[Techtalk] New bill

[Kai MacTane]

At 3/28/02 11:29 AM , Davis, Jennifer wrote:

><rant>
>I'll admit, that I haven't read the bill and that I am not familiar with US
>law, but I find it hard to believe that a law has a chance to make it
>through Parliament, congress?, senate?, or whatever the political part of
>government is called.  If it makes it through to a law, I can't see how this
>would survive a constitutional challenge.  What happened to freedom of
>expression?  That 'shurely' is protected.

Having glanced cursorily at the text, I suspect this *would* pass 
constitutional muster under the current Supreme Court, who would likely see 
this simply as a technology issue, rather than a free speech issue. It's 
unfortunately fairly easy for this bill's supporters to paint the 
opposition as "people who support piracy, because they just want stuff for 
free".

><question>
>Who drafts the laws in the US?

Cynical answer: big corporations with the money to buy politicians.

>Is this a government bill or a private members bill.  In Canada, it's the 
>Department of Justice, who are responsible for drafting government 
>bills.  I assume it's the same in the US.

Oh, you actually want the Civics answer. Okay.

The US legislature ("Congress") is divided into two houses, the House of 
Representatives and the Senate. There are 2 senators for each state, and a 
number of representatives based on the state's population (minimum 1, of 
course; maximum 52, for California; total: 435).

Bills may only be proposed by senators and representatives (though, of 
course, they can be persuaded to introduce bills on other people's behalf 
-- sen. Fritz Hollings, the author of this bill, is known to have received 
*massive* campaign contributions from Disney Corp.). To be enacted, a bill 
must pass a majority vote in both the Senate and the House (that's two 
separate votes), and be signed by the President. If the President refuses 
to sign (called a "veto"), the bill then requires a two-thirds 
supermajority in each legislative house.

(In practice, the bill also has to get through at least one or two 
committee votes before making it to the House or Senate vote. So there are 
even more opportunities for it to die.)

>Maybe lobbying should have been done on the drafters?

Lobbying *was* done on them; that's why they drafted it. Hollings is 
becoming known in some circles as "the Senator from Disney".

Now the rest of us get to lobby everyone else in Congress, claiming we 
won't vote for them if they vote for this bill.

                                                 --Kai MacTane
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey, sister Moonshine, hold me 'til the break of dawn,
  Hold me long,
  Hold me hard,
  Hold me 'til the shadows fade away..."
                                                 --The Mission UK,
                                                  "Paradise (Will Shine
                                                   Like the Moon)"