George Clooney recently hosted a record $15 million fundraiser for President Oba by Efloch
Clooney hosted a fundraiser for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign
at his home in Studio City, California.
The event featured a Who’s Who
of the entertainment industry, including Barbara Streisand, Robert Downey, Jr.,
and Jeffrey Katzenberg. The event
brought in a staggering $15 million.
Obama also held the previous record for campaign support from Hollywood
movers and shakers, but the $9 million he received from them in 2008 now
seems almost paltry in comparison.This is quite a
reversal from last January, when Obama’s opposition to the unpopular SOPA and
PIPA bills had studio heads threatening to withhold their support. Entertainment industry leaders were strong
supporters of the bills, which were intended to strengthen copyright laws and
prevent online film piracy. Deadline even quotes one unnamed
executive saying, ” I’m personally not going to support him
anymore and not give a dime anymore.” Apparently, Obama’s signature on the
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which some critics claim violated
the U.S. Constitution, wasn’t enough for them. So
what happened to change their minds?
President Barack Obama has promised to veto CISPA. by White House (Pete Souza)
In January,
President Obama was caught in a dilemma: The entertainment industry wanted to
stop online piracy with SOPA and PIPA, but large Internet and communications
companies feared that such legislation would cut into their profits. Silicon Valley is also important to Obama’s
re-election campaign, as tech companies contributed $9.2 million to his 2008
campaign.
On the other hand, high
tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have not publicly opposed
efforts to allow the FBI to wiretap their websites, and some actively
support the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).
President Obama
said he would veto CISPA, but there is reason to think that might change
after the election in November. First,
by signing ACTA without Senate approval, Obama has called his commitment to
Internet freedom into question. As OpEdNews Editor Rob Kall writes,
“ACTA makes SOPA and PIPA look like small problems. It allows the most repressive nations to
demand that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) remove content or even whole
websites on demand. Picture China
demanding removal of a website criticizing some policy or action. Google was just about shut down in China in
response to Chinese demands. Imagine if
China could have the same chilling effect in the US and the rest of the world.”
Furthermore, Obama’s
opposition to SOPA and PIPA does not appear to be firm. According to Jessica King at Imperfect Parent, “While the
White House came out and said that it wouldn’t support the current drafts of
the legislation, it did say that it would support revised drafts. Hollywood is not going to let this go and
they are going to call out favors for political donations.” And MPAA chief and former senator Christopher
Dodd assured The Hollywood Reporter
that, ” I’m confident [President Obama’s] using his good
relationships in both communities to do exactly what you and I have been
talking about [passing anti-piracy legislation similar to SOPA and PIPA].”
Obama’s opposition to CISPA may well be a simple case of election year
politicking. According to Mitch Stoltz
of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “It’s a lot more quiet, and I
would guess it’s because it’s an election year.
I think they realize this sort of thing can be an election liability
now.” Civil libertarians are
reminded that so far, President Obama has reneged on his 2008 campaign pledges
to close the U.S. base at Guantanamo and rescind the Patriot Act. In a second term, President Obama would no
longer need to be concerned with voter approval, so his opposition to CISPA and
anti-piracy legislation like SOPA and PIPA might very well change to support.So, how did
President Obama appease both the entertainment industry executives and the
Silicon Valley crowd? At this point
there is very little hard evidence to say.
However, one possibility is obvious.
Even without SOPA/PIPA, several websites have been shut down.
The key is to
realize that CISPA does not preclude the Federal government from paying
Internet, cybersecurity, and communications companies for the data they will be
requested to provide. In fact, gathering
and transmitting large amounts of data to the government will incur costs to
the providers, and it would not be unreasonable for the government to reimburse
them for those costs. So, what if they
pay a premium for that data? Who would
even know if the government contracts that provide for collection and
transmission of Internet users’ data exceeded the costs incurred?It is entirely
possible that anti-piracy legislation like SOPA and PIPA and information
sharing legislation like CISPA have been sold to both the entertainment
industry and the Silicon Valley crowd as a package deal. That way, both groups get what they
want. In fact, the Internet and
communications companies might even see their revenues substantially increased.Of course, we won’t
know until after the November elections.
And by then, it might be too late to do anything about it.
Take action — click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
Vote “NO” on CISPA!
Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers
Alan Pyeatt is an award-winning Civil Engineer who lives in Monrovia, California. He also enjoys music, organic gardening, economics, and audio/video production. He has been a member of the Libertarian Party for 30 years, and is currently an Alternate At-Large Rep for the California Executive Committee.
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Prediction – Obama will support something, and claim that it’s in the interest of “internet freedom”, but it won’t actually be.
LOL
Yes, that’s it.
40??? I guess your advanced age MUST be due to all the clean living you have enjoyed over the years! 😉
Thanks again Jill!
As mentioned on the other post
I?m now 40 (grrrr) and IPR coincidentally turns 4 today. I was not there when it started so it has to be coincidence 🙂
See last year?s b-day post https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2011/05/ipr-3-years-on-the-intertubes/ for more details as well as https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2010/05/independent-political-report-turns-two-years-old/ and https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/05/west-virginia-libertarians-raising-funds-for-2010-2012-ballot-access-ipr-one-year-anniversary/
I’ll try to put up another one of those today…
Happy Birthday to Paulie today!
I have amended the article to indicate that Alan is a Libertarian, which was the reason I posted this.
Alan is active with the LP. I believe he is still on their state committee but I’ll have to check. I’m categorizing it as LP but not otherwise changing anything in Jill’s article, but I recommend she add Alan’s current LP titles and/or some past ones to the blurb to justify posting it here.
I was looking for the connection as well.
Why IPR for this?