Yesterday, I got off on a bit of a rant about how I felt about some recent happenings regarding my the the most dislike company in America. I refer to them as the Racketeering Idiots Association of Absurdity but most of you know them as the RIAA.

The post received a few comments and I am informed that Senators received a few letters. Thanks to those who did so. I though it might be wise to do a short follow up on writing letters to Representatives. As it is often so, there are enough good pages on the said topic. I also would like to say that this is in now way a comment on the letters you readers already sent. It is more of a typical Lumpy after thought.

The first decent link for drafting letters to your Representatives is over at About.com. It has the basic formality expected and how to refer to bills and resolutions… Something I believe I borked yesterday.

In my opion, the best information for writing, especially on this topic is over at the EFF site.

I wasn’t there for two minutes when I realized I committed a major blunder. I usually still do the old "snail mail" thing. According to the EFF information, that is bad. I quot:

Because of the post-9/11 security issues, it can take up to THREE MONTHS for postal mail and package delivery services to get through to legislators and their staffs. All incoming mail and parcels are subjected to thorough analysis for bombs, poisons and biological agents like anthrax. This means that sending physical letters is, in 2002 and for the forseeable future, practically useless for activism purposes. The same goes for sending mail to the White House.

The article also states that many legislators still do not really take e-mail seriously. Seems the best thing is actually a phone call or a fax. I think perhaps the most important bullet list is aptly titled Important Notes and immediately below that lies a great list of "Do’s and Don’ts".

For the purpose of the topic discussed yesterday, there are two very relevant items. (Before I continue, I wish to state that I have not yet finished reading either of the resolutions. If I misrepresent something please leave me a comment.) The first being HR 4279, commonly known as the "IP PRO Act". The name is very misleading. The bill is intended to allow stiffer fines for professional and/or criminal copyright violators.

I still think that the bill is ludicrous. There is no one out there that would trust the RIAA to draw a line like that. In my opinion, they have already proved that by flooding the courts with "sham litigation" (…and I am not the only one who uses that term. I know of at least one Judge who used the same quoted term in his decision.) It would also create a tax payer funded new government agency to deal with copyright infringement. I think the RIAA and MPAA are doing enough damage to the consumer with out our tax dollars aiding in their misguided efforts.

HR 4279 passed the house with only 11 opposed and 12 not voting. That is a bad sign. Also, the Representatives who introduced the said resolution received over 30 thousand dollars in campaign funds from, guess who? Yeah the RIAA. This resolution needs to be stopped (as in fail passing) in The Senate. You can check on the current status of the resolution at Open Congress.

I am pretty sure that the contribution level is not much different in the Senate although it is somewhat harder to track. This means that much screaming needs be done on this matter. It also means that you can focus on only your Senators. By the way, if you wish to see who got how much from the RIAA check out this post at The Consumerist.

The other resolution that needs to pass is the "Internet Radio Equality Act" or HR 2060. This piece of legislation is intended to make it fairer for Internet Radio and needs to pass. It is an attempt to reverse the unfair royalty rates recently passed. It seems that our legislators are dragging this bill through committees at the moment and has not been voted on yet. This means you should contact both The House and The Senate. You can follow the progress of the bill at this page at Open Congress.

Thanks again for reading but, more importantly, thanks for writing.