Who is Bruce Lehman?
And why should you care?
By Jonathan Tasini, President, National Writers Union

Lehman is the Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks--a title that would put almost anyone to sleep, which partly explains why, for most writers, Lehman is invisible. But his bureaucratic moniker is far less apt than the nickname people use for him inside the Beltway--the "czar" of the information superhighway. He is Al Gore's point man for virtually every policy touching on the hoped-for riches of the new technologies of the future. And he does very little with our interests in mind.

As he builds his empire inside government and assures himself great wealth once he leaves, Lehman serves one master--the large multi-national media companies. And they are mighty happy with his performance.

Take last year's release of the so-called "White Paper" on the National Information Infrastructure (the almost-impossible-to- rattle-off official name for my even less favorite term "information superhighway"). The paper's main purpose was to carve into policy even broader rights for corporate interests to protect copyright on the electronic pathways of the present and future.

Virtually alone among writers' groups, we strongly criticized the document. We would not be seduced by the attempt to place us, holders of individual copyright who want our work protected, on the same side as Time Warner and Disney. The "White Paper" did not say a single word about whether "all- rights" contracts were transferring all copyright into the hands of corporations. Nor did it raise the general question of whether writers like you and me should get our fair share of the pot of electronic gold glistening in the distance. Effectively, Lehman shaped the "White Paper" (written, by the way. with little no input from non-corporate interests) so that legislation could be drafted nailing down corporate intellectual property rights, at the expense of all creators, libraries and other information users.

Lehman also played a key role in pushing through the huge telecommunications deregulation bill, which passed in the Spring. Once again, this was a gift to large media companies, unleashing to the vagaries of the vaunted free-market an estimated one trillion dollar business. The Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan research group, just gave me the most recent shocking statistics: the media companies (in which publishing is just one small interest, along with telephone, cable and computers) poured almost $8.5 million in campaign contributions into the coffers of key Democrats and Republicans. While this bill was hailed by a broad political spectrum ( Al Gore, already building his financial and political base for a presidential run in 2000, and Newt Gingrich were its biggest cheerleaders), it will only enrich and empower the people who are attacking our livelihood.

More recently, Lehman tried another power grab. He quietly tried to push through legislation that would have moved the U.S. Copyright Office from the jurisdiction of the Library of Congress into his shop at the Patents and Trademarks Office (PTO). When we heard about the maneuver, we immediately rushed to protest the move, followed quickly by other creators groups.

For us, this wasn't just a question of stopping Lehman from having a bigger sandbox to play in, but a fundamentally different way of looking at what copyright is about. As I wrote in my letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, "The Library of Congress has a long, distinguished history promoting the arts, culture and knowledge in this country by...advocating for the preservation of the works of individual creators. That is its primary role...However, the PTO's primary role is to encourage commerce. In the current environmenmenmenment, we are concerned that the interests of individual creators will not be properly protected by the PTO whose main constituency is the business community. This is a community that has relentlessly been taking away all control over copyright from individual creators--through, for example, the unilateral imposition of "all-rights" and "work-for-hire" contracts."

We won the first skirmish--the legislation was postponed. But, be assured--Lehman will be back. There's just too much money greasing the wheels.

And we'll be watching.

just proves the point that it doesn't matter who we put into office. President, congress, or state governments. the real power in this country can't be voted out.

Speaking of who's in office, polls have Bush over Kerry 54 to 41. That should keep this site freaking over right-wing conspiracies and Nazi stormtroopers for another 4 years. Fun!

Thought this page was about getting back at the RIAA and P2P? Since when did the far-left nutjobs take hold of this place?

First off, this article has everything to do with the RIAA. Secondly, if you actually read the article, you'd know that it's hardly singing the praises of the left.

lordperrin is right. since the media cartel has this guy in their pockets he can get any bill affecting copyrights and P2P through congress. Money knows no political idealogy

As far as the RIAA goes here's the winners of the downhill battle and P2Pnet.net movie contest protesting the recording industry

http://p2pnet.net/story/2425

It's true that both Democrats and Republicans come in for harsh criticism from the powers-that-be at this site. But "Nazi" is an epithet reserved for conservatives.

"In the current environmenmenmenment,"

=) sorry but this one is just funny. No trolling. You've gotta laugh at that one...
*adds another menmenmen to it*

Show me a liberal Nazi.

Good point.

If Lehman was already trying to set corporate interests in that far back, just how much more legislation has been passed, or will pass?

