By David Gewirtz
When you think about technological innovations, you might think about computers, cellular phones, or even rockets. Yet none of these innovations have changed the world like the simple concept we've grown to know as voting. No matter who you support or what your cause, that single, simple action of voting connects you to free people throughout the world, back through history, and forward into an unknown, but hopeful future.
Here in the United States, we have a major election coming up in November. No matter who you ask, Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, U.S. citizen, ally, and even opposition, all will agree that the U.S. vote this November will have a worldwide impact, lives will be changed, and freedoms will be gained or lost.
"Get a free ZATZ Solutions Guide if you register to vote."
If you are a U.S. citizen and you are not registered to vote, you must do so by October 2nd for most states. Here at ZATZ, we believe so strongly in this most advanced of technological innovations, that we're actually offering you a gift if you register. Any ZATZ reader who registers to vote between now and October 2nd will be entitled to download any one of our ZATZ Solutions Guides (valued between $3.95 and $49.95 depending on the guide) for free. If you're already registered to vote, you, too can get a free guide simply by finding someone who's not registered, and getting them registered instead.
What does voting have to do with technology?
Make no mistake, this election is not just about choosing the next American president. It's also about our future and freedom for the next century. While there's a war on terrorism, there's also a much quieter war being conducted against the technology of our future, against our children, against our artists, against our engineers, and against our innovators. I'm speaking, of course, about the DMCA, the Patriot Act, CAN-SPAM, the Piracy Act, and the Induce Act -- at the very least. What follows are a few tangible examples.
Students in college (as well as many other Americans) are being sued by the RIAA, forcing them to drop out of college. The RIAA is, in part, funded by Sony and Bertelsmann, Japanese and German companies who are actively engaged in an action that has had, as its eventual result, the chilling effect of keeping hundreds of American kids out of college because they were forced to pay their college money to the RIAA. What's truly disturbing is that these firms also make MP3 players; they're selling these kids the tools and then suing those same kids when they use them.
All of our technological evolution and, arguably, all that industrially made America a superpower was based on the ability of engineers and scientists to build upon what came before. Reverse engineering is a practice taught in engineering schools as a legitimate way to build upon other work. The DMCA makes reverse engineering illegal -- ostensibly to protect film and music producers -- but in the process also turns many of our critical innovators, our engineers and scientists, into criminals.
The CAN-SPAM Act attempts to stem the tide of junk and sexually explicit email into all our in-boxes. I'm intimately familiar with the problem; I get more than 4,000 messages a day. Fortunately, I have software that cleans most of that out. However, the CAN-SPAM act isn't working. It prevents small American companies from reaching consumers through a cost-effective marketing channel while allowing huge corporations and, far worse, dishonest merchants from around the world completely unfettered access to our in-boxes. Americans owning small businesses are being denied the legal right to communicate with other Americans digitally, but unscrupulous spammers from everywhere else can scam soccer moms, kids, and our parents with unabated glee.
I could write a book on the Patriot Act, but I'm sure you know that this law has the potential to shred our fundamental assumption of privacy. This Act is like using a nuclear bomb when a sniper rifle will do. There are clear and present dangers where privacy must take a back seat to national security. But, most likely because the technological issues are messy, the good intentions embodied in this Act have the potential to annul our Bill of Rights.
Then there's the Induce Act, where, for fair and reasonable reasons, the American Congress is trying to protect copyright holders. But their approach, to make it illegal for any company to produce products that might "induce" consumers to copyright violation will likely have the chilling effect of making blank CDs, DVDs, and even products like VCRs, TiVos, and hard drives illegal to make or purchase.
When the founding fathers formed this nation, the technologies of the time informed their structuring of our rights and responsibilities. In the 21st century, the digital world infinitely increases our capabilities, our life spans, our quality of life, and our economic power -- but it also opens new doors to new dangers and challenges from a global, instantly connected community.
If you want to learn more about these issues and how your vote can make a difference, it's all being discussed at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (at http://www.eff.org) and at Chilling Effects (http://www.chillingeffects.org). If you use technology and you care at all about your rights, you should become familiar with these two resources.
Here's how to register to vote and get your gift
You can register using either MTV's Rock The Vote Web site or Headcount.org's Web site. As far as we know, neither site has a party affiliation, although it's clear MTV has a strong partying affiliation. But that's another issue.
If you're not in the U.S., obviously you can't vote here. But most likely, your country also has elections and voting procedures. While we can't know when your next vote is up, go ahead and find out. Register to vote in your country, if you're not already registered. If you are registered, again, help someone who isn't registered to exercise their most powerful right. Later in this article, I'll show you a resource called Election World that provides a lot of information about elections worldwide.
To get your free ZATZ Solutions Guide, you'll need to find a special "coupon code" that's embedded on the voting Web sites. Once you register and get this special code, all you need to do is go to http://store.ZATZ.com, choose your one product, enter the code at the final stage, and a download key will be emailed to you. Make sure you open up your filters and check your email for that download key. It'll be coming to you from the email address sales@zatz.com.
In the next two parts of this article, we'll take you through how to find your special code on either Headcount.org or the Rock The Vote site. As far as we know, there's no particular reason to choose one over the other; we just found two respected registration sites to give you a choice. If you're an international (non-U.S. reader), we have a special procedure for you as well. See below.
