCA.  The our arguments on these issues are tightly woven as is.  The
Adobe issue is at this point a tangled mess.  If it can be woven at all,
then let's pursue it as a sideline issue with people who ask about the
www.boycottadobe.com note on our signs.

> 
> But please don't feel like Nate and I feel like Adobe's wearing
> snow-white robes just because we don't want to focus on them. We're just
> trying to look at this practically.
> 
> Finally, this should not be surprising, but other groups around the
> country have splintered because of this very thing we're discussing --
> whether to attack broadly (including Adobe) or whether to go at it a bit
> more focused and reserved. I don't want to see Chicago's group face the
> same kind of dissolution.

As a side note, I want everyone to know that our press release, protest
information packet, and posters have been used at protests around the
country.  People will be back to our site looking for more materiel.  I
was not aware of the factioning going on around the country, but with that
in mind I think our ability to produce potent content is that much more
important.  I have faith in Mike's knowledge of Adobe's involvement and
our collective ability to harness that knowledge in the form of a
document.  If that document is not ready for the next protest, then so be
it, we will refine continue to refine it for future use by us and other
protesters.  The existence of that document could cure the splintering
that is going on.

-Nate

> 
> pedro
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.freesklyarov.org/ -- FREE DMITRY!
> sklyarov-chicago@ufo.chicago.il.us
> http://ufo.chicago.il.us/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sklyarov-chicago
> 


------------------------------------------------((\))<----------------------
Nate Riffe			Help Dmitry Sklyarov find freedom in the so-
inkblot@geocities.com		called "Land of the Free."
                  http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010719_eff_sklyarov_alert.html