Not all lawmakers are on the payroll of the content industries it seems
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/18/riaa_biggest_threat_innovation_senator/Attempts by the content industry to pass legislation like the Protect IP Act are the greatest threat to technology innovation, a senior US Senator told delegates at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco.
Ron Wyden, the senior Democratic senator for Oregon, was scathing in his criticism of organizations such as the RIAA for their role in crafting the legislation, and their spending to support politicians who back it. He said that the act attacked some of the fundamental principles of the internet and he was happy to have placed a public hold on the legislation to stop it becoming law.
“Social media needs to understand what the threat is, the threat to innovation of some of these policies,” he said. “We’re going to have to fight back. This is a question of whether the content sector can use the government as club to go after the innovation sector and everything it represents.”
The main problem with Washington, he said, was money. The US Supreme Court's Citizens United verdict, which allows unlimited campaign contributions by corporations, was enormous and moving the country away from democracy.
I'm both suprised and happy there is at least one honest Politician in the US folks can maybe leverage to lobby for more open govt, a breath of fresh air in an otherwise dark and stagnant filing cabinet.