I don't care about your ideology, what's sad is that with everything that does eventually leak out, most of the public nowdays just shrugs at this stuff with a "what can I do" attitude.

What a contrast when you consider that the Fouding Fathers revolted over far less than we put up with now.

To save our nation, one day enough concerned people will feel constrained to take the plunge to revolt just like the original patriots did when they could no longer tolerate the lack of true representation (a deplorable condition which has returned).
Government of, by, and for the people?
USED TO BE -- only history now.

instead of dressing as indians and dumping tea in Boston Harbor...... we should dress as pirates and go Fdisk all of the RIAA's computers.

Man, don't just Fdisk the computers, but cut all the connections to the fans, then rip out the heat sink. See how long their computers last before the cpu explodes.

freakchick, and we all know polls elect president's !! RIGHT??? 10/4 flbgbt

actually they do. when the polls show someone ahead people voting for someone else stays home.

I have a theory on how to lower the deficit and balance the budget. instead of elections we can just commission polsters to take a series of polls and develop an average and choose the leaders that way. We're almost doing it like that anyway. imagine the money we'd save. Also we can close down most of our court system but allowing the media to go on and do the research and publicly convict everyone like they do now. then we can take viewer polls as to what punishments the criminals deserve. think of the money saved in our judicial system. this way the networks don't have to worry about all those pesky little disclaimers at the end of these shows. where the accused are publicly castrated before having the comentator say..... "remember he is innocent until proven guilty" (wink wink)

We could balance the budget and still have all the wars we want. (sarcasm here everyone)

Good one compmore. I don't have a cutlass but I do have a nice daito, a leather eye patch and a life-like parrot.

Personally, I find far-left just as fascistic, just as willing to impose their values on everyone, as any conservative. Whether it is fair to call either side a Nazi, I don't know. I only use the term in jest, as in "The Soup Nazi."

No soup for you!!!

Late Thursday afternoon, NBC News and CBS News requested that that the Democratic National Committee pull the campaign video in question. The DNC, through a spokesman, says that the matter is under consideration.

NBC released a statement Tuesday afternoon. "The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has included an edited excerpt from a Meet the Press interview with President Bush that was broadcast on February 8, 2004 as part of their promotional campaign to be used as a web video and shown in battleground states. NBC News does not authorize its copyrighted footage to be used for partisan political purposes. NBC News did not, and does not, license use of our material for these purposes and we have asked the DNC to cease and desist immediately from using the excerpt."

CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius told THE WEEKLY STANDARD late Tuesday afternoon that CBS, like NBC, will demand that the Democratic National Committee stop using CBS News footage in the new ad. "We do not want them to use the video and we are taking it up with them," said Genelius.

Jano Cabrera, a spokesman for the DNC, says the matter is under consideration. "We are aware of the request[s] and we are looking at it. Our current understanding is that we have the right to use the limited excerpts in the video. But we are looking at it." See

i'm with autodidact on this.

i live in Ann Arbor, MI, a mostly liberal area, and i find many more far left activists attemtping to force their position on me, and just as unwilling to see the other side of the argument as any conservative.

also, both democrats and republicans are bought out by the RIAA.

Subtle distinction there - democrats are bought out by the RIAA; republicans ARE the RIAA. Same outcome, but at least the dems could maybe be brought to their senses.

somebody should've told Clinton that when he signed the DMCA with a Democratic congress

we need our own political party. specifically with aims to keep America as free as possible. Unlike the repubs and dems who'll vote for anythinbg with a buck behind it

Our own political party -- that would be great!
Or, at the very least, backing a libertarian who will be sympathetic to the rights of citizens and have a receptive ear for the plight of consumers.

It comes down to a clear distinction between a copyright and a patent.
The RIAA and the MPAA, for example, have blurred the line. They speak of their "intellectual property" and its importance to the economy. They want more and more protection from our legislators.
They have copyrights - not patents! It's not about advancing the culture. It's all about business - commerce.

Raoulduke1: The DNC used "an edited excerpt" from a news program. Was it out of context? Was it just a snippet?
Doesn't this constitute "fair use"?

Way to go and congrads to ya compmore!

If the swiftboat vets can use those clips of Kerry, then the DNC should be able to use the Bush clips.

Bruce Lehman needs to go away. So does Mary Beth Peters. So does Orrin Hatch. So does Michael Powel. John Ashcroft. Etc. etc.

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
Support Local and Independent Music!

[thunderous applause!!!]