arstechnica.com wrote:On Friday afternoon, an influential group representing conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives released a shockingly sensible memo calling for sweeping reforms of the nation's copyright laws. But less than 24 hours later, the group's executive director, Paul Teller, issued a statement saying he was recalling the memo because it had been "published without adequate review."
The Republican Study Committee is a caucus consisting of more than 160 conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives—a majority of that party's House members. It acts as an internal think tank for the group, developing policy proposals and providing intellectual support for conservative positions. Hence, an RSC endorsement of sweeping reforms to the nation's copyright laws would be a watershed moment in the national copyright debate.
The memo, titled "Three Myths about Copyright Law and Where to Start to Fix it," is a direct assault on the relentlessly pro-copyright worldview dominating Washington for decades. "Most legislative discussions on this topic are not premised upon what is in the public good or what will promote the most productivity and innovation, but rather what the content creators 'deserve' or are 'entitled to' by virtue of their creation," the memo says. That's a problem, it argues, because the Constitution says the point of copyright is to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts"—not merely to line the pockets of incumbent copyright holders.
The memo also contends "copyright violates nearly every tenet of laissez faire capitalism," granting content producers a "guaranteed, government instituted, government subsidized content monopoly." Excessive copyright protection, it claims, "leads to what economists call 'rent-seeking' which is effectively non-productive behavior that sucks economic productivity and potential from the overall economy."
The memo concludes with policy recommendations, and it reads like a copyright reformer's wish list. It calls for reducing statutory damages, which under current law can go as high as $150,000 per infringement. It advocates expanded fair use and penalties for false copyright claims. And it proposes a complex new scheme for copyright renewals that would reduce the maximum term of copyright to 46 years. Under current law, copyright protection for individual authors lasts for the life of the author plus another 70 years.
Generation gap
How did such a sensible document emerge from one of the most powerful groups on Capitol Hill? The memo was authored by a young Republican Study Committee staffer, Derek Khanna. Khanna has been active in Republican politics since high school. He studied the Middle East, political science, and history at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and, after graduation, he landed a job working for Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). In January, he shifted to the Republican Study Committee, where he has focused on cyber-security, homeland security, and government oversight.
Khanna has exactly the kind of resume you'd expect for someone with tech-savvy views on copyright law. He lists "C++, Backtrack, Python, Sql, Java, Dreamweaver/Photoshop, statistical modeling," as interests, as well as "building computers and beta testing software." Best of all, Khanna tells us that he's an "avid reader" of Ars Technica.
The significance of Khanna's memo is best understood in the light of January's defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act. As we pointed out shortly after SOPA's defeat, Hollywood long enjoyed closer ties to Democrats than Republicans. And that greater affinity was reflected in the asymmetrical reaction to the SOPA protests. Republican members of Congress who had co-sponsored SOPA (or its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act) quickly withdrew as sponsors. But most Democratic co-sponsors remained stalwart Hollywood allies, refusing to renounce the legislation.
The defeat of SOPA was overwhelmingly the work of Khanna's generation. Thousands of youthful redditors and Wikipedians called their representatives in Congress. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)—who is no spring chicken himself but boasts an army of youthful supporters—was one of the first Republicans to declare his opposition to SOPA.
But if the release of the RSC memo on Friday signaled a continued interest in copyright reform among young Republicans, the older generation reasserted its authority Saturday afternoon. "We at the RSC take pride in providing informative analysis of major policy issues and pending legislation that accounts for the range of perspectives held by RSC Members and within the conservative community," RSC executive director Paul Teller wrote in an e-mail to RSC members. "Yesterday you received a Policy Brief on copyright law that was published without adequate review within the RSC and failed to meet that standard. Copyright reform would have far-reaching impacts, so it is incredibly important that it be approached with all facts and viewpoints in hand."
Lobbyist pressure
"The RSC issues a lot of memos," a source with knowledge of the RSC's operations told Ars. "They're a small shop" with a lot of issues on their plate. Our source didn't think the memo reflected a sea change in the views of Republican members of Congress. But he said the fact Khanna was able to get his memo through the RSC's vetting process suggested there was sympathy for his views at least within the RSC staff.
The source told us content industry lobbyists exerted pressure on RSC leadership to repudiate the memo.
Khanna's memo has received widespread (and overwhelmingly positive) attention from the tech blogosphere. And our source suggested that could cause Republicans to take a second look at Khanna's ideas. "Republicans may see this as an indication that there's something to be gained by working on this issue," he told us.
Other observers agree. "Embracing Internet culture and copyright reform may be one of the easiest things we can do to win over young voters," tweeted Patrick Ruffini, a prominent Republican operative. And the primary downside would be alienating Hollywood, an interest group that has never cared much for Republicans anyway.