
SOPA creator received half a million dollars from the TV/Film/Music lobby - gasull
http://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/18/1836249/sopa-creator-in-tvfilmmusic-industrys-pocket
======
waffle_ss
This is the same representative who's former chief of staff / parliamentarian,
Allison Halataei, got hired by a lobbying firm to get SOPA passed after
helping write it.[1]

If this country ever undergoes a revolution in my lifetime, I sincerely hope
that the lobbyists that acted at these levels of scumminess get tried for
treason.

[1] [http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/10/226238/two-sopa-
write...](http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/10/226238/two-sopa-writers-
become-entertainment-
lobbyists?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2FslashdotYourRightsOnline+%28Slashdot%3A+Your+Rights+Online%29)

~~~
thekevan
"get tried for treason"

The First Amendment would disagree with you.

~~~
kingkilr
Fuck the first amendment, how about the constitutional definition of treason:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against
them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.

~~~
ldar15
The reasoning would be simple: The corrupt members of the government have
levied a body of men to overthrow the democratic institution that we call the
United States of America.

[http://law.onecle.com/constitution/article-3/41-levying-
war....](http://law.onecle.com/constitution/article-3/41-levying-war.html)

"Major" Bloomberg: "The NYPD is my Army", Homeland Security trampling on the
US Constitution at every opportunity and at the order of congress, warrantless
wiretaps, etc etc. Peaceable Protest made impossible by bureaucracy.
Establishment of "First Amendment" zones for the press - where they can't see
what's going on. Congress/Executive/SCOTUS making a tidy living from
bribes^H^H^H Free Speech Expressed As Money.

There are a great many "bodies of men" acting unconstitutionally in this
country, so assuming that a revolution took place, I don't think this line of
prosecution would have much of a problem, do you? If a revolution doesn't take
place, I think its pretty safe to say that the Government will take your side
on the matter.

------
tzs
This is rather misleading. First, it sums over his entire career. Second, it
doesn't mention the large amount he's received from industries that oppose
things like SOPA. Third, it doesn't mention that the TV/movie/music industry
has donated large amount to those who are currently opposing SOPA.

~~~
beedogs
"Third, it doesn't mention that the TV/movie/music industry has donated large
amount to those who are currently opposing SOPA."

This is what's known as _hedging_.

~~~
ldar15
Or "attempted bribery" that didn't work. o_O

If I get pulled over 10 times by 10 different cops, and I offer each one $100
to let me off, and only one of them takes the bribe - the other 9 don't negate
the fact that one guy took the bribe.

"No your honor, I just like giving money to police officers whenever I meet
them. See, its just random chance that this one guy let me off. Clearly it was
on the merits of the situation, not because my money influenced him."

Cops don't make the laws of course. Otherwise you'd be allowed to bribe cops.

------
_delirium
Though I usually eat these sorts of stories up, this particular one seems like
pretty thin evidence. It seems that he received about $50k/year from these
industries, which as far as campaign contributions go, is not really a huge
amount. I suspect it wouldn't by itself be enough to swing his vote if he
wasn't already basically in favor; on _really_ contentious issues when the
campaign contributions start to become a real factor, they're measured in
millions per year, not $50k--- for example, Chuck Schumer received $1.7
million from financial companies in 2009, according to a quick search
([http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/01/big-finance-
donation...](http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/01/big-finance-donations-
congress)).

------
ck2
Remember how Obama promised to remove lobbyists and not take their money?

It almost as bad as Guantanamo still being open (except some innocent people
there without trial for half a decade).

When lawmakers make their own laws, they are certainly going to guarantee they
can always take money and get big benefits (and skip the TSA lines at
airports, etc. etc.)

------
untog
What is missing every time things like this are brought up: how much do others
receive? Yes, the creator of SOPA has received over half a million dollars,
but how does that compare to the average?

I'm sure that it _is_ above average, but it still needs to be clarified.

~~~
dextorious
The point is he should not have received anything, PERIOD.

Another point is exhausting pedantic analysis is not political --sometimes
your gut instinct tells you more of what's going on. I mean, at some point we
ought to be ENRAGED of such things, not discuss trivial details about them.

~~~
untog
_Another point is exhausting pedantic analysis is not political --sometimes
your gut instinct tells you more of what's going on._

Sarah Palin, is that you?

~~~
dextorious
Over-analyser that never gets anything done, is that you?

