New NBC Series to Feature World’s Smallest Violin Playing World’s Saddest Song
by John Paczkowski
Posted on October 3, 2007 at 1:55 PM PT
Nothing like an alarmist study to get Washington lawmakers worked up into a pro-legislation lather. Which is exactly what NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker gave them at an antipiracy summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today.
Citing an Institute for Policy Innovation study that estimates that copyright-industry piracy costs the U.S. economy $58 billion per year (Holy cow! That’s like Mitch Bainwol’s and Dan Glickman’s salaries combined!), Zucker called upon Congress to create dedicated intellectual-property enforcement bureaus in the Justice and Homeland Security Departments and to offer federal grants for state and local governments to escalate their own policing efforts. “The unfortunate truth is that today we are losing the battle,” Zucker said. “We need, across the board, to move IP enforcement up the agenda of the federal government. … [This issue is] absolutely critical to our economic prosperity.”
Lawmakers, especially those with musical aspirations, were predictably roused by Zucker’s spiel, though it conveniently obscured the fact that the entertainment industry’s business models are clearly in need of serious work. Said Sen. Orrin “I Write the Songs” Hatch (R., Utah, pictured with Barry Manilow, right), “Our challenge is to come up with viable economic solutions that will not only protect existing intellectual-property rights, but encourage the free flow of information and ideas necessary for creativity and innovation to thrive.”
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Comments
Forget Osama. That disabled mom in Oregon is the real threat to all things right and good in the world, according to these geniuses.
Like the Sony official who said, the other day, that ripping a CD onto a computer to have the music for one’s own personal enjoyment was basically theft.
What about the theft of the public’s time with such ludicrous arguments, which will go nowhere in the end?
Why don’t record executives lead the way to the moral high ground by stopping their stealing from musicians? Maybe then they can feel less hypocritical about calling their customers – who made them rich – thieves.
Posted by Eric Welch at October 4th, 2007 at 9:22 amThere’s a saying in Texas that goes something like this, “All things are as safe, as safe can be, until the Legislature is in session.” That thought comes to mind when I hear Sen. Hatch expound upon the need for increased protection of copyrighted material. I would like to think that Twain was right when he quipped, “We have the best Congress money can buy”, but he’s wrong there.
If Hatch and his colleague were half as rigorous as they like to think they are, maybe they could see through the fog of lobbyist and focus on doing what is right by the voters. And what really gets me is that neither the Conservatives (Hatch, et. al.) nor even the Liberals (Pelosi, et. al.) seem willing to do that. Twain (yes, again) was however correct when he said, “He’s an idiot; he’s a politician. But I repeat myself.”
Until someone(s) can find the issue, and present it so that it will galvanize the voters into wanting real change, and not the Republican/Democrat retreads like Hatch, Levin, Pelosi, Boehne, Specter, Boxer and so many others, this show looks like it will go on for season after season. Pity, too.
Posted by Jim Hillhouse at October 4th, 2007 at 11:43 am