Of all the thousands of messages I've seen here (and I have not seen them all -- could anyone?) I've yet to read even one that talks about being proactive on the issues of consumer's rights.

I have to assume the majority of people that frequent this forum believe in the fair use right to back up DVDs and CDs they own. Yet this right is being hammered by the big studios and other suits who care so little for you and I they are willing to jail all of us in order to protect their "property."

In this fight there is really only one voice that stands up for us, that of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Just yesterday they did this (which is why this is in the latest news):

"San Francisco - The U.S. Copyright Office on July 22 posted comments from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) requesting protection for certain consumer uses of DVDs." Here's a link to the rest of the story:

http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20030722_1201_pr.php

Every single person here who believes in these rights ought to at the very least visit EFF's site ( http://www.eff.org ) and get links to where you can write your representatives and then DO SO! At the most you should also join EFF -- it's less than the cost of a single DVD and is our best protection against the further erosion of our liberties.

These guys are fighting for you -- from PHP file sharing to backing up our property these are the *only* guys fighting for you. Don't fail to support them in some manner or you will have only yourself to blame if we lose the war.