Republican Staffer Khanna Axed Over Copyright Memo 506
Bob9113 writes "Ars Technica reports that Derek Khanna is getting axed over his memo detailing the conflict between laissez-faire-oriented free market ideals and the regulatory monopoly that is copyright. 'The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives, has told staffer Derek Khanna that he will be out of a job when Congress re-convenes in January. The incoming chairman of the RSC, Steve Scalise (R-LA) was approached by several Republican members of Congress who were upset about a memo Khanna wrote advocating reform of copyright law. They asked that Khanna not be retained, and Scalise agreed to their request.'"
He had to expect this (Score:5, Interesting)
He had to know this would cost him his job.
He could not have expected anything else.
Have They Addressed and Refuted It? (Score:5, Interesting)
If my employer came to me and said, "Pack it up, you don't have a job tomorrow." I'd be very interested in knowing why and being completely fine with my termination if they were just batshit insane in their reasoning. I'm sure I'm not the only one that suspects this came as an order from an industry lobbyist or at least in the form of "This is very interesting work by Khanna. On an unrelated note *cough* *cough* you might be hard pressed for campaign donations next election cycle."
Oh, and I am absolutely relishing the goodwill and lip service paid to the Republicans in the initial Slashdot comments [slashdot.org].
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Principled conservatism (Score:5, Interesting)
You younger Slashdotters may not believe this, but at one time we had conservatives (and Republicans) with principles.
There are still; we're just not Republicans (or, more accurately, Republicans are no longer conservative).
Re:He Should Be (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm surprised by the number of posts that think this is kidding, trolling or outrageous. Just like soldiers, civil staff like this have an obligation to, while they're on duty, keep their professional, official standpoints impartial. Personal political views don't mesh with civil service. As agreeable as his point might be, it's unprofessional to do it while representing his job, and it's not the least bit surprising or wrong that said job dismisses him for officially disagreeing with where they stand.
Re:He Should Be (Score:5, Interesting)
It wasn't just something he posted on his blog. His memo was approved by the committee. It just happened that the committee quickly retracted the memo after their true masters (their largest campaign contributors) expressed their disapproval.
Re:Principled conservatism (Score:5, Interesting)
Not that great? Ont the subject of being bought by Hollywood, The Dems are demonstrably worse. Hollywood, & all the IAAs give much more to the Dems & you'll never see a similar paper from an equivalent Dem study committee as they clearly know who their owners are.
Re:This is why the Republicans lost the election (Score:4, Interesting)
We have Rove and others absolutely convinced they were going to win the election, because they refused to read the polls.
Exactly this. I read the polls in Summer 2011, saw that only one candidate in the Republican field could beat Obama in any polling match up, so I worked for that candidate (as a County Chair, even though I'm a registered Democrat) and we did OK (he got 2nd place in my State, in both parties' primaries).
But he did not fit the mold of what the Party Bosses were looking for, so their media lapdogs did as they were instructed, and pretty soon it was clear that Romney was the anointed candidate (by March at the latest). Not once since then did I not say that Obama was guaranteed re-election.
And it turns out in retrospect that all the quality polls were :dead on:. The Republicans could have had the Whitehouse if the fake "Republican values" really represented the ideas of the party (vs. being Corporatist puppets in reality).
Funny thing is, my candidate would agree with this report almost in its entirety. If there's a silver lining it's that Khanna's generation will be in charge in 30 years.
Derek Khanna for congress (Score:5, Interesting)
I think he should stand by his memo and run for office.
Re:He Should Be (Score:1, Interesting)
Your mom takes it in the pooper.
Re:Memo taken down. But there's a backup copy. (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe, maybe not. The last 10 years if I read that right would cost 10% of the total revenues thus far for the protected intellectual property. That's revenues, not profits. So it would be paying 10% of what that IP brought in over the course of the previous 36 years for another ten years. How many commercially owned properties are earning a 10% profit margin even at release?
Dear Congressman (Score:5, Interesting)
Dear Mr Kline,
I'm deeply disappointed in my GOP caucus at the dismissal of Derek Khanna for his writing of a paper discussing copyright reform.
(ref http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/12/staffer-axed-by-republican-group-over-retracted-copyright-reform-memo/ [arstechnica.com])
I sincerely hope you weren't "one of the congressmen" Rep Scalise was approached by to remove Mr Khanna.
Copyright reform is a desperately-needed, serious issue. "Shooting the messenger" signals that the GOP is NOT the party interested in fixing the situation. To less charitable eyes, it might even seem that these Representatives are just doing the bidding of their lobbyists from the MPAA and RIAA donors. The *only* silver lining here is that the Democrats are even MORE obviously in the pocket of media producers.
I invite you and your peers to review the Copyright Clause of the US Constitution: (art I, sec 8, clause 8) "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
Note, copyright is to PROMOTE THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE - not to promote the ongoing rent-seeking by the umpteenth-descendant of an artist. Further, the clause specifically says "LIMITED TIMES" - constantly revising copyrights out to longer and longer durations is complying with neither the letter nor the intent of the US Constitution.
So, I ask MY PARTY representatives in Congress - what's your point here?
I would love to get a serious, considered response to this email, or would cheerfully like a chance to talk to you on the subject.
Re:He Should Be (Score:5, Interesting)
Too true.
Though I'd say the last part is manageable. They're the ones that sound really crazy, and aren't apologetic about it. I get the impression those ones really believe their own crazy-talk.
So your choices in politicians end up being "batshit crazy" or "shifty SOB liar".
Re:He Should Be (Score:5, Interesting)
The position paper was vetted internally and approved along the orgs normal channels. Unless by "higher up leadership" you mean the lobbyists -- they were surprised, that's true.
He worked an institution that was supposed to inform debate. He was canned because some debates are not allowed.
Re:He Should Be (Score:5, Interesting)
To me this sort of behavior tells me all I need to know about those particular politicians. They are the type of leaders who would routinely quell dissent by denying reality and silencing sympathizers. More than a few US politicians have the same default policy toward climate change, the ring leader of that well-established group is Senator Inhofe.
Re:No contradiction. (Score:5, Interesting)
Meanwhile, the world is in fact getting better. In the East, millions have been lifted from abject poverty to livable poverty, Europe has experienced a period of peace never before seen in its history, in the US, minorities gained a lot of rights and recognition, the Drug War seems to be fading a little. Wages didn't really grew, but a lot of stuff - particularly consumer electronics, but not only - that was only dreamed of a few years ago is now on the reach of the average person, and I could go on.
Yes, we're ruled by an oligarchy. So what else is new
Re:Another Young Idealist Casualty (Score:4, Interesting)
Except you missed something important. His memo wasn't released on his own initiative on his personal blog. It was approved by the committee that had him write it in the first place. He's being hung out to dry because he's low man on the totem pole, not because he went rogue. Far from being a loose cannon, he followed orders. And look what it got him. Not only is he being fired, but just because he's being fired, you instantly assumed he did something wrong.