MPAA Names Dan Glickman To Replace Jack Valenti
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."
This new guy might be taking the job of Jack Valenti but I ask you who could possibly ever hope to "take the place" of good ol' Jack?
"What is fair use? Fair use is not a law. There's nothing in law."
GMD
watch this
I work at USDA, and was here during Glickman's time. He's a pretty regular guy.
If he saw you in the hall, he'd say hi. He mostly ate in the regular employee cafeterias, instead of the Secretary's Dining Room (which has pretty the same food, but also wood paneling and table service).
His official portrait on the Patio (just past the Visitor's Center, if you come in the Whitten Building) shows him standing behind his chair, jacket on the back of the chair, with a kind of sarcastic look on his face. All the others have the usual standing-there-button-up-jacket sort.
When 50 black farmers demonstrated in front of Clinton's White House for better treatment from USDA, Bill called Dan, and Dan put together the Civil Rights Action Team (CRAT). This team made 92 recommendations to ameliorate the problem, and they were put into place by the Civil Rights Implementation Team (CRIT).
Glickman gave his full backing to this effort, which, frankly, was resisted in some of the USDA agencies cited in the CRAT Report
He always struck me as a pretty fair, stand-up kind of guy, so it wouldn't surprise me if well-reasoned, non-hostile Linux advocacy were presented to him, a major victory could be won.
I didn't think the house band in Hell would play this badly.