If you had any doubt that Barack Obama is a politician like any other, his selection of Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) should allay that doubt. Biden’s voting record on copyright, for example, is straight out of Disney. Declan McCullagh points out that Biden ranks “toward the bottom” of CNET’s technology voter’s guide.
Throughout the 1990s, Biden — as chair of the Judiciary Committee — authored two anti-encryption bills, the Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Act and the Violent Crime Control Act. McCullagh points out that both pieces of proposed legislation carry the same language requiring government access to private encryption keys:
“It is the sense of Congress that providers of electronic communications services and manufacturers of electronic communications service equipment shall ensure that communications systems permit the government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law.”
Phil Zimmermann, the author of the PGP cryptographic software has written that Biden’s Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Act “led me to publish PGP electronically for free that year, shortly before the measure was defeated after vigorous protest by civil libertarians and industry groups.”
Biden also co-sponsored the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) which eventually became law in October 1994.
When it came to 2001’s Patriot Act, Biden was either dishonest or alarmingly uninformed when he argued in favor of the legislation, saying that law enforcement could get wiretaps against organized crime but not against terrorists. This was laughably and totally wrong. The US Justice Department has always had the authority to use wiretaps, including roving wiretaps, in any criminal investigation.
Biden exhibited something of an epiphany last year when it became fashionable for Democrats to oppose President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program. Biden had announced his presidential candidacy and spoke eloquently against the Bush program and the president’s abuse of National Security Letters. The Delaware Democrat voted against the FISA amendments, but for renewal of the Patriot Act.
Biden’s record with regard to copyright law is just as disturbing. He sponsored legislation in 2002 that would have made it a felony — with penalties of up to five years in prison and a fine of US$25,000 per offense — to modify electronic devices to play unauthorized music or computer programs. The legislation was a big wet smooch to the entertainment cartel but was successfully opposed by the tech sector’s lobby.
It’s interesting to note that Biden’s original bill concerned only the counterfeiting of “physical authentication features” like Microsoft’s hologram. But Biden edited the legislation to cover “any” authentication feature during a vote in the Senate Judiciary committee. It’s unclear why the change was made; some speculate it was to fill in the holes of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
A few months after his authentication legislation failed, Biden joined with 18 other elected officials in a letter to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft demanding more prosecutions under the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act signed by Clinton in 1997. The NET Act makes infringing peer-to-peer transfers of intellectual property subject to three years in prison and a US$250,000 fine.
In the past, Biden has also supported mandatory internet filters in public schools and libraries.
Last year, Biden was back with his Perform Act that would prohibit the recording of music from satellite and internet radio.
As McCullagh points out, Biden’s positions with regard to US copyright law doesn’t come near to squaring with Obama’s. Obama has promised to “update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation, and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated.”
Biden is chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, but he voted for the war on Iraq.
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Joe Biden: Wrong on both the net and tech was originally published by ARTS & FARCES internet on Sunday, 24 August 2008 at 8:46 PM CDT. Copyright © ARTS & FARCES LLC. All rights reserved. | ISSN: 1535-8119 | OCLC: 48219498 | Digital fingerprint: 974a89ee1284e6e92dd256bbfbef3751 (64.237.45.114)