Our Politicians at Work: Gamer Protests Mod Chip Raids, Gets OT Form Letter Response

This summer, the U.S. government launched Homeland Security raids, not on terrorists, but against U.S. citizens who owned gaming consoles sporting mod chips.

A politically conscious A World of Warcraft gamer by the name of Jason Richey wrote a letter protesting the federal action to his elected representative, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH):

I am a concerned citizen writing you about the negative repercussions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)… Installing a mod chip is similar to installing a V-8 engine in your car, or changing your own oil… 

There are many legal reasons for mod chips… a person should be able to do whatever they wish to things they own, including reprogramming them to do things not intended by the manufacturer.

I urge you… heed the will of the people you are sworn to represent and push for the revocation of the DMCA…

Richey’s outrage was fueled by his friend becoming entangled in the mod chip sweep.

GamePolitics applauds Richey’s actions as an example of grass roots democracy at work. Richey is obviously passionate in his convictions and has documented his case on his personal blog, Richtastic.

Unfortunately Richey’s efforts went unnoticed it seems. He was stunned at the reply he received from Kaptur’s office:

I got a reply today from Marcy Kaptur… The first line read “Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision to raise music royalty rates.”

That’s right, I wrote a detailed letter about the problems with the DMCA… and in return I got a form letter on the topic of internet radio… I just wish our governmental leaders would take the time to read whatever it is that they are responding to…

Rep. Kaptur does deserve credit for supporting Net Neutrality, even if her office staff is clearly incompetent. You can check out the full letter and Rep. Kaptur’s response on Richey’s personal site.

I’m not sure what disturbs me more about this story; that my belief that most politicians could care less about what their constituents think has been reinforced yet again, or that Rep. Marcy Kaptur happens to serve my home state. However I do feel that Richey’s efforts won’t have been in vain he inspires just one person to be proactive in speaking out for their rights.

via GamePolitics