AFF pledges matching funds to FSC for 2257 battle

[Toby]

Originally Posted by Bill

Now, if only the brick-and-mortar lamers at the FSC would start an online pledge drive to take advantage of AFF's offer...

And maybe release more info on whatever the fuck they are going to do about Adam Walsh. I keep checking their newsletters - nothing new lately.

FREE SPEECH COALITION! Wake Up! Talk to us about 2257 and the Adam Walsh provisions in the Patroit Act renewal! And ask for some fucking money to match AFF's offer.

I hope they do take full advantage of the offer. Time will tell...

I attended the FSC meeting on the closing Sunday morning at Cybernet Expo.

Greg Piccionell spoke at some length re: Adam Walsh provisions (4472) and the effect on 2257 litigation. Boiled down, the FSC is in a holding pattern until the DOJ releases revised record keeping regulations reflecting the changes made to 2257 by 4472.

Those regulations were supposed to be available in January, then last month the DOJ said June, but at this point still no new regs.

Once the new reg's are released there's a number of procedural steps, comment periods etc., but the bottom line is that FSC can't file new motions with the court until they see the regs. At exactly what point in that comment and revision process the FSC decides to file new motions with the court will likely depend on just how badly fucked up the new regs are. Regardless of when motions are filed, estimates are that the very earliest that these new regs could become "effective" would be early next year, assuming the gov't moves faster than usual, and that the FSC hasn't at that point already obtained an injuction blocking them from going into effect.

Essentially 4472 has made 2257 so screwed up regarding what were formerly called secondary producers, that the DOJ is likely having great difficulty putting together reg's that have any chance of withstanding a legal challenge.

Diane Duke had some interesting things to say. She seems to have a better understanding of the importance of the online segment of this biz than did her predicessor. She mentioned some things the FSC is working on, among them improving the usability of the web site and making sure that FSC members hear about relevant news from FSC first. One other thing that caught my ear was a mention of trying to put together a plan for affordable group health insurance. Something that many of us could take advantage of.