MPAA Boss Chris Dodd Then & Now Concerning Google Censorship In China

from the how-much-does-it-cost-to-get-an-ex-senator-to-sell-his-soul dept

Mon, Dec 12th 2011 11:23am — Mike Masnick

Last week, we quoted ex-Senator now MPAA-boss, Chris Dodd making somewhat surprising comments suggesting that it's fine to force Google to censor the internet at home, because the Chinese government made Google censor its results in China. His specific quote:

"When the Chinese told Google that they had to block sites or they couldn't do [business] in their country, they managed to figure out how to block sites."

That's an interesting statement, because almost exactly four years ago, when Chris Dodd was still a Senator and was also an aspiring Presidential hopeful, he went and gave a talk at Google. He discussed many things over the course of an hour, with one key point being that, for the sake of greater internet freedom, Google should stand up to the Chinese and not allow such censorship:

In case you can't watch that video, he says:

Tell the Chinese government that Google.cn will no longer censor information with Google's consent. And should the Chinese government not find that acceptable, then Google.cn would shut down its operations. I understand that you've already moved all of your search records out of China, to prevent them from being turned over to the Chinese government. But what better way to affirm Google's commitment to the free flow of information as a human right, than to send this message to a nation with the largest population in the world?

From there, he goes on to talk about refusing to hand over information to our own government without a warrant, followed up by this statement:

When Google acts, others will follow in my view. Standing up in these instances will not only be good for business ethics, but I also believe it will be good for business.

Yet, when Google does stand up against censoring the internet today? The very same Chris Dodd says they're "accessories" to a robbery.

As Darwin said years ago, it's not the strongest of the species who survive, or even the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.

Hey, Chris, perhaps it's time to look a bit at the MPAA, one of the organizations most resistant to change we've ever seen.

One way we respond to change, in my view, is to stand up, and to stand up for our principles, which do not change.

Unless, of course, the MPAA hires you for a salary upwards of a million dollars. Then your principles go right out the window and your commitment to not censoring search results does a 180, and suddenly you're demanding that Google censor results at home, and highlighting the censorship in China as if it's a positive example.

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Filed Under: censorship, china, chris dodd, principles, us
Companies: mpaa

38 Comments

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The eejit (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:00am

Never underestimate the power of money. Money buys lots of things, including souls. But oddly, it can't buy the MAFIAA happiness...
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- :Lobo Santo (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:38am
  
  Re: eejits!?
  Somebody needs to clue them in to where they can lease happiness...
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  - Greg G (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:45pm
    
    Re: Re: eejits!?
    And Chris Dodd paused for a moment, his strangely dark eyebrows beneath a snow white flock of hair arching painfully higher than they normally appear, then suddenly exclaimed, "Ohh, I'm getting a raging clue!"
    
    The rest of us just rolled our eyes, knowing he couldn't get a raging clue even if it presented itself as a little boy kicking him square in the nuts.
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- gorehound (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:10pm
  
  Re:
  The guy is an arse and so are the MPAA & RIAA.
  And that is my opinion simply put and the only thing I add is how I have boycotted on my own the MAFIAA for over 5 years now.I make sure I only buy used movies and I never buy nor will I ever buy any Artists who signs with the devil RIAA.
  I do not use Netflix,Itunes,etc and I really make sure I only get used physical products.
  I do not care any longer about seeing anything new that MPAA puts out.I can always find an Indie Film.
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Robert Doyle (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:33am

Hey, he's not being hypocritical, he's being political - it's different, I swear.
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- Rikuo (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:34am
  
  Re:
  I don't believe you.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:46am
    
    Re: Re:
    None of us do. But we sill vote for them:
    
    http://dilbert.com/fast/1991-01-20/
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    - Hephaestus (profile), 13 Dec 2011 @ 6:46am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Since we all have to get used to a future with PIPA and SOPA, lets all try to not post links to techdirt for the rest of the day. That dilbert link you posted ( http://dilbert.com/fast/1991-01-20/ ) could be "CLAIMED" to be infinging by the newspaper it was in, or the book publisher that republished it.
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- Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:45am
  
  Re:
  Nope, sorry, in my experience they are the same. It has become literaly impossible to be one without being the other.
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  - The eejit (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:35pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Welcome to Humanity. Feel free to enjoy the ride!
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- Jeffrey Nonken (profile), 13 Dec 2011 @ 10:47pm
  
  Re:
  Tom Lehrer?
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Beta (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:35am

you gotta pay to see
"One way we respond to change, in my view, is to stand up, and to stand up for our principles, which do not change."

