The Only Way To Get Joe Biden To Rethink His Position On Copyright Is To Give Him Money?

from the that-doesn't-seem-right dept

Thu, Jul 1st 2010 11:19am — Mike Masnick

It's no secret that Vice President Joe Biden is no friend to Silicon Valley. The Veep has long been a big believer in anything Hollywood tells him, leading him to make ridiculously wrong statements about intellectual property and to believe that when discussing such things "all the stakeholders" means only folks from Hollywood. It's really reached the point that it seems like most in Silicon Valley consider him a lost cause. However, some are suggesting that it's time for Silicon Valley leaders to step up and pay up to get a word in edgewise with Biden (who's about to swing by Silicon Valley) to convince him he's wrong on these issues:

Obviously, the more tech people who show up to send the message, the better. And the more unified and simple the message, the better and more effective it will be. This is not a time for nuance. Nor do you "waste" your one shot by repeating what the tech CEO in front of you said and trying to introduce something else. This is a straightforward application of the "Alice's Restaurant Rule of Public Policy." If one person says it, it's an outlier and you ignore it. If two people say it, it's special interest so ignore it. If 50 people say it, it's a bloody national trend.

Which is why tech folks who care about reigning in the power of Hollywood to impose tech mandates need to show up on July 8 to prove to Boxer and Biden they exist and that the Hollywood view of the world that pits noble entertainment companies against evil pirates and terrorists needs some amending. You need to walk up to them, sing a bar of the tech policy version of Alice's Restaurant, and walk out. In this case, the refrain goes like this: "Carly at least has tech experience. You seem Hell bent on destroying the tech industry with over-enforcement and crap like ACTA in the name of stopping piracy. I create jobs, I'm not a pirate, and unless my concerns get respected, I'm voting Republican."

Fifty tech execs walking in, singing a bar of that song, and walking out, will make a difference. Oh, it won't turn things around overnight -- especially with Biden scheduled to make a trip with Boxer down to Los Angeles the next day for another fundraiser where the entertainment industry will trot out the star power. But it will be the first step in getting Biden and others who buy into the Hollywood's pirate story to start asking whether real life is really like that.

Jim Harper, who pointed this story out to me, notes how problematic this seems by summarizing the logic as "Joe Biden is no friend to tech, so tech should give to Joe Biden," followed by noting the similarities between politics and extortion. This isn't to damn the original post, because it's probably right that this might be the only way to actually speak to Biden, but somehow I doubt that even 50 people saying something like the line above would make even the slightest dent.

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Filed Under: copyright, joe biden, lobbying, politics

22 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2010 @ 11:26am

Change We Can Believe In
Yes We CAN!
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- :Lobo Santo (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 11:36am
  
  Re: Change We Can Believe In
  From the 48 laws of Power, by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers:
  Law 45
  
  Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once
  
  Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.
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  - Overtkill (profile), 2 Jul 2010 @ 11:02am
    
    Re: Re: Change We Can Believe In
    Very - So TRUE! :)
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jjmsan (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 11:43am

Money
So you are saying that 50 who are willing to spend a fair sum of money on a political candidate would be told to go somewhere else? Really? Then why worry about lobbysists in Washington?
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MRK, 1 Jul 2010 @ 11:44am

This is pretty much standard operating procedure with U.S. politics. If you want to be heard, you need to pony up the campaign contributions. Is it extortion? Yes. Is it unethical? Yes. But considering the incumbent reelection rates (90%+), a Congressman is the best investment a company can make.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2010 @ 11:54am

The industry from hell(entertainment) will do something to destroy everything.
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GeneralEmergency (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 12:14pm

Speaking "Truth to Power"?????
...More like "Speaking Common Sense to Stupid" in this case.

Biden is a -cartoon-.
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Richard (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 12:24pm

Would that be
the same Jo Biden who famously plagiarised Neil Kinnock's speech a few years ago?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/2607505/Joe-Biden-pla giarised-Neil-Kinnock-speech.html

Pot meet kettle.
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2010 @ 12:26pm
  
  Re: Would that be
  By plagiarized, you mean stole. And by speech, you mean life-blood.
  
  Biden is an enemy of copyright and an enemy of Freedom.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2010 @ 12:26pm

People voted for the douche, now people have to live with it.
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kyle clements (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 12:37pm

"I need this to become law...oh, and here is a big pile of money, you can have it..."

I don't understand how campaign contributions is even legal. It's bribery, plain and simple.
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- Richard Corsale, 1 Jul 2010 @ 1:43pm
  
  Re:
  Clean and Simple...
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Flyfish, 1 Jul 2010 @ 12:39pm

Biden is the worst kind of political whore...the kind that refuses to stay bought.
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- ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 3:53pm
  
  Re:
  If only.
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bob, 1 Jul 2010 @ 1:50pm

The Dent Happens
When the CEO's put the word out throughout the company the same mantra.
Vote for Boxer, vote to lose your job.
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Russ (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 2:03pm

Biden has his own sense of certainty. It produces an alternative reality where dissent is white noise.

This administration is another reminder that once you reach a certain level of power (management) that just because you can use a tool they think they understand it.
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- RD, 1 Jul 2010 @ 2:29pm
  
  Re:
  "This administration is another reminder that once you reach a certain level of power (management) that just because you can use a tool they think they understand it."
  
  Oh please.....anyone who thinks this is a party or partisan issue is fooling themselves. The problem doesnt stop at "this administration", its a fault of the entire system now. The Repubs and W screwed things up too, you know, and very badly. We have tipped past the point of reason, and are hurtling headlong into the Great Fall that happens to all civilizations and empires that get so big that greed and power are the only things that matter to those who rule.
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  - Russ (profile), 2 Jul 2010 @ 8:47am
    
    Re: Re:
    RD, I can see how you could interpret my comment being a R v D screed, but it was meant to be a screed about it doesn't matter if it is public or private, power affects your perception of reality by developing a sense of certainty in your superiority.
    
    The previous administration set a record of the number of players convinced that their reality was the correct one and to this day don't understand why things didn't work out as expected.
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Thomas (profile), 1 Jul 2010 @ 3:18pm

Every politician..
has his/her price. It doesn't matter how high or how low the elected office is. An honest politician is one who stays bought. They don't even need to do it via "campaign contributions"; there are plenty of other ways to slip money to candidates or elected officials. For example, give to a "charitable agency" that is run entirely by the candidate's family. For every election law that tries to limit money being given to candidates, there are multiple ways to get around it. The higher you go, the more corrupt they are. I think they just have to be careful not to accept money from both sides on the same issue in case someone rats them out.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2010 @ 6:40pm

Money- pink floyd
go listen to the tune now.
AND not all people are able to be bribed/
SAMBA and Mr. Allison and hte 50 million dollar MS offer ring a bell?????
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Gene Cavanaugh (profile), 2 Jul 2010 @ 8:55am

Bashing Biden
"Which is why tech folks who care about reigning in the power of Hollywood to impose tech mandates need to show up on July 8 to prove to Boxer and Biden they exist"
I'll ignore that this "pundit" doesn't even know the difference between "reigning" and "reining", and go to the heart of the matter.
Republicans, and Carly is an EXCELLENT example, want welfare for the wealthy - don't pay for anything ("no new taxes"), let society fall apart (after all, the wealthy can move to France, or build fortresses to live in, as they do in South America).
But you can't say that and keep people voting against their own best interests, so you say stuff like "I create jobs" and other unsubstantiated propaganda.
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Jay (profile), 5 Jul 2010 @ 1:05pm

Biden, the 2000 version of Orrin Hatch.
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