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Biden Promises 'Right Person' As Copyright Czar
Hugh Pickens writes "Vice President Joe Biden lauded Hollywood at a gala dinner in Washington, assailed movie piracy, and promised film executives that the Obama administration would pick 'the right person' as its copyright czar. Biden warned of the harms of piracy at the private event organized by the Motion Picture Association of America in the sumptuous, newly renovated Great Hall of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. 'It's pure theft, stolen from the artists and quite frankly from the American people as consequence of loss of jobs and as a consequence of loss of income,' Biden said, according to a White House pool report. Biden addressed President Obama's forthcoming decision about who will be named the intellectual-property enforcement coordinator, better known as the copyright czar. Under a law approved by the US Congress last October, Obama is required to appoint someone to coordinate the administration's IP enforcement efforts and prepare annual reports. Copyright industry lobbyists sent a letter to the president asking him to pick someone sympathetic to their concerns, while groups that would curb copyright law sent their own letter (PDF) urging the opposite approach. We 'will find the right person for intellectual property czar,' Biden said."
Feeling suckered yet? Obama knows where to get his bread buttered, and Hollyweird is only happy enough to do it for him.
Your point? Commerce Clause is not what allows copyright btw. It's the, believe it or not, COPYRIGHT CLAUSE!!
I will remind you that it was a Democrat that signed the DMCA into law.
There were no "czars" in the Soviet Union, the last one was murdered at the start of the revolution.
In '95 Biden introduced a "Counterterrorism Bill" in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing that was essentially the same thing as the Patriot Act. He even said, when the DOJ introduced the Patriot Act, "I drafted a terrorism bill after the Oklahoma City bombing. And the bill John Ashcroft sent up was my bill".
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
I will remind you that it was a Democrat that signed the DMCA into law.
Yep. Under a Republican House and Senate.
And it was Introduced by:
Howard Coble, N.C.-R
Henry Hyde, Illinois-R
John Conyers, Michigan-D
Barney Frank, Mass.-D
Also sponsored by:
Sonny Bono, Cali-R
Bill McCollum, Fl-R
Howard Berman, Cali-D
Mary Bono, Cali-R
Bill Paxon, NY-R
Chip Pickering, Miss-R
The bill passed:
The House 297-112, Republicans: 205 Yes, 16 No, Democrats 92 Yes, 95 No
The Senate 99-0, Republicans 54 Yes, Democrats 45 Yes
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/105/house/2/votes/69/
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/105/senate/2/votes/137/
So yeah, looks like Hollywood spread the donations around to both parties. At least more than half of the House Democrats voted no.
It's a fair bet when Biden cries for the artists, this isn't the sort of artist he cries for. More examples of artists (real artists, not corporations posing as artists) being ripped off here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
The Investment Theory of Politics says the best predictor of government policy is who the donors are. The RIAA donated both to the Dems and the Republicans. Whoever wins, we lose. They're getting the laws they paid for. Not anyone else you can vote for. Obama's campaign made a big deal about how he was funded by small donors, but 2/3rds of his income was from corporate interests.
Here's another example, the one of congress taking rights away from the public and giving them to corporations. In compensation for this you get NOTHING. YOU GET NOTHING! GOOD DAY TO YOU SIR!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
Biden makes me sick.
There were no "czars" in the Soviet Union, the last one was murdered at the start of the revolution.
There were, however, kommissars and that is what USian "czars" are.
Oh noes! Now that Falco song is playing in my head! And I didn't pay for the right to reproduce that song!
Set your phasers on "funky"!
It's still a lost profit if you steal a rental car for the weekend but never would have paid the rent on it.
*sigh*
Why do people still come up with fundamentally broken comparisons to physical property ? Has the difference not already been explained enough times ?
1. The rental company cannot rent out the car if you've "borrowed" it for the weekend.
2. Wear and tear on the vehicle.
3. Possibility of accident.
None of the above are applicable to copyright infringement.
Insightful my arse.
You should learn a bit more about Lenin before you call him a czar. He was a true believer in communism and really tried to implement it in Russia. For example he abolished the passport because in his opinion it was a tool of a police state. On the one hand he forced the people to overcome illiteracy, on the other side he made lot of liberate policies like decriminalizing homosexuality and declaring the unconditional right of separation for national minorities.
He also was afraid of the Communist Party becoming a large bureaucratic bog and he warned of Stalin becoming too powerful.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap