Jerry Pournelle, over at Byte.com, refers to this FoxNews.com article:

Republicans Should Back Recording Artists, Consumers

Money seems to be the explanation here. A Wired article on the hearings noted that in the 2000 election cycle, the entertainment industry gave Democrats a whopping $24.2 million in contributions compared to $13.3 million to Republicans.

So championing the cause of the little guy only counts until the bidding gets high enough.

This partiality is a betrayal of principle. As such, it represents a real political opportunity for the Republicans. Democrats do like to portray themselves as the friends of the little guy and the protectors of ordinary Americans against greedy big business — as demonstrated by their posturing over the Enron collapse. But as Ken Layne pointed out last week, the entertainment industries make Enron’s management look like Boy Scouts.

This is all about Senator Fritz Holling's (D., S.C.) efforts on behalf of the huge entertainment and recording industry to control digital media. Interesting reading. Makes Enron look like child's play, and is all about an industry obsessed with their existing business models and controlling Everything.