In Paris, 'iPod law' unleashes lobbyists

International Herald Tribune ^ | May 22, 2006 | Thomas Crampton

[Star Traveler]

"Rarely in parliamentary life have those elected by the nation - deputies and senators - been subjected to so many letters, e-mails, menaces and pressures," Michel Charasse, a senator since 1981, said during the debate, to resounding applause from his colleagues. "I would ask the Senate staff to rigorously clean the corridors of the lobbyists from all sides who jump on us as soon as we leave the hall."

Some legislators criticized the presence of representatives from two music retailers, Fnac and Virgin, who entered the National Assembly during debate on a law that would affect them. The store representatives, who were admitted special entry wearing badges issued by the Ministry of Culture, had been brought in to an area normally off-limits to demonstrate legal downloading, culture officials later told the newspaper Libération.

Vivendi, which is based in Paris and which lobbied hard to include a number of anti-piracy measures in the law, became permanently associated with the debate, at least unofficially.

A section of the law that has become known as the "Vivendi amendment" has angered software companies, which say it holds them legally responsible for preventing their products from being used to pirate copyrighted material - another pioneering legal principle.

[Star Traveler]

What caught my attention, and which makes this article a bit different than all the other "ipod legislation" articles -- are two things.

One thing was that the "lobbying pressure" was *so great* that officials (in France) canceled a film festival (quite unusual I would say, in and of itself).

It said in the article --

"Home for 15 years to a cinema festival that has attracted high-profile directors and producers, the French city of Beaune has now declared war on the film industry. The annual movie gathering set for October was abruptly canceled by the city in February."

And then *secondly* -- while I was reading all the articles about the "iPod legislation" -- I never really read about *all the other interests* that were threatened (as the reporting *always* left out the majority of other interests). These articles always kept referring to "iPod" as the only one who was *concerned* (i.e., "Apple Computer").

This shows (in how this has been reported in the past, as being an "iPod phenomenon") -- how the reporting is very *paltry* and "uninspired" as to *really reporting* the issue. This is the closest I've seen to "reporting" on it -- in it "broad aspects".

So, anyway -- I now see it *really* is all these other concerns who feel threatened, and they have been "lobbying" in there, too. So, it's *not* solely an "iPod phenomenon" -- but -- it's the *entire music industry* (and film industry) who feels threatened.

That puts a more "well-rounded perspective" on the whole thing, rather than the reporting that refers to the legislation as simply an "iPod phenomenon".

Regards, Star Traveler