Help Barack Obama control Big Music
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- As usual, the mainstream media are largely taking at face value the claim by the Big 4 music labels that they’ll no longer be suing the people who provide them with the money with which to pay the lawyers who sue the people who provide them with the money with which to launch multi-million dollar mainstream media disinformation campaigns who provide them with the money with which to pay the lobbyists.
And so on ………
Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US, but controlled by a Canadian) and their RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) have had eight stellar years under the corrupt George W. Bush misadministration.
Now, Barak Obama is about to take over and he’ll be appointing someone who’ll either ride herd on the corporate music industry, or continue to give them free reign/rein.
Do you think Larry Lessig would be good? Or Mary Bono Mack? Or Hal Varian, Gigi Sohn, Pam Samuelson or James Boyle?
None of the above?
There’s now a Facebook group to help Obama make the right choice. Join it and help bring the Big 4 under control.
The last college student to settle
The Big $ sue ‘em all campaign has been, by any measure, a failure, wrote the EFF’s Fred von Lohmann recently, going on:
“The lawsuits have not reduced unauthorized file-sharing and have not gotten a single artist paid.”
Not only but also, “the recording industry will continue to press the thousands of pending lawsuits, presumably pushing for the usual four figure settlements,”he says, asking:
“How is it going to feel to be the last college student to settle in a fight that the recording industry has now admitted isn’t worth the candle?
“More troubling is the news that the RIAA is pressuring U.S. ISPs into adopting some sort of “3 strikes” approach, similar to those it’s been seeking in Europe (see, e.g., the French “digital guillotine” proposal).”
Do you want to see that in the US?
Because with the labels, it’s one self-serving thing after another.
Fight counterfeiting and piracy
In September, “In what must be one of their greatest triumphs yet, entertainment industry interests have greased a copyright Top Cop with his/her own copyright police into the White House ” — just before the present incumbent is replaced by a new president who might not be so amenable to corporate movie and music industry blandishments as George W’s administration,” p2pnet posted, going on »»»
Meet the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative.
But that’s not enough. Now American taxpayers are being told they’ll have to dig into their pockets to pay for another corporate industry entertainment cartel copyright enforcer to be called the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.
[...]A US Senate panel has, “overwhelmingly approved a bill backed by the recording industry that would give federal prosecutors the power to file civil lawsuits against peer-to-peer users who violate copyright laws,” says CNET News, going on:
“By a 14-4 margin, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted for the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act, which would create stricter IP laws, as well as increase the ability of the White House and Justice Department to enforce those laws.”
Not only but also, the bill adds five new International IP Enforcement Coordinators, “to act as liaisons to foreign countries with respect to U.S. IP law enforcement,” says the story.
The IPEC, “would direct other agencies in a coordinated strategy to fight counterfeiting and piracy”.
Will ACTA come into this anywhere, do you think?
“If Hollywood could order intellectual property laws for Christmas, what would they look like?” – wondered David Fewer, staff counsel at the University of Ottawa’s Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, in June, noting, “This is pretty close.”
The first patent and copyright ‘czar’
Now, “Intellectual property policy should encourage innovation through balanced incentives,”‘ says the new facebook group.
“The current intellectual property laws, created for the physical era, are in need of reform,”" it says, continuing »»»
During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama’s technology policy white paper stated that “Intellectual property is to the digital age what physical goods were to the industrial age. Barack Obama believes we need to update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated.”
The Obama team included many leaders of the high-tech community who have spoken out on the need to recognize that the copyright rules developed for paper and vinyl are not well-suited for the networked, digital world. Barack Obama’s administration can make concrete changes to U.S. intellectual property policy to ensure a future as vibrant and innovative as his campaign.
The first major decision that the Obama team will make in the area of patent and copyright policy will be the selection of the first patent and copyright “czar”, a new White House position created by the PRO-IP Act, which was signed by President Bush in October, 2008. The Act directs the President to appoint an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), whose duties include: (1) chairing the interagency intellectual property enforcement advisory committee established by the Act, (2) coordinating the development, and assisting in the implementation, of the committee’s Joint Strategic Plan against counterfeiting and piracy, (3) serving as principal advisor to the President on IP-related issues and (4) assisting the U.S. Trade Representative with international IP
The new Administration has a choice: (1) Nominate someone whose career has been devoted to fighting piracy of music and videos and who will continue unsuccessful efforts to apply outdated copyright rules to the digital economy or (2) Nominate someone who will consider the broader picture and explore how new approaches to patent and copyright could spur innovation, expand consumer choice, and lead to development of new services and new jobs. According to the PRO-IP Act, the new patent and copyright “czar” is to fight counterfeiting and piracy.
A comprehensive approach requires someone who fully understands how policies on patents, trademarks, and copyright not only affect inventors, content owners, and IPR lawyers but also the impact of those policies on average consumers. A comprehensive approach requires someone who will do more than just examine the economics of the content industry. It requires someone who understands how over-zealous copyright enforcement can hinder research, innovation, education, and fair use. It requires someone who understands how good patent policy can protect inventors, innovators, and consumers and how bad patent policy can lead to spurious patent infringement law suits, enrich patent trolls, and slow down or discourage inventors and innovators.
