TCS: Tech - Democrats vs. New Media
But McAuliffe's strategy is doomed to fail. It's doomed to fail because it is aimed at treating the symptoms, rather than addressing the reason Democrats are so unpopular with producers and users of small media in the first place. And nothing illustrates the problem more than what happened the same day that McAuliffe got his $7 million check from an entertainment mogul: Democratic Sen. Fritz Hollings of South Carolina, himself a recipient of nearly $300,000 in entertainment-industry money during the last election cycle, introduced legislation that seems guaranteed to ensure that the small-media world will hate the Democrats, whose support for copy protection -- and receipt of campaign contributions from the entertainment industry -- far outweighs that of Republicans. ...Kind of says it all.
For someone who's worried about what Web message boards are saying about Democrats, this seems like an awfully dumb move. (It's already filled up one Web message board -- a Senate site taking comments on the legislation -- with negative comments). There's nothing more likely to inflame the Web than a copy-protection bill that is a complete sellout to corporate interests, and that's what this one is.
Then there's the loss of moral legitimacy: It's hard to pose as friends of the little guy against Big Business when you're taking money from Big Business while taking long-established rights away from the little guy. (Scott Harshbarger of Common Cause calls this move "a shocking fire sale.")
No comments:
Post a Comment