Who Will Obama Choose As Copyright Czar?

seanpark writes "Who will President Elect Obama select for the recently established post of Copyright Czar? Biden has a longstanding relationship with Big Content, and he was partly responsible for the PRO-IP Act that created the position. The short list according to the article includes a few lobbyists (who would likely be disqualified by stringent ethical guidelines) and Lawrence Lessig, who was a technology adviser to the Obama Campaign."

Comments

Not the good professor

[symbolset]

He's a wise choice, a rational voice is a sea of stupidity. Picking him would represent a striking change, a sudden outbreak of common sense.

Therefore it ain't gonna happen.

Re:Not the good professor

[yetijoe]

I feel you have a point. But I feel the first question we need to ask is will this position have any real power. Because if there is no real power then who care who is picked.

I see it going down one of two ways. 1. Obama is able to use the capital that he has gained an push this through rather quickly and having congress act as a rubber stamp.

2. There are bigger priorities than this in the Obama administration (economy, war). As a result this is placed on the back burner. Corporate interests therefore have more time to react and press members of congress to vote against making a copyright czar have any real power. As a result this initiative dies or must be used as a bargaining chip once things get harder to push through congress.

I think we should not be asking who he will chose yet, but rather how large of a priority is he going to make this.

Re:Not the good professor

[master5o1]

Come on, be reasonable: Budget of $30, curfew of 10pm.

Re:Not the good professor

[HTH NE1]

IIRC, you have it in reverse: the entertainment industry wants a strong copyright czar.

Strong when in their interests, not against them.

"You should never hand someone a gun unless you're sure where they'll point it. Your mistake." -- Cmdr. Jeffrey Sinclair; Babylon 5: "By Any Means Necessary"

Re:Not the good professor

[Malekin]

He's a wise choice, a rational voice is a sea of stupidity.

Lessig is a very moderate voice. While he generally opposes copyright term extension, he supports DRM. He feels that people who say copyright law is utterly broken are extremist. He seems to think that the current scope of fair use provisions is adequate and just needs to be better respected. He feels that "something like the DMCA that protects adequate space for fair use and doesn't attempt to regulate technology directly is needed." (http://lwn.net/2001/features/LawrenceLessig.php3)

I have a lot of respect for the man but you can't meet the extremism of Big Media with moderates willing to compromise. The DMCA should be dumped and language written into the law the specifically protects reverse engineering. Fair use provisions should be expanded to reflect that way we use media in our lives and to provide better protection for educational use.

We don't need a moderate - we need somebody who will make dramatic changes to re-align the law with common sense.

Re:Not the good professor

[spazdor]

"Mr. Valenti, what would you say is the most valuable class of intellectual property under your purview?"
"BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS"

Re:Not the good professor

[squiggleslash]

How is appointing a lunatic with an opposite bent to Hollywood's going to result in the law being re-aligned with common sense?

What you're proposing will result in no reform whatsoever. It'll result in gridlock, with the current law, warts and all, continuing to rule the land unchanged and unchangeable.

What's needed is a moderate voice. Just because Lessig isn't a lunatic doesn't mean he's going to somehow compromise with lunatics on the other side. It means he'll be a respected voice that can shout down the extremists on the Hollywood end and propose reforms that will be taken seriously.

Re:Not the good professor

[Malekin]

When somebody is taking away important rights like the right to tinker or freely archive important pieces of information, the correct response is not "How about we compromise and you only take half my rights away?"

Re:Not the good professor

[adavies42]

[Y]ou can't meet the extremism of Big Media with moderates willing to compromise. [...] We don't need a moderate - we need somebody who will make dramatic changes [...] .

Sounds like another vote for RMS to me.

He had the good sense...

[alexborges]

Of having lessig on his team. Lets hope he still has that now that he is heading to The House.

Lessig would be fine

[Ralph Spoilsport]

We need a countervailing force against the minions of IP evil like the MAFIAA and the rest of them.

However, I don't know where he would actually do more good - inside the administration which is already compromised with appointments like Rahm Emanuel - or outside fighting the good fight. As a consequence, I'm not certain he would take such a position if asked.

It's quite possible, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

RS

Re:Lessig would be fine

[iluvcapra]

Parent is not a troll. I don't agree that the administration is "compromised" by any of the appointments so far, but it's clear there are things you can do inside and things you can do outside, and there's no guarantee LL's skillset will work on the former.

On the other hand, there's all kinds of jobs the preznit can ask you to do, some policy-administrative-do stuff, like Secretary of Commerce, and some strictly advisory, like the the job Paul Volker got yesterday. In theory, you put "safe" people no one can complain about in the "do stuff" jobs, but you put the hair-burning crazies on the advisory boards to give you perspective. Lessig would be able contribute greatly leading an outside policy board.

It does not matter to me

[bogaboga]

Well, I do not care who he chooses as long as the chosen fella does not propagate policies that get in my way. I frequently download all kinds of stuff in all categories. Emule and Bittorent are my friends.

I just wish I could be a "steam roller" like that [infamous] former New York state top official, even if it can be for a while.

Our new Copyright Czar

[Archiviste]

... I heard that Darl McBride is looking for a new job...

Here's an idea: NO ONE

[LynnwoodRooster]

Seriously, the LAST thing needed is another "somethingorother czar" to supposedly solve problems. What powers will this czar have, other than being the President's lobbyist to Congress to push their own agenda?

Re:Here's an idea: NO ONE

[iluvcapra]

What powers will this czar have, other than being the President's lobbyist to Congress to push their own agenda?

Isn't that enough? On the other hand, czars are important for bureaucratic rationalization: drug policy requires a lot of cooperation between federal law enforcement, state/local law enforcement, the medical system, foreign interdiction efforts etc. (assuming you accept drug control policy is rational, which it isn't. I think the idea of the drug tsar gives tsars a bad name. Aside from the original tsars, that is.)

The main problem with interdepartmental plenipotentiaries, or "Tsars" if you will, is they don't really have any authority: they're supposed to be the expert in the field and know more about how to do the job than anyone, but they're beholden to the existing baize cloth routine and can't make people do anything without the president's personal intervention. Even if Larry Lessig was a "Copyright Tsar," all he could do is talk shop with Obama about what should happen and then testify to congress a lot. He might have a voice in the appointment of FCC commissioners, and in copyright office policies, but he can always be overruled by a law.

I think it's between these 3 guys

[syousef]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_the_Great

http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b2ivanIV.htm

I vote for Peter the Great. His painting looks friendly and we all know how important image is in a copyright Czar.

NYCL

[ubercam]

I, despite not being American (but I do live nearby), nominate Ray Beckerman (NewYorkCountryLawyer). He seems to have lots of relevant experience in this field.

Any seconds?

Chewing a Lemon

[monkeythug]

I would absolute *love* it if Lessig gets the post.

I can see the faces on the RIAA/MPAA moguls now after they went to all that effort to convince congress to create that post, only to have it backfire on them so badly :-)

Oh, I would laugh so hard ...

RMS

[perlhacker14]

Wouldn't it be apallingly hilarious if RMS was consulted or even appointed? Come on, RMS for Copyright Czar- defender of our freedoms. Seriously though, he does have some good ideas on reform, as seen at (stallman.org).

Re:RMS

[jonbryce]

I'm not so sure about RMS. Yes, I agree with most of what he says, but not how he says it, and he comes across as a nutter to the non-techie public, and most of the techie community as well.

Besides we'll have him refusing to read emails that are sent from an insufficiently free *GNU*/Linux distribution.