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Orphan Works: Still Sucks!
Sep. 29th, 2008 08:47 amThis is taken from the Illustrators Partnership:
As lawmakers struggled Friday to clean up the mess on Wall Street, sponsors of the Orphan Works Act passed more special interest legislation. Their bill would force copyright holders to subsidize giant copyright databases run by giant internet firms.
Like the companies now needing billion dollar bailouts, these copyright registries – which would theoretically contain the entire copyright wealth of the US – would presumably be "too big to fail." Yet it's our wealth, not theirs, the scheme would risk.
Small business owners didn't ask for this legislation. We don't want it and we don't need it. Our opposition numbers have been growing daily. So Friday, the bill's sponsors reached for the hotline.
What is Hotlining?
Critics of hotlining say "that lawmakers are essentially signing off on legislation neither they nor their staff have ever read."
"In order for a bill to be hotlined, the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader must agree to pass it by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote. The two leaders then inform Members of this agreement using special hotlines installed in each office and give Members a specified amount of time to object – in some cases as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill is passed."
- Roll Call, Sept 17, 2007
In other words, a Senate bill can pass by "unanimous consent" even if some Senators don't know about it.
The Devil's Own Day
Senators Leahy and Hatch hotlined the Orphan Works Act twice last summer. Each time came at the end of a day, at the end of a week, near the end of a legislative session. Each time lawmakers were distracted by other issues and other plans. Each time artists rallied quickly and each time a Senator put a hold on the bill.
Friday the Senators found a new opportunity.
With lawmakers struggling to package a 700 billion dollar bailout to avert a worldwide economic meltdown, with the rest of the country focused on Presidential debates, with Washington in chaos and Congressional phone lines jammed, they hotlined an amended bill. On short notice, even the legislative aides we could reach by phone said they didn't have time to read it. And so, while we were rushing to get out a second email blast to artists, the bill passed by "unanimous consent" - in other words, by default.
THERE IS STILL ACTION TO TAKE PEOPLE! The Senate passed their bill Friday, but the House hasn't. There's still time to write, phone and fax your congressional representatives. Tell them not to let the House Judiciary Committee fold their bill and adopt the Senate's.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! Click this link to send a quick e-mail to your representative on behalf of artists everywhere: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321
Times are uncertain, especially now. This does violate our right to property but at times like this, no one is thinking clearly. Please take the time to do this for any artist you know or anyone who is a small, private business owner. Thank you.
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twirlynoodle also pointed out, " It's been lobbied for by people like Microsoft and Getty and big companies like them, who will make a profit off of this, and who package it up very nicely as being all about freeing up vast libraries of old images and writings that everyone's too afraid to use because someone might sue their butts even though in all likelihood the authors are dead and gone."
As lawmakers struggled Friday to clean up the mess on Wall Street, sponsors of the Orphan Works Act passed more special interest legislation. Their bill would force copyright holders to subsidize giant copyright databases run by giant internet firms.
Like the companies now needing billion dollar bailouts, these copyright registries – which would theoretically contain the entire copyright wealth of the US – would presumably be "too big to fail." Yet it's our wealth, not theirs, the scheme would risk.
Small business owners didn't ask for this legislation. We don't want it and we don't need it. Our opposition numbers have been growing daily. So Friday, the bill's sponsors reached for the hotline.
What is Hotlining?
Critics of hotlining say "that lawmakers are essentially signing off on legislation neither they nor their staff have ever read."
"In order for a bill to be hotlined, the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader must agree to pass it by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote. The two leaders then inform Members of this agreement using special hotlines installed in each office and give Members a specified amount of time to object – in some cases as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill is passed."
- Roll Call, Sept 17, 2007
In other words, a Senate bill can pass by "unanimous consent" even if some Senators don't know about it.
The Devil's Own Day
Senators Leahy and Hatch hotlined the Orphan Works Act twice last summer. Each time came at the end of a day, at the end of a week, near the end of a legislative session. Each time lawmakers were distracted by other issues and other plans. Each time artists rallied quickly and each time a Senator put a hold on the bill.
Friday the Senators found a new opportunity.
With lawmakers struggling to package a 700 billion dollar bailout to avert a worldwide economic meltdown, with the rest of the country focused on Presidential debates, with Washington in chaos and Congressional phone lines jammed, they hotlined an amended bill. On short notice, even the legislative aides we could reach by phone said they didn't have time to read it. And so, while we were rushing to get out a second email blast to artists, the bill passed by "unanimous consent" - in other words, by default.
THERE IS STILL ACTION TO TAKE PEOPLE! The Senate passed their bill Friday, but the House hasn't. There's still time to write, phone and fax your congressional representatives. Tell them not to let the House Judiciary Committee fold their bill and adopt the Senate's.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! Click this link to send a quick e-mail to your representative on behalf of artists everywhere: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321
Times are uncertain, especially now. This does violate our right to property but at times like this, no one is thinking clearly. Please take the time to do this for any artist you know or anyone who is a small, private business owner. Thank you.
twirlynoodle also pointed out, " It's been lobbied for by people like Microsoft and Getty and big companies like them, who will make a profit off of this, and who package it up very nicely as being all about freeing up vast libraries of old images and writings that everyone's too afraid to use because someone might sue their butts even though in all likelihood the authors are dead and gone."
