Previous Politech message: "Text of letter to Ashcroft wanting jail for P2P pirates" http://www.politechbot.com/p-03872.html --- Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 00:59:45 -0400 From: Jim Knoble <jmknobleat_private> To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Subject: Re: FC: Text of letter to Ashcroft wanting jail for P2P pirates Circa 2002-Aug-10 18:39:39 -0400 dixit Declan McCullagh: : I've placed the congressional letter to Attorney General Ashcroft here: : http://www.politechbot.com/docs/congress.p2p.letter.081002.pdf Among the signatories: - Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), Senate Judiciary Committee. From 1997 to 2002, the Los Angeles metro area is his fourth-largest source of campaign contributions. And Beverly Hills, CA 90210 is the fifth largest zip code contributor, beating out several zips in Senator Biden's home state of Delaware. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/geog.asp?CID=N00001669&cycle=2002 Although his primary contributions come from, in order, the law "industry", real estate, and finance/credit companies (MBNA Corporation, based in Wilmington, Delaware, being the single largest contributor by a fair margin), the contribution from the TV/film/music industry fell from 8th highest (1995-2000) to 12th place (1997-2002). http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00001669&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00001669&cycle=2000 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00001669&cycle=2002 - Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. The law "industry" has been his third largest contributor between 2001 and 2002. TV/film/music made it in the top 14. The National Cable Television Association is in Rep. Smith's top ten individual contributors. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00001811&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00001811&cycle=2002 - Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Chairman, House Judiciary Committee. Between 2001 and 2002, the TV/film/music industry was his top campaign contributor, with the law "industry" running a close second. Among the top 20 individual contributors are the National Cable Television Association, Viacom, Walt Disney, Vivendi Universal, and the Motion Picture Association of America. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00004291&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00004291&cycle=2002 - Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), House Judiciary Committee. From 2001 to 2002, his campaign contributions came first from the TV/film/music industry, and second from the law "industry". Amid the top individual contributors are: Walt Disney, Viacom, AOL Time Warner, and MGM Mirage. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America was his top individual contributor. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00004029&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00004029&cycle=2002 Almost half of Rep. Conyers' top metropolitan-area contributions came from the Los Angeles area. The top three zip codes contributing are Beverly Hills (90212), Beverly Hills (90210), and Los Angeles (90046). West Hollywood, California (90069) is seventh, and three other Los Angeles zip codes appear in the top 20 zip codes. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/geog.asp?CID=N00004029&cycle=2002 - Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), Chairman, House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. The top two industries contributing to Rep. Coble between 2001 and 2002 are the law "industry" and TV/film/music. The top individual contributor is the Association of Trial Lawyers of America; also in the top 20 contributors are the Recording Industry Association of America, the National Association of Broadcasters, ASCAP, the National Cable Television Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and Viacom. (Disclosure: I live in North Carolina, but do not live in Rep. Coble's congressional district). http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00002247&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00002247&cycle=2002 - Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA). From 1997 to 2002, the law "industry" was first in campaign contributions, and the TV/film/music industry was fourth. Top individual contributors include Walt Disney, AOL Time Warner, and Vivendi Universal. Walt Disney and AOL Time Warner are in the top seven. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00007364&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00007364&cycle=2002 Not surprisingly, most of Sen. Feinstein's campaign contributions came from her home state of Califiornia, although one New York, NY, zipcode (10023) is among the top four contributing zipcodes. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/geog.asp?CID=N00007364&cycle=2002 - Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL). The law "industry" and the TV/film/music industry are in Rep. Hyde's top nine contributing industries during 2001-2002. ASCAP is among his top ten individual contributors. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00004702&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00004702&cycle=2002 - Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-VA). Between 2001 and 2002, the TV/film/music industry was his second largest contributing industry. The law "industry" was fourth. Walt Disney was Rep. Goodlatte's third largest individual contributor; also in the top 20 are ASCAP, the National Association of Broadcasters, Viacom, and Vivendi Universal. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00009154&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00009154&cycle=2002 - Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR). The law "industry" is his third largest contributing industry during 1997-2002. Among the top individual contributors are the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (fourth) and ... Enron (second). http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00007815&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00007815&cycle=2002 The Los Angeles metropolitan area is the fourth largest contributing metropolitan area. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/geog.asp?CID=N00007815&cycle=2002 - Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL). The law "industry" is Rep. Wexler's second largest contributing industry from 2001 to 2002. TV/film/music is a distant 15th. Among the top 16 individual contributors are the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (top three), ASCAP, and the Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00002905&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00002905&cycle=2002 - Rep. William Jenkins (R-TN). During 2001-2002, Rep. Jenkins' top contributing industries included the law "industry" (second) and TV/film/music (fourth). His top thirteen individual contributors include the National Association of Broadcasters, ASCAP, and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (third). http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00003202&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00003202&cycle=2002 - Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). From 2001 to 2002, campaign contributions came from the TV/film/music industry (fourth) and the law "industry" (first). Among the top seven individual contributors: Walt Disney and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (second). http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00009585&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00009585&cycle=2002 - Rep. Ric Keller (R-FL). Between 2001 and 2002, the top industries contributing to Rep. Keller's campaign include the law "industry" (fourth) and TV/film/music (ninth). The top individual contributor is Walt Disney. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00009614&cycle=2002 http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00009614&cycle=2002 Of the remaining signatories, all have the law "industry" in the top ten contributing industries for the most recent period listed on opensecrets.org. Several have the Association of Trial Lawyers of America as a top individual contributor. I thoroughly expected to find the signatory list littered with campaign contributions from the TV/film/music industry. What i did not expect to find was an even greater entanglement with campaign financing from the law "industry", especially from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Does anyone else find it disturbing that all of the senators and representatives asking Attorney General Ashcroft for "[i]ncreased criminal enforcement" are financed by the very---perhaps the only---people who stand to make money off from such increased prosecution? Law "industry" indeed.... -- jim knoble | jmknobleat_private | http://www.pobox.com/~jmknoble/ (GnuPG fingerprint: 31C4:8AAC:F24E:A70C:4000::BBF4:289F:EAA8:1381:1491) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. 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