Former White House IP Czar Immediately Jumps Ship To Microsoft-Driven Anti-Piracy Lobbying Group BSA

from the shameful dept

This was rumored for weeks before the former White House IP czar (technically "Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator") even had announced that she was stepping down from her job, but now it's been confirmed: just weeks after leaving the White House, Victoria Espinel will take over as the head of the Business Software Alliance, a group with a shameful past of overaggressive anti-piracy and pro-software patent positions, driven in large part by legacy software companies long past their innovation stage, and well into their "litigation" against innovators stage. The organization tends to take its orders mainly from Microsoft and Autodesk, two proponents of very strong copyright and patent enforcement, because it helps those legacy companies ward of competitors and disruptive innovators.

As you may recall, every year the BSA puts out a laughably ridiculous "global piracy study" that argues every infringing copy should count as a "lost sale." The BSA has a long history of using those reports to mislead the public and policy makers. The BSA also has a long history of raiding companies, tying them up in ridiculous "audits" where if you can't find the specific paperwork for the software you licensed years ago, you may be forced to pay huge sums. The organization has been widely criticized for the practices which often push small businesses to the edge of bankruptcy just because they can't find the right paperwork. The program also relies on bribing employees and former employees to rat out their companies based on completely bogus promises of payouts of "up to $1 million," when they almost never pay out more than $5,000. We once promised to pay out "up to $1 million" if anyone could prove a BSA $1 million payout. We never had to pay out a dime.

The BSA also, of course, was a strong supporter of SOPA until Microsoft realized that its users were angry and that SOPA might cause tremendous problems for the internet... and magically, the BSA suddenly changed its mind. The BSA has always had a close relationship with the federal government, of course. For years, its "anti-piracy" efforts were run by Neil MacBride who, like Espinel, once worked for Joe Biden. MacBride left the BSA after President Obama was elected to become the a top Justice Department official, later switching to become the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virgnia, where he's been involved in a number of high profile cases, including those involving copyright enforcement -- such as the case against Kim Dotcom and Megaupload. Just last week MacBride announced he was stepping down.

It is worth noting that, while I often disagreed with the position of the administration and Espinel on IP enforcement issues, she was much more willing to actually listen to complaints and have pretty open and wide ranging discussions on the issues. In the time she was in office, she was more than willing to reach out and discuss concerns and complaints that I and others had raised about the administration's positions, and some of her more recent efforts showed that she was certainly willing to take such constructive criticism into account. I hope that she will be willing to do the same in this new position, but I have concerns, since the role is not about pushing for the most effective policy position, but the one that benefits a few giant legacy companies the most. And the BSA is so tainted on that front, it would take a pretty miraculous shift to make the organization a "good" player on these issues.

Of larger concern: Espinel was intimately involved in a number of the discussions on "voluntary" agreements between various industries over how to deal with copyright infringement, meaning that she knows quite well the positions and plans of those whom she now may be fighting against in her new role, where she obviously has strong connections to those still in the government. Considering the massive concern about the "revolving door" between IP maximalist organizations and the government, the risk of bad results here seems quite high. Espinel was quite successful in bringing in a variety of viewpoints and trying to find common ground. Unfortunately, that's not what her new position likely calls for.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: anti-piracy, copyright, ip czar, lobbying, patents, revolving door, victoria espinel
Companies: autodesk, bsa, microsoft


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • icon
    Kevin H (profile), 28 Aug 2013 @ 3:02pm

    Not news, Its the status quo

    Person has an important role with the government that is central towards a particular industry or topic. He/she is finally wooed by the private sector and paid greatly to exploit her insider knowledge to further a particular agenda for that private entity. Its the circlejerk of policy making.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    madasahatter (profile), 28 Aug 2013 @ 3:53pm

    Proper Paperwork

    I wonder how many people could prove they properly purchased some piece of software.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2013 @ 4:08pm

    Bribery is now complete, paid with a cushy job.
    This kind of thing calls into question every single decision she made in office.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2013 @ 4:34pm

    This job would have been offered to her on day one as the IP Czar but ONLY on the condition that (behind the scenes) she basically shilled as though she already had the job.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Postulator (profile), 28 Aug 2013 @ 7:05pm

    Foxes and chicken coops.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2013 @ 10:11pm

    What sort of idiot bases his life around the lost cause of supporting copyright infringement? Mike Masnick, that's who.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Rich, 29 Aug 2013 @ 9:14am

      Re:

      What sort of idiot bases his life around fighting progress with their outmoded business model? The MPAA, RIAA, and their Internet troll-cronies.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2013 @ 10:58pm

      Re:

      No evidence to support this statement. No where has Mike ever supported copyright infringement. Your confusion does you no justice.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Pixelation, 28 Aug 2013 @ 10:14pm

    BSA= Bull Shit Alliance

    Who takes them seriously besides themselves?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2013 @ 3:11am

    To me, it would seem there are 3 lofical reasons for bringing her in:

    1) BSA is a coalition of primarily software makers, primarily hardware makers, automation company, a car company and even freeware producers like AVG and Adobe. There is bound to be internal difference of opinions. By taking in a person who is used to horse-trading, they are seeking a far more united formulation of policy.

    2) Hiring a shadow-politician to lobby politicians is always a hoot, since politicians are used to listening to these voices in their heads. By having a negotiation oriented shadow-politician carry out the dirty work, they are likely to appeal to a broader share of the politicians.

    3) Straight up manipulation. Since she has an inclusive reputation and very strong scientific credentials, they are given a far better chance to advance their more extreme views in a much more edible package.

    In either case, I do not understand how a legal scholar with relatively good credentials would stoop this low. I mean, she should be able to find a job at a university, create her own lawfirm or simply live of holding speeches for both tech companies and copyright holders.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 29 Aug 2013 @ 4:50am

    If memory serves it's during her time in th IP coordination she wasn't bad. But she was far from good giving much more weight to those that actually had the money and power (read: copyright intensive industries). Sure she got all sorts of input but the output that it's what matters almost always gave little to no importance for advocates for the public.

    Still, even if she was totally pro public domain, fair use enthusiast this would still be a case of the classic revolving door issue. And this is the cause of much of what's wrong with the US nowadays - hold your fire, I'm not saying other countries are better or worse - and such thing must end. How? It's open for debate, specially considering the ones benefiting from this are in charge of the circus.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    me, 29 Aug 2013 @ 5:19am

    The BSA is a parasitic middleman run by ambulance chasers and should be outlawed.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2013 @ 5:12pm

    Do anyone really think she didn't work for the BSA/MPAA/RIAA/etc, during her stay as IP Czar?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2013 @ 5:21pm

    This article is a conspiracy theory just like 9/11 inside job.

    /s

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.