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MPAA Names Dan Glickman To Replace Jack Valenti

Posted by timothy on from the mouthpiece-is-a-euphemism dept.

Zordak writes "Fox News is reporting that the MPAA has chosen a new chief to replace Jack Valenti. Dan Glickman is an avid Linux user, a well-known consumer advocate, vehemently critical of the DMCA and a member of the EFF. Ha ha. Just kidding, Dave Barry style. Dan Glickman is actually a seasoned Washington politician, having served as a Kansas representative and agriculture secretary under President Clinton. He has previously been a lobbyist for the Walt Disney Corporation, and his son is the producer of such quality fare as 'Shanghai Knights' and 'Rush Hour.' Don't be looking for that 'approved' Linux DVD player soon."

3 of 307 comments (clear)

  1. Biography by jm92956n · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's a very informative biography on him here.

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  2. A summary of his Ag tenure... by Einer2 · · Score: 4, Informative
    ...can be found at the USDA website. It's a little dated, but it has an interesting excerpt:

    Under Glickman's leadership, USDA has restructured and modernized its enormous, decentralized field office structure, helping cut administrative and overhead costs by about $4 billion. He also has taken a strong, personal interest in civil rights. The Department has recently reviewed its civil rights practices for the first time and has dramatically improved its commitment to fairness and equality, in both treatment of its employees and execution of its programs. At Glickman's direction, the Department settled one of the largest civil rights class action suits filed against the U.S. Government.

    Unfortunately, I didn't get interested in local politics until nearly the end of his term in office, so I can't say too much about his political leanings...

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  3. About Glickman by LongShip · · Score: 5, Informative
    During the 1980's and 1990's I lived in Wichita, KS and was very active in Democratic politics. In conjunction with those activities I got to know quite a bit about Dan Glickman and his family. In short, he is a compassionate person who is as far from being an ideologue as one could want. I cannot think of anybody as MPAA director who would be better for the free software movement.

    I suggest that those developers involved in software projects which are impacted by MPAA policies get in contact with Dan and present their cases in a reasoned and non-confrontational way. We may be able to partially turn around MPAA silliness.