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US Copyright Czar Cozied Up To Content Industry
Nemesisghost writes "According to emails obtained via a Freedom of Information request, the U.S. Copyright Czar played an important role in brokering the deals between ISPs and copyright holders to punish subscribers whose IP addresses participated in copyright infringement. From the article: 'The records show the government clearly had a voice in the closed-door negotiations, though it was not a signatory to the historic accord, which isn’t an actual government policy. ... [T]he communications show that a wide range of officials — from Vice President Joe Biden’s deputy chief of staff Alan Hoffman, the Justice Department’s criminal chief Lanny Breuer to copyright czar Victoria Espinel — were in the loop well ahead of the accord’s unveiling. "These kind of backroom voluntary deals are quite scary, particularly because they are not subject to judicial review. I wanted to find out what role the White House has played in the negotiation, but unfortunately, the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) withheld key documents that would shed further light on it," Soghoian said when asked why he sought the documents.'"
Many government officials go on to become lobbyists. She's just laying the ground work for her next (and much better paying) job.
Politicians serving the industries instead of the public...news at 11
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
And you're surprised by this why...? Because it's BHO instead of GWB? Get real!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
And people wonder why we are currently protesting in the streets over corporate greed and its manipulation of our nation's ideals?
Excuse my language, but this is way messed up. When are we going to enact legislation that disallows this kind of crap while in office, and prevents officials from going from their current position to a lobbying position so quickly? The corruption is becoming so blatant that it makes me want to punch every congress-critter and official I see in the face.
No sarcasm intended, but why is it a big deal when the US government is working with the two entities most closely related to the issue of US laws being violated?
When this guy was appointed, was there any doubt in anyone's mind that his SOLE responsibility would be to act as a shill for the big media industry? It's not like anyone believed for a second that he was EVER going to represent consumer interests or the rights of the general citizenry.
Sadly, that doesn't make him any different than the Congress or President. Hell, even the Supreme Court is ruling that corporations have a *right* to bribe as many public officials as they like. If you want to find someone representing the unwashed-masses-without-lobbyists, you'll have to turn to the EFF. The U.S. government is just a corporate subsidiary now.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Well, we went from 8 years of "I can't believe this shit!" to "Change we could believe in." in much the same way like we believe in the tooth fairy or that hard work leads to wealth.
Time to expand the #occupy movement to Hollywood (actually, the RIAA and MPAA HQs are in Washington DC).
Like, who the hell is Soghoian? That'd be something to establish in your blurb.
"According to emails obtained via a Freedom of Information request....Soghoian said when asked why he sought the documents." Just a shot in the dark, but I'm going to guess he's the one who sought the documents. Could be wrong though...
With all of the corporate money in politics, I am shocked that this is the way things work. And by "shocked" I mean "not surprised at all."
We really, really, really need to get lobbying and corporate money out of our government.
giggity
How's that hope and change working out for you?
Its the political system to be rotten. Whoever you elect won't make a damn difference, not with the current system in place.
Want to change things ?
Make it illegal for corporations to "donate" money to political parties.
Make it illegal for campaign contributions.
Define a mechanism whereby political parties are financed by public money (fixed amount of money, so no more campaigns that cost billions of $).
Make it so that political parties all have equal visibility on public tv.
Strip the whole "personhood" thing from corporations.
If this doesn't work, guess its time to pick up your winchesters and pitchforks and burn down the white house and the capitol again.
It's become quite clear int he last few decades that privilege has much more to do with wealth than hard work. Hard work may secure you a living on the upper end of the middle class. A class that is rapidly getting less and less of the pie due to the actions of the privileged.
Hard work gets you a job with absolutely no security. Hard work gets you raises, which makes you a target for downsize because you make too much.
Privilege gets you a job running a few companies in to the ground, then later on a governorship and a two term presidency.
I long suspected the Obama Administration was the one behind the recent agreement between ISPs and the content industry. I'm sure ISPs would prefer to decide on their own which users it is best to keep and which it is best to drop, so the fact ISPs reached any kind of deal with the content industry was a puzzle with a missing piece. It turns out that missing piece was the US Copyright Czar.
I suspect the same thing about recent efforts to shut down domain names: You have Congress pushing for PROTECT IP, DHS shutting down allegedly infringing domains without a trial, and Verizon out of the blue and for no apparent reason deciding to incorporate policies similar to those of PROTECT IP which would better allow DHS to shut down domains it considers infringing. That is the sort of thing that suggests a coordinated effort rather than mere coincidence.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
Well, for me it is because:
1. The government is way over-invested in protecting copyrights. They have a role to play, but it should be limited to providing the venue for litigation and enforcement of rulings. I don't want to pay copyright-holder's cost-of-doing-business unless I've actually purchased their products - not with my tax dollars.
