Monthly Archives: October 2004

Paul Graham’s “Good Bad Attitude”

Paul Graham writes a lot of awfully good essays. Here’s one about “hackers” and their opposition to copyright that I found quite good and thought-provoking. 🙂

Good Bad Attitude

Can I really support John Ashcroft?

John Ashcroft’s Justics Department supports some pretty scary legislation. Yes, this includes the Induce Act, and the [Piracy Deterrence and Education Act]:http://www.publicknowledge.org/content/legislation/hr4077 (linked for your convenience). Since I can’t directly vote Ashcroft in/out of office, perhaps this would mean voting for Kerry. Have a look at this article:

[Wired News: Ashcroft Vows Piracy Assault]:http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65331,00.html?tw=rss.TOP

Unfortunately, the picture isn’t so clear, since [both of them seem to say]:http://p2pnet.net/story/2560 “we support copyright” equally vaguely. The RIAA seems to [contribute roughly equally to both sides]:http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softcomp1.asp?txtName=recording though the TV/Movie/Music sector [seems to favor Democrats]:http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=B02 .

[Some guy]:http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000653.html seems to think we really should just consider educating the Republicans, since they’re supposed to support “less government,” “less regulation,” and “market determination.” Don’t forget to lobby your congressional reps, I suppose.

Please do vote. If you don’t like either of the two, vote for one of the smaller party’s candidates, so your dissenting voice can at least be counted.