Comments on: Election’s Impact on Info/Law

By: Info/Law » Congressman From Hollywood to Yield His Chair

Info/Law » Congressman From Hollywood to Yield His Chair — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:39:52 +0000

[...] I wrote when the Democrats took over Congress in 2006, these are not usually partisan issues and a switch in party control did not herald much [...]

By: MistakenGoal.com: Where Student Affairs and Technology Meet » Blog Archive » Recent copyright & fair use news

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 05:37:05 +0000

[...] Speaking of legislators, since the Democrats will control the next session of Congress they will be in charge of all of the committees and subcommittees. Of particular interest is the leadership and composition of the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. The Democrats offer leadership to committees by seniority. So Howard Berman, representative of California’s 28 district, will have right of first refusal. As perhaps befitting one who represents many who work in or close to the film industry, he is a strong proponent of strong copyright laws and the rights of copyright holders. If he were to become chair of this subcommittee, the one that has taken the most interest in how universities and colleges respond to this challenge, I do not think he would be sympathetic. As our institutions are by nature slow to change, generally respectful of students’ rights and privacy (how many times have we told one another that “en loco parentis is dead!” ?), and extremely independent, we could be putting ourselves into a bad position with Rep. Berman as these traditional strengths could be viewed as resistance and refusal to act. [...]

By: Election Law

Election Law — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 06:43:10 +0000

Blawg Review # 83…

Election Law is pleased to host Blawg Review # 83. As with last week’s Blawg Review by Ed Still at Votelaw, this Review focuses on election law, in an effort to law blog the vote. Before getting to this week’s……

By: michaelzimmer.org » Archives » 2006 Election’s Impact on Privacy & Surveillance

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 14:09:58 +0000

[...] UPDATE: Also, Siva Vaidhyanathan points to William McGeveran’s analysis of the election’s impact on IP and technology law. Siva will have his own column on the impact on the Internet soon… [...]

By: SIVACRACY.NET

SIVACRACY.NET — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 19:10:56 +0000

How will the Dem sweep affect IP and tech law?…

A little better, a little worse, according to William McGeveran. In the House, Net neutrality champion Ed Markey (D-Mass) will chair an Internet subcommittee. But Hollywood whore Howard Berman (D-90210) will chair the IP subcommittee. Jack Valenti migh…

By: William McGeveran

William McGeveran — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 23:10:54 +0000

You are right about Conyers. I agree that Conyers and Berman together are not good news in the Judiciary Committee and IP Subcommittee (though Boucher and Rep. Zoe Lofgren will be fairly senior and able to counterbalance them somewhat).

While I admire Conyers and Berman in other ways, I don’t favor most of their positions on Info/Law issues. That was, I hope, the bottom line of my original post.

That said, the news is a little better in the Senate and a good bit better in the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

By: A

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 23:02:53 +0000

You have missed a major fact:

Rep. John Conyers will take over the full Judiciary Committee. He’s the author of the analog hole bill, and a slew of other things for the RIAA.

You can spin this all you want, but if you look at Dan Glickman of the MPAA’s comments, it says something a bit different:

“I’m trying to contain my joy,” MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman told The Hollywood Reporter.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=industryNews&storyID=2006-11-09T091511Z_01_N0945 8311_RTRIDST_0_INDUSTRY-DEMOCRATS-DC.XML reuters.com]

By: Boing Boing

Boing Boing — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 18:29:45 +0000

Congressional elections and copyright reform: new Dem IP chair…

BoingBoing reader Kevin says the new chair of the subcommittee on Internet and IP is in the pocket of the MPAA and RIAA. Snip from Kevin’s blog post: In the wake of the Democratic win in the House of Representatives, some chairs will be rearranged. De…

By: Tim Armstrong

Tim Armstrong — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:15:35 +0000

More election-fallout commentary at TechDirt and Boing Boing.

By: Tim Armstrong

Tim Armstrong — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 14:47:40 +0000

Bill, you beat me to the punch with your post (which is, in any event, a better summary than I would have been able to draft, as befits your legislative background). I'll just add a few points to your own. First, I think you're correct not to expect major changes in either house of Congress. Info/Law issues don't break down easily along traditional party lines, and (as I've previously lamented) there's a relatively small constituency that views technology regulation as a "hot button" issue. Not that I'm necessarily saying that these issues necessarily belong on the average citizen's radar screen; in a world preoccupied with life-and-death issues it's hard to be too critical of people who don't care overmuch about, say, file-sharing. This is one of those areas where I think we can say, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Will the 110th Congress pass the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act, enact strong net neutrality legislation that preserves the end-to-end principle, or extend the internet access tax moratorium? Hard for me to see that the 110th is likely to be any different from the 109th in this regard, notwithstanding the change in party control. On your point about the possible chairmanship of the House IP subcommittee, see Bill Patry's post.