http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2009/09/28/obama-appoints-victoria-espinel-first-copyright-czar

(Is anyone out there as freaked out about Obama's pet Czars as I am???)Because I think he's growing a whole new Congress unto himself..without YOUR approval!

Uh, I don't think Obama created any of these czar positions. He definitely didn't create this one -- Congress did (the Senate, specifically), while Bush was still in office. The RIAA more than tripled its lobbying spending last year (compared to ANY year since 1999) to make it happen.

This is the RIAA's pet czar, not Obama's.

Czarina

Obama is the finance industry's pet Czar.

Of course Obama has created some new Czars, but Bush had a lot of 'em too. Czar is probably not a very accurate title, but sounds good -- as if these people will actually be able to solve some of the problems assigned to them. LOL.

Next up, a record industry bailout. In seven years, just about every industry should be on Washington's leash, because of bailout loans they can't pay back. (Except Goldman Sachs, of course.)

Also, if someone wants to front page this (I'm not submitting it because when I do, then my full name gets posted, for some reason): ASCAP/BMI now want royalties for 30 second song samples on iTunes, et al. I kid you not. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10355448-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Czar is probably not a very accurate title, but sounds good

And it's a lot easier to spell than the usual government aphabet soup.

ASCAP/BMI now want royalties for 30 second song samples on iTunes

Saw that a few weeks ago. Wrote to ASCAP, told them they were morons and asked them what I had to do to cancel my membership, which they only let you do in September.

Naturally, they didn't respond.

Re: "Czarina"

Or perhaps "Czarette".
Then again, "Czarbitch" has a nice ring to it, nicht wahr?

I've been a little leary of Obama's appointees ever since I learned that some were former (and presumably future) RIAA lawyers. But Dubya really liked the term "Czar". In his first year, he appointed:
"Faith Czars"
White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Directors
Don Willett and John DiIulio
"Terrorism Czars"
National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-Terrorism
Richard A. Clarke
and
National Director and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism
Wayne Downing
"Science Czar"
Science Advisor to the President, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director
John Marburger
"Cyber Security Czar"
Special Advisor to the President on Cybersecurity
Richard A. Clarke
"AIDS Czar"
Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy
Scott Evertz
"Budget Czar"
Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget
Mitchell E. Daniels
"Clean Up Czar"
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, Department of Energy
Jessie Roberson
"Bioethics Czar"
Advisor to the President, Chairman of The President's Council on Bioethics
Leon Kass
"Reading Czar"
President's Advisor on Reading First Initiative, Director of Reading Research, National Institutes of Child Health and Development, Member of the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education
G. Reid Lyon
"Regulatory Czar"
Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Office of Management and Budget
John D. Graham
and "Drug Czar"
National Drug Control Policy Director
John P. Walters

I was living in Indiana's "Unigov" (city of Indianapolis/Marion County combined governmental area) back when Mitch Daniels and a small group of his cronies were in the process of nearly ruining the place.
Between that exasperating era and the time that same small group started their assault on the entire state, Daniels was Dubya's Budget Director.
In a meeting held while the rubble of the WTC towers was...literally...still burning, there was, reportedly, a perfectly partisan split. The Democrats were pushing for aid for the victims' families, arguing that many of the dead had been their families' breadwinners. The Republicans were of the opinion that a more practical use of the money would be ensuring the survival of the major airlines. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said, "Look, nobody at this table can put a dollar value on human life..."
"SURE WE CAN!", interrupted Daniels, "We have the figures on that!"
He's rumored to be a frontrunner for the Republican presidential candidacy in 2012.

Hmm, Daniels has the figures on the dollar value of a human life!
I wonder what value he would place on his own life. He's SO important; I'm sure it would be an astronomical figure.

If he does manage to be a candidate in 2012, I can't wait to the opportunity to vote against him.
(People like him disgust me.)

More news, if anyone wants to front page it: Billy Bragg offers his opinion on sanctions against "the piracy problem"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/30/internet-pirates-illegal-filesharing

"The suppression of illegal filesharing is a long-term, highly expensive, technologically fraught strategy with serious implications for personal privacy. It is questionable whether any of the money saved will ever find its way to the artists who have suffered loss of income.

"While the recording industry continues to make threatening noises towards kids who swap music files among themselves, our real enemies, the illegal download sites that make money giving our music away for free, are disappearing off the radar into darknets.

"This is a war that no one can win."

He kinda, sorta is OK with limiting bandwidth of eggregious download abusers.

How exactly do they determine if someone is an eggregious download abuser. The content? The source? The "content owner"? The quantity?

Should someone be shut down for downloading music and movies from the Internet archive? If it's about the difference between legal and illegal, there's no definitive way to tell the difference, at least none the average teenage downloader would bother to spend the time researching.

Overall, he's right. The music biz cannot stop technology. Technology could stop the music business, though.

I've always said give the RIAA what it wants. Filter them out.

RELATED ISSUE:
If you already haven't, drop by over at the http://www.azoz.com website and read George's recent article, "The RIAA and the Secret Treaty of Doom". It's another Z-man dandy.