Back last fall, I suggested (here, and here) that there appeared to be some movement among the Republicans to take on the mantle of “Internet freedom/innovation” as a political position, both because it is an issue on which the Democrats, with their hands deep into Hollywood’s pockets and vice versa, are very vulnerable, and because it might be a way of salvaging the votes of an entire generation that they’re on the verge of losing completely.
More evidence that something is afoot: First, there’s the “Internet governance” bill making its way through the House, containing little more than a simple statement of policy: “It is the policy of the United States to preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet.” The bill was passed out of the relevant Subcommittee on a straight party-line vote, strangely enough . . .
And now Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has announced that the Committee will conduct a “wide review of our nation’s copyright laws and related enforcement mechanisms,” involving a “comprehensive series of hearings on U.S. copyright law in the months ahead [whose] goal will be to determine whether the laws are still working in the digital age.” I’m not sure exactly what he has in mind – but if the Republicans are smart, they’ll get on the right side (and the Republican Study Committee itself has provided a good blueprint on that) of this issue.