Monday, March 15, 2004

Caught by the Legal Shorthairs

Lots and lots of pointers popping up in the blogosphere all pointing to Wired's story that California Attorney General is proposing to send out a letter warning peer-to-peer software companies that they could face legal challenges if they don't clean up their acts. The big news is that the leaked document purportedly shows that it was created by (or at least edited by) "...a senior vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America." Wow! Turns out this VP is the senior vice president for state legislative affairs - i.e., the exec charged with liasing with state governments. In other words, a lobbyist! Wow-whee-wow, a lobbyist drafting letters and bills for politicians! What wil lthey think up next? Of course, they've been doing that in this country since before there was a country - the Continental Congress which drew up the U.S. Constitution had its far share of lobbyists drafting sections and amendments. While the letter itself is really over the top (which the MPAA often is), the method isn't anything new.

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