If you believe that the new administration needs to take a new look at patent, trademark, and copyright law so that the US can take full advantage of the power of the Internet and other new technologies, sign up and help ensure the first White House patent and copyright czar does something more than just try to think up new ways to harass teenagers who download music.
Sign up and if you believe you know who’d be good, make a suggestion.
Personally, I think Fred Wilhelms would be excellent. Or Nashville entertainment lawyer Fred Wilhelms. “If the corporate music industry had any ethics, Wilhelms would be its ‘ethicist-in-chief,” once wrote CounterPunch’s Dave Marsh.
Who do you think? Click here.
And stay tuned.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
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December 30th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I’m inclined to think that there must be at least one intelligent musician that has been screwed over by the MAFIAA but possesses the required skill set to excel at the job. Maybe Janis Ian (knows the truth). Or Bono (always a diplomat). Or Kris Kristofferson (a very bright Rhodes Scholar). I would accept any substantial copyright holder with the exception of Lars [I killed Napster] Ulrich and Orrin [blow up their computers] Hatch.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:06 am
NINE INCH NAILS BAND LEADER
December 30th, 2008 at 11:08 am
AND now that i htink about it how about a regular dude like you or I. YA OBama go get a unemployed BUM and teach him the job.
THat would put hollywood in a pickle when you tell him that any one that lobbies him gets fined and he not only lose that job but you will give him life in prison with BUBA
December 30th, 2008 at 11:18 am
That’s a perfect example. Trent Reznor got so upset at the MAFIAA that he released his newest albums under Creative Commons licences. That’s the kind of person hat is needed. A quote from wikipedia:
Criticisms of the music industry
In May 2007, Reznor made a post on the official Nine Inch Nails website condemning Universal Music Group—the parent company of the band’s record label, Interscope Records—for their pricing and distribution plans for Nine Inch Nail’s 2007 album Year Zero.[30] He labeled the company’s retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as “ABSURD”, [sic] concluding that “as a reward for being a ‘true fan’ you get ripped off”. Reznor went on to say that as “the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more.”[31] Reznor’s post, specifically his criticism of the recording industry at large, elicited considerable media attention.[32] In September 2007, Reznor continued his attack on Universal Music Group at a concert in Australia, urging fans there to “steal” his music online instead of purchasing it legally.[33] Reznor went on to encourage the crowd to “steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin’.”[34]
Trent Reznor announced later that Nine Inch Nails split from its contractual obligations with Interscope Records, and will distribute its next major albums independently. The last Nine Inch Nails release on Interscope was a remix album based on material from Year Zero.[35] Interscope retains the right to release a “Greatest Hits” album.[36] In March 2008, the seventh studio album by Nine Inch Nails, Ghosts I–IV, was released independently, under a Creative Commons license. The eighth studio album, The Slip, was released independently and is available free of charge on the band’s website.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Its Barack* Jon
@4
Well said
Some musos dont care they just get paid and thats all
@1
Janis Ian? from Mean girls?
December 30th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Typo. Fixed.
Cheers!
December 30th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
“[the industry] have had eight stellar years under the corrupt George W. Bush misadministration.”
President Bush is the most powerful man in the universe! He single handedly ruined the economy, caused global warming, killed hundreds of service people in the Middle East AND set the recording industry up to profit by suing little old ladies. Guys, the RIAA sucks, and that’s an understatement, but the President had help in everything that’s been done the last 8 – don’t forget your corrupt congress folks that actually make the laws and pressure others to “enforce” them. And don’t forget the judges that don’t understand tech well enough to decide on cases – “Oh, the RIAA *said* they didn’t have to prove their case.”
If only he had a Sword of Omens. Does He-Man know about this? Seriously, the man’s not that powerful because this country has checks and balances. To be corrupt, our government must be corrupt en masse. Unfortunately, I think it is.
December 30th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I’d probably vote for Reznor as well.
But as this is a Mickey Mouse operation, and Mickey Mouse is coincidentally an important figure in copyright lobbying and legislation…
Well. Just saying.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I’m flattered by the nomination, but over my career I have found that I don’t really “play well with others,” especially where politics is a factor. I got fired from the last “inside” job I held because, by nature, I make my bosses unhappy, mostly by asking questions at the wrong time. It’s why I am self-employed today. My friends tell me I haven’t mellowed with age, so I suspect my prospects here are rather slim.
Whoever fills this role just has to focus on some very simple questions in regard to setting policy:
1. Who gets paid?
2. When?
3. How much?
4. Why?
If you get answers that satisfy you, you can decide if the policy is a good one or not. Beyond that, all you have to do is show up at the office everyday and keep your hands off the staff. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do this kind of thing, or I would have to be doing something else myself.
Fred Wilhelms