Put your $$ where your mouth is

[assorted]

In addition to sending money to gazdet who, of course, needed it desperately, here are some other people who are actually doing something in the battle against the RIAA that could use our money as supporters of their fight:

Senator Norm Coleman - article on Coleman - Contact Page - Campaign Site - It's clear Norm Coleman is fighting on our side. The way to reward politicians on our side is to give them lots of money! hehe. Seriously, it would probably make a good impression if we told him we noticed what he's doing and that we supported it, ESPECIALLY if you are from his home state of Minnesota. I'm not sure if you can contribute dough to someone not yet campaigning for re-election but if you can and you're not made violently ill by the idea of contributing money to a Republican (like I am) then Norm Coleman certainly could use your money. Just think about how much dough the RIAA throws at these people? People really need to organize to throw some back at them to fight for our side, I think.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation - official site - These guys and gals are REALLY fighting for us. In fact, they're kind of all we got. If you haven't donated money to them this year, then... what are you waiting for, exactly? Make sure you figure out a way to mention when you donate that it is their stance against the RIAA that motivated you so that they know what issues are most important to their financial contributors.

Verizon - official site - Yes. Verizon. Maybe their legal suits are simply to cover their own ass, but who cares? Sending notification to all their customers before handing out their identities was a class move and they should be rewarded. How? Well, I'll be the first to admit that there DSL service sucks ass. No matter how much I may like Verizon, I won't use a substandard, overpriced service just because they support me. However, I WILL switch to their long distance service and drop customer service a note telling them why. You could do. Head over to the Verizon web site and see if there's anything there you could use them for. If there is, switch over and let them know why you did.

Plus, don't stop there. Tell your friends they should do this too. Tell your brother, your friends to support Verizon, the EFF, Norm Coleman, if they use p2p. Next time your forced into a file trading conversation (I'm forced into one every other day) the second someone complains say "send money here. support verizon. support this Senator guy." That's what I've started doing.

I think heavily supporting people who support us does much, much more good then writing critical letters to politicians or companies that have already sold us out.

Those 3 are by no means comprehensive. Is there anyone else deserving of my $$ or support?