In the past 10 years or so, the content industry (Hollywood, The Record Labels and Publishers), have spent millions of dollars in their ongoing campaign to lock up our culture and heritage. Copyright law has been extended and even made retroactive. (The Supreme Court is going to review the retroactive part, and hopefully the extension as well). Imagine playing a football game, but everytime you get close to the goal, the goal is moved another 20 yards away. This is what is taking place in copyright these past few years. Everytime a copyright (such as that mouse) gets close to going into public domain, Jack Valenti, Hilary Rosen, and various studio heads head for capital hill to lie, mislead and misrepresent the facts to the Senators and Congressmen. Most recently, Jack Valenti and "Fritz" Hollings were so busy kissing each others butts during a Senate Commerce Commitee hearing, that I was waiting for someone to shout "Get a room!" At the time, Hollings said the hearings were to point out the need for cooperation between the tech industry and the content industry, and that he was planning on giving them time to work it out, but if they didn't he would introduce the bill.

THREE WEEKS later he introduces the bill, now called the "Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act" (CBDTPA ), making a liar out of himself. Why you wonder? Could it be the fact that the campaign finance reform bill was about to pass? This would limit the amount of contributions that a corporation can make, virtually eliminating "soft money". The campaign finance reform bill will go into effect in November, so Fritz can collect until then. So what, right? Take a look below at the chart. $108 Million that's what. In the last election cycle alone, Sen. Hollings got $286,000 from the copyright industry. It's going to be really interesting to see the figures for Feb. and March of this year, especially since South Carolina has such a strong base of Major Record labels and Movie Studios.

It's time to kick these guys out of office, and get people in there, that at least have a clue what digital technology is about.