ROPA SOPA

 
Two internet anti-piracy bills are working their way through the House and Senate, SOPA and PIPA, and they have lobbyists out in full force, including former Senator Chris Dodd, who was working the Golden Globes crowd the other night as the head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).  See this MPAA homepage link where you can "download a high resolution photograph of Senator Dodd."  How crass.

Dodd, who promised he wouldn't be a lobbyist after leaving office when his reelection chances were nil, has criticized Silicon Valley companies like Google and Wikipedia for protesting the bills by taking their sites "dark" today.  But can you blame them when he pens silly histrionics like this recent bylined op-ed in The Huffington Post?

"Hollywood is pro-Internet -- and I, personally and in my capacity as MPAA Chairman, have always supported a free, open, and thriving Internet.

"But it is simply false to suggest that the Internet cannot be free and open unless it is lawless. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote, "The State Department is strongly committed to advancing both Internet freedom and the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights on the Internet. Indeed, these two priorities are consistent."

"Critics of our efforts have engaged in outrageous hyperbole and logical gymnastics, misrepresenting not only Secretary Clinton's words, but also my own, in an effort to equate protecting intellectual property with the tactics of dictators.

"That is an insult to the many champions of free speech who also support strong copyright protections. And, in the end, it is nothing more than a smoke screen for those who care more about their right to steal than about an artist's right to speak.

"But with millions of American jobs on the line, we do not have time for misinformation and false comparisons. We must protect our intellectual property -- or our content creators could be silenced for good."

Meanwhile, the White House is backpedaling from both bills, forsaking its weakening support from Hollywood in a transparent gamble for campaign donations from the thousands of Google-minted millionaires and their like at other deep-pocketed Silicon Valley tech companies.