News

An iPod in Every Congressional Office

Wednesday, February 1st, 2006 at 2:30 PM - by Staff

IPAC (Intellectual Property Action Committee) has announced a plan to get a 30GB video iPod into the hands of each member of Congress. The devices will be engraved with the words "Listen to the people" and will be pre-loaded with "example of the cultural richness made possible by sharing and collaboration -- public domain content, Creative Commons content and audio messages about the importance of balanced copyright policy," the organization said on its Web site.

IPAC is taking donations for the project now. It said that it was inspired by an elderly senator from Alaska who said last week that his daughter had bought him an iPod. "Suddenly Senator Stevens had a much greater understanding of the many ways innovative technology can create choice for consumers," IPAC said on its site.

Senator Stevens chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has been considering MPAA and RIAA proposals "that would stifle innovations by giving content holders a virtual veto over new technologies and existing user rights," IPAC explained.

Reporting on IPAC's plans, Ars Technica mused: "Assuming that the campaign actually works and all, or at least most, senators do eventually end up with an iPod from IPac and its readers, will the overall goal work? Who really knows, but maybe the educational value of consumer choice and rights is worth a donation?"

8 comments from the community.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:40 pm

is it IPAC or iPac?

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:44 pm

Fat rich white men can buy their own damn iPod.

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Small White Car said:

member since 02 Jul 2004 with 1937 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:59 pm

Quote
Guest wrote:
Fat rich white men can buy their own damn iPod.

Yeah, but they won't. Then they'll keep passing restrictive DRM laws until finally, one day, Napster-rental will be the only legal way to listen to music. That will be fun.

People complain about this stuff all the time...nice to see someone actually trying to DO something about it.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:49 pm

Quote
Guest wrote:
Fat rich white men can buy their own damn iPod.

It's not about getting a free iPod for members of Congress. This is the best way to illustrate that the laws they have/may passed/pass are/is senseless. What better way to show the impact?

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dux5 said:

member since 02 Jul 2002 with 105 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:07 pm

I hope they subscribe to a number of podcasts (Science Friday, Science @ NASA, etc., as well as a sample of some strong indy Podcasts) so that they get a sense of the richness of information sharing that can be utilized.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:56 pm

Quote
dux5 wrote:
I hope they subscribe to a number of podcasts (Science Friday, Science @ NASA, etc., as well as a sample of some strong indy Podcasts) so that they get a sense of the richness of information sharing that can be utilized.

They should also subscribe to the Al Franken show. On second thought that is not a good suggestion, it would cause a congressional kernel panic.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:35 am

Quote
guest wrote:
They should also subscribe to the Al Franken show. On second thought that is not a good suggestion, it would cause a congressional kernel panic.

According to my subscription their hasn't been an update to Al's show since 10/7/05.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:44 am

Quote
Guest wrote:
Quote
guest wrote:
They should also subscribe to the Al Franken show. On second thought that is not a good suggestion, it would cause a congressional kernel panic.

According to my subscription their hasn't been an update to Al's show since 10/7/05.

The latest one I see at the iTMS is dated 1 Feb 06

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