Changes in Congress Cast Tech Fights in New Light

Changes in Congress Cast Tech Fights in New Light
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Opinion: A six-month delay on enforcing stock-option expensing should please many in the high-tech field, but what's in store for copyright legislation?The next session of Congress—with larger, newly elected Republican majorities on both sides of Capitol Hill—doesnt begin until January. But next week, lawmakers who have been in office for the past two years will head back to Washington for a "lame duck" session.

In these days of incumbent supremacy, its a bit of a misnomer to call the postelection session crippled in any way. Most of those serving will return, and the Republicans running the show this year will have more influence next year. They arent going to be shy about flexing their muscles.

One fight that doesnt look like much for tech could end up being a big deal. And another fight that was a big deal might quietly fade away.

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The squabbling over the appointment of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) to head the Senate Judiciary Committee is a symptom of the stresses at work within the Republican party. Specter isnt conservative enough for some. Hes pro-choice and his son is—gasp!—a trial lawyer, both of which are marks against him in a party with powerful members interested in appointing anti-abortion judges to the federal bench and reforming the nations tort law.

This is important for tech because way down on its list of things to do, the Senate Judiciary Committee oversees copyright law. And the chairman of that committee—currently Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah)—has a great deal of control over the way such legislation is treated.

To high-techs fury, Hatch has been a copyright fundamentalist. He works closely with Hollywood and its two big lobbying groups, the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America. Plenty of tech lobbyists are happy to see him leave the chairmanship.

From Hollywoods perspective, Specter is less reliable on copyright issues than Hatch is. But he got more than $300,000 from the movie people, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That sounds like a lot, until you realize that Specter raised more than $2 million from lawyers and that the computer business is only credited with donating about $150 million to his campaign.

But there is nothing Hollywood loves more than a politician with campaign debt, and Specter, who fought a bruising primary earlier this year, has plenty of that. With fewer influential Democrats—Hollywoods traditional source of strength—in Congress, a moderate Republican such as Specter can find new friends fast.

Combine that with the strained circumstances within his party, and Specters taking of the judiciary chairmanship could spell trouble for tech, particularly on file-sharing and other copyright issues.

Next Page: "Caught between two streams."

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