------
Shenglong
So, why is insider trading illegal again?

------
gizzlon
The Eric S. Raymond link posted at the end is worth a read as well (although
it's kind of off topic):

<http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4009> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3367674>

------
rorrr
And that's how this country is sold for peanuts.

The political system is really brilliant from the point of view of the rich.
You only have to buy 100 senators and 435 representatives (actually, only 67%
of them) to decide what 307 million people do, how their tax money is spent,
etc.

~~~
ldar15
This is why, even though he is a nutjob on reproductive-rights, I have to
support Ron Paul. All these issues should be decided by the states, not the
feds.

~~~
srl
> All these issues should be decided by the states, not the feds.

Rather OT, but I have a major problem with this line. The population of the
U.S. around the writing of the constitution was ~3 million; if it was a state
today, it would be one of the smaller ones. In many cases, states are not in
any better a position to decide these issues than the federal government. (And
with things like SOPA, per-state regulation would naturally be disastrous.) I
think at this point, very few things can be well decided at the state level;
thus, either the national gov't is needed to keep states from stepping on each
others' toes (tax law and internet taxes), or the national gov't is needed to
keep states from stepping on the rights of citizens of that state - which they
are just as capable of doing as the national gov't was when the idea of state
sovereignty was taken for granted.

tl;dr: states are as capable of screwing things up as the national gov't, and
tend to be less transparent about it.

------
ldar15
This is a shake down. If Facebook, Google, reddit, etc have something to gain
from this, then they need to step and replace the money our poor senators will
lose. This is how america works. You want legal "protection", you pays your
"taxes".

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/sopa-
the-c...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/sopa-the-chart-
that-may-have-internet-firms-worried/2011/11/16/gIQAQfGQSN_blog.html)

------
gee_totes
I like how the first slashdot comment is about the article itself, then the
next open comment I see is something about abortion... Go slashdot

------
thekevan
This angers me. It angers me because people don't realize that most often, a
politician gets donations from organizations that already know he agrees with
their goals.

I worked for a politician from a Western State. He got tons of money from
mining, gaming and defense contractors. He openly stated that without those
three industries, his home state would barely exist. Those three employed a
vast majority of his constituents and would thus would always have him in
their corner.

Interestingly, he had a hard time raising money when running against an
opponent who also agreed with the above points.

~~~
waffle_ss
The problem I have isn't with the idea of organizations making donations, but
rather when those donations create a "direct line" from the lobbyist group to
the politician, bypassing the constituents.

Representatives are there to represent contituents because the USA is too big
for direct democracy. If industry x really has such a profound impact on a
community then it's in the self-interest of voters to reflect that at the
voting booth by voting for the politician that will help said industry, and by
extension, their community.

A private organization greasing the hand of a politician in order to ram a
piece of legislation through, _against the wishes of said politician's
constituents_ is beyond contempt. From all the evidence I've seen, the only
ones who like SOPA are the entertainment industry, and last time I checked
they weren't elected to any governmental position.

~~~
nl
_From all the evidence I've seen, the only ones who like SOPA are the
entertainment industry, and last time I checked they weren't elected to any
governmental position._

Look, I hate SOPA etc etc, but I think you are going a bit overboard here.

The entertainment industry is a _large_ employer, and the people employed by
it are constituents.

You and I may think that SOPA isn't the best way forward, but it is easy to
argue that it _might_ protect old, dying industries and the jobs they
represent.

Lobby groups are how the voices of people are heard in Washington. It isn't
ideal, but nor is it necessarily as corrupt as you are making out.

~~~
megablast
Is it that large? The true estimates I saw suggest less than 400,000 people?
Is that bigger than the tech industry?

~~~
nl
The movie _making_ industry is around 400,000, with another 120,000 working in
movie theatres[1]. The _entertainment_ industry is much larger though.

Also, SOPA is supported by the pharmaceutical and retail industries, which are
large employers as well.

The software industry probably employs around 2 million (1.7 million in 2007)
[2].

[1]
[http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111213/18060117071/actual...](http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111213/18060117071/actually-
jobs-making-movies-are-rise-not-falling.shtml)

[2]
[http://www.bsa.org/country/Public%20Policy/~/media/Files/Pol...](http://www.bsa.org/country/Public%20Policy/~/media/Files/Policy/Security/General/sw_factsfigures.ashx)

