A Letter Sent to Chris Dodd of the MPAA

Christopher J. Dodd

MPAA

600 Eye St., NW

Washington, D.C. 20006

BY FAX (202) 296-7410

and

15301 Ventura Blvd., Building E

Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

BY FAX (818) 285-4403

Dodd,

I listened to the National Public Radio report on SOPA and PIPA this evening and heard your comments.

Those of us who are fighting these two pieces of corporate bullshit legislation do so because we don’t trust people like you and your allies. Why should we? And especially you — someone who took legalized bribes from the banking industry while you were in the Senate. You were and are part of corrupt system.

As a newspaper/news site publisher, I have a clear understanding of intellectual property and the creative process. I don’t need you and others to call us “childish;” nor do we need you and others to tell us how to live our lives. Further, you’re stupid if you think controlling the Internet will stop piracy. People have been copying videos and music without the help of the Web.

I know you are smart enough to understand the hostility and disrespect I am showing in this letter. I am doing so because someone has to speak truth to people who think they are in power. The lack of respect for you stems from your history as a prostituting politician and the ease with which you were bought and paid for by a wide range of industries you protected. Your contribution to assisting in the demise of the middle class for the benefit of your rich friends shows your lack of understanding of history and that you are willing to risk turning the United States into a banana republic.

I have attached as part of this letter the column I wrote today that further speaks to the subversion of our great country you and your allies are trying to accomplish.

Signed without respect,

Stop SOPA and PIPA now

The U.S. House of Representatives is considering legislation that could forever change the Internet. The measure in the House is the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). A related

measure in the Senate is the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

Don’t kid yourself. These laws are about corporate greed. They are not attempts to protect copyrighted material. Here is some prima facie evidence of that assertion:

· Have you been to the movie theater lately? I went to see “Hugo” recently at the Cinemark Hollywood 16. We sat through 40 minutes of commercials. Remember when we went to the movies and got a cartoon, news and previews along with our feature film? Now we pay $8 or more to get bombarded with 40 minutes of ads and that does not count the previews.

· Have you looked at the prices at the popcorn counter? C’mon. What more need be said?

· Have you rented a video lately? Have you tried to access the special features? We found that now a rental video contains the feature file and little more. No outtakes. No deleted scenes. No director’s commentary. It’s more cost-cutting for the sake of more profit at the consumers’ expense.

· Have you watched TCM lately and seen the begging from The Film Foundation that wants donations to preserve old films? The board of the organization includes Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford. And these people and their studios, in an industry that make billions (yes, with a “b”) each year, don’t have the money to go back into their own archives and preserve their own work? I just don’t buy it. Look at The Film Foundation’s tax return here.

· Have you seen how the rock stars live? No? Really?

The reality is that if people want to pirate content, they can and they don’t need the Internet to do it.

Folks, this is not just about leaking a few dollars out of the pockets of greedy stars and corporations. I am less of a conspiracy theorist than I used to be, but I am certain that this is an attempt to kill off any hope of an American Spring, even if it is a peaceful one. This is a plan for the government to take control of the Web and ultimately kill off the free and open discourse the Web offers. As a result, it is an attempt of those in power to sabotage the kind of communication that could coordinate voting and voting blocs that could overthrow the incumbents.

The petition below respectfully asks Congress to not pass the measures, but it is quite possible that the representatives on the payroll of the big media will do their masters’ bidding. Some stories say that the Senate will kill the bill. And President Obama has said he would veto it — but we heard that about the NDAA, so it’s best to kill this measure as early as possible.

And while we ask respectfully in these petitions, those in Congress receiving these petitions should know their underlying threat. Some of us will do all we legally can to see supporters of SOPA and PIPA lose their next elections.

I am asking you to go to the links below and add your name to the petition. Please. The very democracy that undergirds our republic is at stake.

Thank you.

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/

http://sopastrike.com/strike