I for one think that Mr. Dodd's principles do not, in fact, change. It just took some patient observation to find out what they actually are.
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- Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:46am
  
  Re: you gotta pay to see
  His primary principle seems to be 'Will move lips for money'.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:10pm
    
    Re: Re: you gotta pay to see
    Literal LOL here :)
    Glad I didn't have a mouth full of food, it would have been sprayed everywhere.
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- heyidiot (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 1:00pm
  
  "And another way...
  ...we respond to change is to compromise our principles for filthy lucre."
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Skeptical Cynic (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:36am

The Winds of Change...
Don't always blow right or left. Chris Dodd is just doing what he want to get paid.
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- hothmonster, 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:38pm
  
  Re: The Winds of Change...
  Yes, he blows strictly up and down. Then he works the balls a little.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 11:43am

Ron Paul would veto SOPA/PIPA and any other overreaching censorship bill congress comes up with. Just saying. Ron Paul in 2012.
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I-Blz, 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:05pm

This has left me bemused and confuzzled. How can a man change his message so completely in less than a month? Just, wha, huh?
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- ltlw0lf (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:12pm
  
  Re:
  How can a man change his message so completely in less than a month? Just, wha, huh?
  
  Its all about the Benjamins. Its always about the Benjamins.
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- anonymous, 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:55pm
  
  Re:
  give a person a job that pays better than the last one, on condition that you tow the company line in return and some people will sell their mother, let alone change their stated opinion. what they always forget is that there is always someone that remembers what was previously said or done!
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  - nasch (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 1:40pm
    
    Re: Re:
    It's toe. Toe the line.
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  - RD, 12 Dec 2011 @ 2:39pm
    
    Re: Re:
    "give a person a job that pays better than the last one, on condition that you tow the company line in return and some people will sell their mother, let alone change their stated opinion. what they always forget is that THE INTERNET IS there AND always remembers what was previously said or done!"
    
    -ftfy
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known coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:10pm

When the revolutions comes
This friend of Angelo, Chris Dodd should be one of the first folks lined up against the wall and shot.
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- Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:23pm
  
  Re: When the revolutions comes
  I agree on the lined up part, but I think Dodd and Angelo should be forced to clean the toilets in Grand Central for the rest of their lives. They are both Scum!
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  - Machin Shin, 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:37pm
    
    Re: Re: When the revolutions comes
    Trouble is the toilets are cleaner than the guys your suggesting should clean them.
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  - The eejit (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:40pm
    
    Re: Re: When the revolutions comes
    That's offensive to Scum everywhere!
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:45pm

A politician is a whore, never underestimate the whore.
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- DH's Love Child (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 1:19pm
  
  Re:
  I believe it was Reagan who said that politics is the second oldest profession and it bears a remarkable similarity to the first...
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- Cixelsid (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 2:24pm
  
  Re:
  Whoah, hold on there...no need to insult whores my friend, at least with them you know you're getting fucked.
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Comboman (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 12:49pm

Hypocrite's words come back to bite him
Great piece Mike, you should write for The Daily Show.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 1:03pm

I can't wait for a few years down to road to see half the US population locked up in the new MPAA/RIAA privately run prison system for downloading files. Put in there by the private **AA police force run under the Executive branch.
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- Anonymous Coward, 12 Dec 2011 @ 4:39pm
  
  Re:
  It's a preemptive strike. The government is losing the war on pot prohibition. Once it becomes decriminalized, how else are they going to fill all those cells?
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Adding comments has been disabled for this video., 12 Dec 2011 @ 1:03pm

YouTube
Adding comments has been disabled for this video.
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MC, 12 Dec 2011 @ 1:45pm

So, this is what it means to be a male prostitute in the capitol.

Pretty slam dunk here.
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Kevin H (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 2:23pm

Why yes, my loyalty morality, and ethics can be bought. Why do you ask?
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- TtfnJohn (profile), 12 Dec 2011 @ 6:30pm
  
  Re:
  But Dodd seems to have sold out for a small pizza from Pizza Hut. I'd certianly want more than that!
  
  How about the ownership deed to Montana?
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Hephaestus (profile), 13 Dec 2011 @ 6:33am

"As Darwin said years ago, it's not the strongest of the species who survive, or even the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change."

Oh god, laughing, can't breath, things going white around the edges ... I so needed that!
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