Ars Technica reported yesterday that Vice President Joe Biden held a roundtable discussion with “all stakeholders” on enforcing copyright in a changing digital world. “Invited—MPAA, RIAA, movie studios, music labels, publishers, the FBI, the Secret Service, and Homeland Security. Not invited—everyone else.”
But though the event billed itself “the first of its kind, and will bring together all of the stakeholders to discuss ways to combat piracy in this rapidly changing technological age,” they didn’t manage to invite any public interest groups or academics—people who can most definitely be considered stakeholders.
The Internet was a key topic of conversation, and groups like Public Knowledge, a Washington DC based public interest group working to defend your rights in the emerging digital culture, weren’t keen about giving content owners a venue for lobbying high-level officials on topics like three-strikes laws, ISP liability, and Internet filtering.
Public Knowledge’s Gigi Sohn said, “It is unclear why three cabinet officers, several subcabinet officers, the directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service are needed to tend to the worries of the big media companies, particularly the motion picture industry which is completing a year in which it will set box-office records.
“No consumer or public-interest groups, technology companies, technology associations or Internet Service Providers are on the guest list. No one who questions the need for Draconian governmental policies on behalf of the privileged special interest group for whom this meeting is being held is on the guest list.”
Check out what Public Knowledge has to say about copyright and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement at Public Knowledge.org.
Tags: Digital Rights, Internet Speed