By the way, you might want to print out this article to make it easy to follow the following instructions.
Registering to vote at Headcount.org
To register at Headcount.org, point your browser to http://www.headcount.org.
At the top of the page, you'll see a button that says "Register to Vote". Click it. Fill in the form on Step 1 by choosing a state and stating you're over 18. Then click Submit to move to Step 2.
On the Step 2 page, fill in the form with the required fields. Since Headcount.org is primarily music affiliated, you'll see a field that asks "What band turned you on to HeadCount?" If you wish, enter in the name of this magazine. That's optional. Now click Submit to go to Step 3.
On the Step 3 page, you'll find the "coupon code" that's embedded on the page. This is the page where you get the actual registration forms and instructions for your state. Since each state is different, we can't take you through all those steps. But if you've gotten to Step 3, we're hoping you'll stay and actually register to vote.
Figure A shows a screen shot of the Step 3 page. Your coupon code is the 9th word of the second paragraph and the figure shows you exactly what you're looking for.
FIGURE A
Mark down (or copy) the word exactly as shown. In a few minutes, you'll enter it as your ZATZ Online Store coupon code. (click for larger image)
Now, before you go to the ZATZ Store, finish the registration process and get registered.
Registering to vote at MTV's Rock The Vote
To register at MTV's Rock The Vote, point your browser to http://www.rockthevote.com.
At the top of the page, you'll see a banner that says "Register to Vote Here". Click it. Now, depending on whether you've got a pop-up blocker or not, you'll either get a pop-up window that takes you through the vote process, or you won't. If you get the pop-up Window, close it. We're going to use the version that's not a pop-up.
In the middle of the page, you'll see a large graphic that says "Thanks for registering to vote." Obviously, you haven't yet, but there's a link in the graphic that says "Click here for a NON-POP-UP version". Click that link.
You'll be taken to a wonderfully busy page. Look for where it says "START>> WHAT'S YOUR STATE" and choose your state. In most cases, you'll be shown a form that says "ARE YOU ELIGIBLE?" It's here where you'll find the "coupon code" that's embedded on the page.
Figure B shows a screen shot of the Step 3 page. Your coupon code is the 16th word of the first full paragraph and the figure shows you exactly what you're looking for.
FIGURE B
Mark down (or copy) the word exactly as shown. In a few minutes, you'll enter it as your ZATZ Online Store coupon code. (click for larger image)
If you didn't get the screen shown in Figure B, you're most likely to get a screen like that shown in Figure C, although your state may differ. In this case, you're going to want to find the second word of the headline as shown in the figure.
FIGURE C
Mark down (or copy) the word exactly as shown. In a few minutes, you'll enter it as your ZATZ Online Store coupon code. (click for larger image)
Now, before you go to the ZATZ Store, finish the registration process and get registered. After all, the whole purpose is to get you voting.
Instructions for non-U.S. readers
Obviously, this special article is mostly about the U.S. elections. But elections worldwide are important as well. Rather than trying to figure out elections all across the world, we've found a great resource. To get your coupon code, point your browser to http://www.electionworld.org.
Now, click the Resources link on the left. You'll get a screen like that in Figure D. In this case, your coupon code is the second word of the sentence under the headline.
FIGURE D
Mark down (or copy) the word exactly as shown. In a few minutes, you'll enter it as your ZATZ Online Store coupon code. (click for larger image)
Here's our thinking on providing you access with this site. Most of you, by virtue of the fact that you're reading our magazines, are likely to be in quite progressive countries. But if you need election resources, scheduling information, or links to help you get empowered in your country, it seems just as patriotic for us to point you to a helpful resource as it does to get Americans out from behind their computer screens and into voting booths.
If something changes and special terms and conditions
Stay tuned to the ZATZ Magazine news pages for updates on this program. If a page or sequence suddenly changes or breaks, we'll post news there. That will be the only way you'll be told of any changes. Also, if this free giveaway is not allowed in your state or municipality, please refrain from participating -- but definitely, most definitely, vote.
Getting your free Solutions Guide
So, by now, you've either registered to vote or helped someone else to register to vote. Obviously, we're sacrificing some of our small company's income this month to help motivate you to register. Do us a favor and be cool. Help us motivate people to vote, but try to remember that you're really on the honor system here. Please limit yourself to one guide and only if you've really helped yourself or someone else. We do reserve the right to terminate the free giveaway if it turns out people are abusing the spirit of generosity and patriotism that created it -- but with our wonderful, honorable readers, we doubt that'll be a problem.
To get your guide, point your browser to http://store.ZATZ.com. Navigate around, picking any Solutions Guide you want. Then, when you're ready, click the View Cart link at the upper, right of the screen, and enter the coupon code in the area shown in Figure E.
FIGURE E
Enter your coupon code here. (click for larger image)
Then, proceed on to checkout and you should get your product for free. Enjoy, and please, even after you've gotten your Solutions Guide and registered to vote, go out into your town, your community, your neighborhood and help other people to register, and then, to vote.
Let's give this amazing technology all the power we can.
By the way, if registered to vote or helped someone register, or you've got a great story to tell about being able to vote, or about how you helped get out the vote, please feel free to tell us. Just send a note to editor@ZATZ.com with the subject heading "VOTING".