Austin

Last night, the EFF-Austin gang did a little dog-n-pony show for The Robot Group. We presented some highlights (and lowlights) of our work with the Texas legislature this session. Our greatest highlight, by far, was killing SB1116, the so-called Super DMCA.

These laws make tinkering with and modifying equipment a crime. Your Internet provider, for instance, could tell you what kind of equipment you can connect to the line and what you can do with it, under penalty of law.

The Robot Group makes twisted animatronic devices from salvage equipment. These folks modify gear in ways their creators could never have envisioned--and in many cases would be aghast to discover.

Any effort to outlaw this sort of work is just wrongheaded. Yet, that's exactly what the movie and music moguls are trying to do. It's not that they are afraid of robots. They're afraid that people who modify equipment are going to steal from them. So they are trying to outlaw not the stealing, but the modification that may, in some cases, lead to theft.

We need folks like the Robot Group to help demonstrate that modification doesn't always lead to theft. Sometimes it just leads to really cool stuff.

The Bad Texas Spam Bill passed out of committee last night. It's now on its way to the Senate floor, where it's certain to be approved. It is, however, a little less bad than it was two weeks ago.

Most importantly, the 90-day license-to-spam loophole has been closed. That would have been a disaster, giving spammers free reign to our mailboxes. We got the time period for processing opt-out requests reduced to three days. That means there could be some miserable weekends ahead for many of us, but total meltdown may have been averted.

Unfortunately, the problems with laughable penalties and barriers to private action remain. Spammers will be emboldened, knowing that a person bringing action will pay more to file in small claims court than they'll collect in damages.

I was driving home down South First, despairing that there are few choices for sandwiches other than sub chains. Maynard's Deli and Phoenicia Bakery are good choices, but not always convenient. And it's not like South Austin couldn't stand more than two good sandwich shops.

The Senate Committee on Business and Commerce recessed this morning without calling up HB 1282, the Bad Texas Spam Bill. The next meeting hasn't been scheduled yet. I'm concerned they will waive the five-day posting rule from the Senate floor and we may not catch it in time. It's all part of the lobbying game.

Today's meeting was quick and non-contentious. The mood was giddy.

Chairman: Are their any objections? ...

Senator presenting bill (only other senator in the room): I'd like to note empty chairs usually don't object.

Chairman: Yeah, but they have been known to vote.

The committee never made quorum. At one point, the chair wondered whether all the missing senators might be hiding out in Oklahoma.

IJTLCSH proudly presents its first review of fine dining establishments around our town. Today we visit the Texas State Capitol Cafeteria.

The Capitol Cafeteria offers a unique dining experience. Where else can you enjoy a meal, listening to some loudmouthed yahoo in a cowboy hat and string tie shouting into a cell phone about some lobbying interest.

Also in its favor, although the cuisine does not rise to the level of Luby's, it doesn't suck anywhere close to what your college cafeteria was like. Plus, the food is damn cheap. A full entree and sides, plus a large iced tea is $6.50. Deli sandwiches made to order are just a couple of bucks.

Today, I dined on the ravioli, one of the featured entrees. It was delicately prepared, preserving a careful balance between the taste of pasta stuff and that of meat-n-sauce stuff. My only complaint would be that the green beans on the side were not prepared in the authentic Texas tradition (boiled down to mush).

The food is totally edible and one of the best bargains in the city. We recommend the Capitol Cafeteria.

They've been slashdotting the hell out of us this week. Two of the three major EFF-Austin legislative initiatives recently have appeared on the Slashdot front page.

Last Monday, they posted an article on SB 1116, the Texas Super-DMCA. Then on Saturday, they wrote about SB 1579, the Texas Open Source Bill.

I'm hoping they go for the trifecta and post an article about our efforts on the Texas Spam Bill. Of course, that will happen only if somebody (hint hint) will submit the story to them.

Over the past few days, more people have discovered the bad Texas spam bill that's been sailing through the legislature. We've made our opening bid, and now we are waiting for a response from the bill's sponsor. My argument has been that this bill has a number of flaws that end up making it spammer-friendly. We'll know Monday, maybe Tuesday, whether they are willing to address those problems.

The bad Texas spam bill I recently discussed was on a bullet train for passage. Tonight, that train got derailed.

A new anti-spam bill is sailing through the Texas legislature. There's just one problem: it's a really bad bill. Is it better than nothing? I fear not. I think it can be fixed, but I'm not sure the legislature is willing to do so. In its current state I think we're better without.

I've taken a stab at learning classical guitar. I bought a crappy guitar on Ebay and started working through a book of Fernando Sor pieces. I've found two significant barriers along my way to becoming an accomplished musician. One is my total lack of talent. The other is I've never seen a classical guitar performance. For all I know, I could be holding the damn thing upside down.