Thursday, October 23, 2008

McCain: Laws Are Only For the Little People

After YouTube yanked several of John McCain's videos from their site due to copyright violations (he keeps using music at his rallies without authorization of the artists), the GOP nominee is now asking for special treatment.

As reported by CNET's Chris Soghoian, McCain thinks VIP's should get special treatment when they are suspected of violating copyright laws. Regular folks like you and me should have their videos pulled immediately, and be forced to prove that our video constitutes "fair use" before they are allowed to be re-posted.

As he points out, Congress typically only takes the time to fix problems when they are affected personally. Back in the 1980's, Congress passed the Video Privacy Protection Act only after it became clear (during the Bork Supreme Court hearings) that their own rental histories could become press fodder. In the meantime, there likely won't be any relief to chronic airport security delays as long as members of Congress are allowed to skip the lines altogether.

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