What Would Be the Copyright Posture of a McCain-Palin Administration?
Friday, September 5th, 2008 by Harry LewisWould it be in line with the tough language of McCain’s Issues page:
John McCain Will Protect The Creative Industries From Piracy. The entertainment industry is both a vital sector of the domestic economy and among the largest U.S. exporters. While the Internet has provided tremendous opportunity for the creators of copyrighted works, including music and movies, to distribute their works around the world at low cost, it has also given rise to a global epidemic of piracy. John McCain supports efforts to crack down on piracy, both on the Internet and off.
… or the more relaxed posture of their nominating convention, which played music without the permission of the recording artists, who are angry about it? Protesting are:
Van Halen (Right Now): Used for McCain’s big entrance last night. Permission was not sought, and would have been denied.
Heart (Barracuda): Used last night when Palin joined McCain on stage after his speech. The copyright holder has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the campaign.
This is not the first time McCain has taken a generous view about sharing others’ copyrighted material. For example, there was an issue earlier this summer with¬†Franki Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Warner Music sent a takedown notice to YouTube, where a video montage mocking Obama had been posted on McCain’s official channel.
Digital copyright law is crazy to be sure (that’s our Chapter 6). You have to wonder whether McCain has any idea how crazy, or whether he thinks it applies only to teenagers so he doesn’t need to worry about it.