President Elect Appoints RIAA's Favorite Lawyer For Department Of Justice Position

[Ed Hansberry]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10133425-38.html' target='_blank'>http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10133425-38.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"As president-elect, one of Obama's first tech-related decisions has been to select the Recording Industry Association of America's favorite lawyer [Tom Perrelli]&nbsp;to be the third in command at the Justice Department. And Obama's pick as deputy attorney general, the second most senior position, is the lawyer who oversaw the defense of the Copyright Term Extension Act--the same law that Lessig and his allies unsuccessfully sued to overturn."</em></p><p>This is one presidential appointment that is sure to affect many music and video lovers, directly or indirectly. This is the guy that tried to get Verizon to release names of purported file sharers to the RIAA without a judge reviewing the evidence first. It was the old "guilty until you are bankrupt from legal fees" ploy. You can read about more of his shenanigans at the article. Here is hoping that the Perrelli meets severe challenges by the confirmation process and backs out or is rejected.</p>

[apeguero]

Wasn't Obama the tech-friendly candidate? The hip and up-to-date, geek friendly guy we all wanted for President? I'm concerned with this RIAA lawyer being in that position now. They [RIAA] got far enough with the current administration. I can only fear how far they'll get now.

[tbird]

Wasn't Obama the tech-friendly candidate? The hip and up-to-date, geek friendly guy we all wanted for President? I'm concerned with this RIAA lawyer being in that position now. They [RIAA] got far enough with the current administration. I can only fear how far they'll get now.
I am not to worried. He may have been a big gun for the RIAA, but now there is going to be a lot more important things on his plate. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.

[tendomentis]

It's also important to note that while he might have been a lawyer for the bad guys, that doesn't AUTOMATICALLY make him a bad guy. It would be different if Obama was picking one of the evil music execs for the post. This guy was a foot soldier.

There is also the slim chance that, as a foot soldier, he is totally sick of the music industry's shenanigans and is looking to bring the hammer.

One can only hope.

[Ed Hansberry]

It's also important to note that while he might have been a lawyer for the bad guys, that doesn't AUTOMATICALLY make him a bad guy. It would be different if Obama was picking one of the evil music execs for the post. This guy was a foot soldier.

There is also the slim chance that, as a foot soldier, he is totally sick of the music industry's shenanigans and is looking to bring the hammer.

One can only hope.

At his level, he wasn't a foot soldier, but a master strategist. Perhaps he has seen the evil of his ways, but I am not optimistic. The article stated that this type of appointment wasn't a surprise given Joe Biden's love of the DMCA.