2. The ISPs previously had no involvement whatever in the copyright issue. That's how it should have stayed. I don't want to pay the copyright holder's cost-of-doing-business by paying my ISP more either.
3. The executive has completely forgotten that it represents ALL of us, not just its favorites. That includes the copyright czar. If she is involved, she should be representing *we the people*. I don't know how she can "broker a deal" between ISPs and major copyright holders (read: not even all of them...) and do a good job for the rest of us, too. I don't think that's possible.
4. This policy affects all of us, but we have no say because it's two multi-corporate interests meeting in secret with the executive branch (see #3 above) to form an agreement which will, in effect, be law.
Why is the executive involved at all? Because just like the copyright holders, it wants to shift the costs of enforcement (which it has taken upon itself, mind you) onto someone else. Hello, ISPs!
Why are people not up in arms about anyone being called a Czar in our government. A Czar is royalty. We should all be screaming about anyone in our government being declared royalty.
I'm not sure what this "groupthink" is you're speaking of, but that's a topic for another day.
I suppose the issue many have is that the "laws" you speak of, in a system putatively set up "of the people, by the people and for the people" do not seem to represent the interests of "the people". The OP describes a scenario in which "the people" aren't involved in the defining of the policies and laws that affect them, thus the resulting policies and laws are rather one-sided and tend to benefit a small group at the expense of "the people". That's what the big deal is about.
Hope and Change turned out to be a whole bunch of sitting around and not getting much done.
Since the previous situation was getting a fuck of a lot done but none of it any good , we can say that "Hope and Change" worked out just fine.
zero is greater than negative numbers, after all.
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
And you are happy settling for that. Right?
I'm not.
"...there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight. Awkwardness and stupidity can." ~ Mark Twain
What bugs me the most about this is the fact that the government is basically throwing its weight around in order to regulate without having to legislate.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
Are you insane? How do you propose to look out for yourself against the whims of corporations if not through the government? If some banker decides to just straight up take all of your retirement savings for himself, what are you gonna do? If your insurance company decides that, after years of collecting premiums, they don't feel like paying out benefits when you're in trouble, what are you gonna do?
The Merciful God of the Market is a lie. Market forces won't stop $MEGACORP from screwing you over. You need to band together with your neighbors to defend yourself. And when you do, that is called "government".
Copyright infringement is not a criminal offense UNLESS it's done on a commercial scale. The government should not be involved in policing this illegal activity except when it is investigating commercial copyright infringement via the FBI. The definition of commercial copyright infringement is infringing for the purposes of personal gain, typically in a monetary fashion.
Therefore, the government should not be involved in individual copyright infringement at any level outside the judiciary, where civil matters are resolved.
also, its long been proven that stricter copyright, patent, and even trademark law leads to less innovation and fewer advances in technology and science.
Its pretty clear that the public interest is that technologies and sciences advance at a fairly rapid rate since they are the core of an expanding economy, along with sound banking, solid technical education, and good trade practices. The US fails on all fronts.
Joe the moron Biden has been a copyright industry shill since his senate days. He as sponsored all kinds of draconian copyright bills with the likes of Berman, Dodd, and Hatch, but Biden is the ring leader. Its disgusting really. Then there is Orin Hatch this moron wanted to install software on our computers to monitor us for copyright infringement and destroy our computers if the software thought we were infringing.
The problem is that no one cares and copyright is not an election issue so we are all screwed.
I think this really tarnishes the dignity of his royal personage. A US Czar should not be personally involved in such shady deals. He should have sent one of his boyars to do it. Or at most a low level copyright Knyaz.
Sadly, the government hasn't done anything to stop any abuses of late.
There are only a few ways to deal with the problem if you are made into a victim:
- You can decide to be a victim and hope someone else fixes things for you.
- You can get a rifle and stop being a victim.
There are no other alternatives available today. The government is not going to tell an insurance company they have to cover you. They may create a rule that says in order for the insurance company to not cover you they must do A, B and C, which they will cheerfully do. Your recourse is, what? Sue the government? Sorry, the company followed all the rules laid down for such companies.
So far we have had way too much of alternative A and way, way too little of alternative B. In the early 1800s if someone was cheated the cheater usually ended up dead. In the early 1900s the cheater and cheated both hired lawyers and the lawyers got rich, while the cheated ended up still cheated. Today, only the cheater can afford a real lawyer but still the lawyer gets rich and the cheated stays cheated.