GristyMcFisty lets us know that the
powerful Congressman James Sensenbrenner took 18,000 USD from the RIAA for a 'lobbying trip' to Thailand. The Congressman was at the center of
the controversy over royalty rates for small webcasters and he was on the people that would be forcing the
deal that could result in an antitrust suit against the RIAA:
 The trouble is,
Congressmen are forbidden from taking private donations to lobby abroad.
Sensennbrenner recorded the visit to Taiwan and Thailand back in January,
as a "fact finding mission".
According to the House Ethics
Committee's advisory booklet on Gifts and Travel, "Members and staff may
not accept expenses from a private source for travel the primary purpose
of which is to conduct official business."
The
RIAA has confirmed that the purpose of Sensenbrenner's paid-for jaunt was
one of exposition: "so they understand that this is a unified message
coming from all levels of the U.S. government," according to an RIAA
spokesperson.
Three months before his five-day
RIAA-sponsored trip, Sensenbrenner surprised observers by taking a close
interest in the Small Webcasters Settlement Act (HR.5469) which morphed
from the anticipated six-month cooling off period into a bill specifying
detailed rates and conditions, which many small webcasters found
unpalatable. According to participants in the negotiations, Sensenbrenner
forced the webcasters to come up with a royalty settlement with the RIAA,
threatening to use his staff to write the terms
instead. |
The Boycott-RIAA and the Webcaster Alliance have
produced an
electronic form with which people can fax their Congressional
representative so that an investigation can begin. Read the complete story here.
Source: The Register
