Senators enter the iPod age
But the venerable chamber is set for a giant leap forward, as a technology lobby group kits out selected Senators with ultra-trendy iPods.
Visions of octogenarian Senators waltzing through the corridors of power wired for sound might be absurd, but the stunt has a serious purpose. The 100-member Senate wields wide-ranging powers to regulate new technology, but seems ill equipped to keep up with the pace of technological change.
"Young people get it, more than people who are making the laws about it," said Ren Bucholz, co-founder of IPac, a political action committee set up to ensure intellectual property laws don’t shackle innovation.
"There is a large gap between people who understand technology and use it on a daily basis, and legislators who don’t have a technological background."
One politician already iPod literate is President George W. Bush, whose iPod play list has been a favourite topic of Washington gossip columnists. But the crusty old Senate is a tougher proposition.
IPac wants to equip Senators who work on copyright and intellectual property policy, including failed Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry, liberal Californian Barbara Boxer and possible Republican 2008 hope George Allen. The idea grew out of a revelation in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing by octogenarian Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, that his daughter had bought him an iPod.
So far, the campaign has raised enough money to fit out 12 Senators with iPods worth 342 dollars, pre-loaded with licensed music, movies, pictures and texts, and what IPac calls "a copyright-curriculum-in-a-box."
With Washington in the grip of lobbying and kickback scandals, IPac is being careful not to fall foul of campaign finance laws, which cap the value of gifts to individual lawmakers at 50 dollars. Each iPod will be delivered to the individual senator’s re-election campaign, and the lobby group will be encouraging lawmakers to use them for ‘campaign related’ chores like watching the news and learning about copyright law.
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