Disney Asking Employees To Help Fund Copyright Lobbying (arstechnica.com)

NormalVisual writes: Disney is now asking its employees to chip in to promote the company's copyright agenda via the company's political action committee, DisneyPAC. CEO Bob Iger has sent a letter to the company's employees lauding the company's success with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement and the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the video service Aereo -- an Internet service claiming the right to retransmit [Disney's] broadcast signals without paying copyright or retransmission consent fees. Iger also expresses the company's hope that DisneyPAC will be able to influence Congress in regards to lowering corporate tax rates. Not surprisingly, the company refuses to comment on the initiative.

Comments

disgusting

[vel-ex-tech]

The idea that legislation needs "funding" is odious in unto itself.

Re:Isn't that illegal?

[srmalloy]

From TFA:

US corporations are allowed to solicit political contributions as long as donations aren't coerced. The relevant law bars any "threat of a detrimental job action, the threat of any other financial reprisal, or the threat of force" when asking for donations.

Also from TFA, the letter explicitly states "Your contribution is important to all of us, but I want to emphasize that all contributions are voluntary and have no impact on your job status, performance review, compensation, or employment." and "Any amount given or the decision not to give will not advantage or disadvantage you." How much of that is going to be reflected in practice -- Disney using other 'justifications' for giving a worker crappier shifts, keep them from receiving performance awards, etc. -- to create a de facto but not de jure requirement to contribute has yet to be seen

Subvert the Constitution

[frovingslosh]

Lets just be clear, Disney's stated goal towards Copyright Law is to Subvert the U.S. Constitution and see that the clause where works eventually pass into Public Domain (a benefit the public is to receive in return for giving Copyright Protection to Authors) never actually applies.

Not a surprising request but unreasonable

[mykepredko]

While a corporation should and needs to protect it's assets and petition sitting governments on various, I think it's a) inappropriate to monetarily support candidates and b) coerce employees to support and contribute to the cause. In the '80s, when I was working for IBM, they sent a letter to all (Canadian, at least) employees telling them to support NAFTA which I (and many of my coworkers) thought was inappropriate but the company felt that it was in its best interests to do this.

The situation is even more despicable when it comes to Disney, who clearly don't seem to care about their employees and really not good corporate citizens. There maybe honour & prestige working for Disney but if there is an option to reduce their costs, they will clearly take it, current employees be damned.

IP solution

[wheeda]

Here is my ideal IP solution. All IP (patents and copyright) must state a value. Any value at all. The owner of the IP then pays intellectual property tax a some rate. If someone else really wants that IP, they can pay the owner the stated amount and the IP becomes public domain.

This solves all kinds of issues including orphaned works, patent trolls, and the likes of Disney tying up copyrighted works that should have entered the public domain decades ago. Well, maybe Disney could still tie up copyrighted works, but at least it would cost them to the benefit of tax payers.

Legal in US and sycophants like it.

[jbn-o]

Sadly, as right thinking as your reaction is most /. readers don't agree with your take with regard to Disney's actions here and don't have the guts to admit they don't agree. Their unprincipled obeisance to Disney's power is unlike some posters to the Ars Technica (Condé Nast) forum on this story who object publicly such as user "SmokeTest":

Yeah, because Disney totally can't afford lobbying unless they go to their workers with their hands out, and the state of copyright in the country is incredibly hostile to Disney. Of course they need to go to their lowest paid employees and ask them to fund their effort to further corrupt the laws to line the pockets of the executives with more cash than ever.

This is fucking disgusting. I'm done supporting Disney in any way, forever. Going to be hard not watching the new Star Wars movies in theaters, but man, this shit has got to end.

Power-for-power's-sake supporting /.ers will pay to see the next Star Wars movie, visit Disney theme parks, buy Disney-licensed merchandise of all kinds and thus feed the system that oppresses the world via copyright and TPP. This fight goes far beyond the term of copyright both in who is affected and specific powers multinational corporations seek to gain.