CopyNight Nashville mtg - Wednesday, 7:30 PM, Tabouli's

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Dear Friends and CopyNighters:
I look forward to seeing you at our April CopyNight meeting on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 at 7:30 PM (normally it is at 7 PM) at Tabouli's, 2015 Belmont Blvd., (between Bongo Java and PM), Nashville.
There are numerous issues for us to discuss including the following:

Last week many of us who were in Nashville attended Leadership Music's Digital Summit (http://digitalsummit.org/schedule.html) held across the street from Tabouli's at the Curb Events Center. Except for the dour, regressive, one-sided "consumer-is-the-problem," 9:30 AM panel, this was a very good and surprisingly enlightened event.
But with any progress, comes many more obstacles and those willing to bend in any direction to serve the master lobbyists of the Music And Film Industry Association of America (MAFIAA).
The worst of all is the new digital copyright bill that the Troika - Mitch Bainwol (RIAA), Dan Glickman (MPAA) and Mary Beth Peters (U. S. Copyright Office) - are pushing upon their workers (AKA, members of the House and Senate). The Troika are taking a very bad DMCA and making it much worse.
http://news.com.com/Congress+readies+new+digital+copyright+bill/2100-1028_3-6064016.html?tag=newsmap

And as if the new North Korean-style digital copyright bill that Congress is trying to pass is not enough, this same Troika and Congress are also trying to please many of the telcoms and large corporations by radically altering the landscape of the Internet:
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1539607&auid=1606312
But since our last CopyNight meeting, a lot has happened and fortunately, there is a new lobbying group that can help. It is not the EFF or Public Knowledge, the two most enlightened non-academic groups, but unlike EFF and PK, this group CAN lobby. The group is:
IPAC
http://ipaction.org/
I proudly made my first donation to IPAC this afternoon. Their logo: "Defending the public interest where culture and technology meet."
I hope to see you Tuesday night at Tabouli's. Any questions, please feel free to call/write: 615-460-5473, 615-791-7455, emh666@aol.com.
E. Michael Harrington