ipweblog

 

Mary Hodder

Assignment proposal

11/1/02

 

Tentative Title:  The Great Technology Debate

 

Subject:  An examination of the current and future climate in Congress (post election), to look at the bills that have been debated on the hill:

 

I want to look at the election outcome and effect on the bills before Congress, the current methods Congress employs to understand technology issues, the organizations attempting to influence the debates and what the issues are within these bills.  The elections could cause a change in House committee chairman: Berman could end up chairing the Intellectual Property Subcommittee and Conyers, the Judiciary Committee; both tilt heavily toward Hollywood.  Comparably, the Senate has on both the Republican and Democratic sides a more balanced view of intellectual property and DRM in the public verses copyright holder rights debate.   Since I believe the main area of change will come through Congress verses the courts in the next few years, regarding intellectual property, my story slant will look at how to understand these issues and what focus public right groups might take to influence these changes.