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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Media Internet legislation: A watershed in Washington?

Posted by Max Brantley on Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 7:14 AM

A New York Times analysis makes the case that the sudden rout of so-called Internet piracy legislation yesterday represented a triumph of the new era information industry over old dinosaurs such as the movie lobby and, significantly, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

You know the tech guys marshaled some significant forces to get the likes of Rep. Tim Griffin and Sen. Dr. No Boozman to turn tail and run from their support of the dangerous legislation. They usually stay harnessed to the victorious end with the Chamber of Commerce.

The moral here is that the Chamber and its allies went too far with legitimate efforts to combat foreign thievery of copyrighted material. But they always do. The other moral is that other people have big money, too, and a more effective way of rallying opposition than letters to editors of dead-tree publications.

Tags: Internet piracy

        
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