Dan Glickman's First Day: We Want Jack Valenti Back
Today, the Jack Valenti Era at the MPAA fades into the ether and the Dan Glickman Era dawns over Hollywood. Valenti's been leading Glickman around by the hand at the RNC, introducing him to the political players crucial to his job as head of the movie lobby. The LAT sits down with Glickman for a brief Q&A, and let's just say that Glickman, the former Clinton Agriculture secretary, is not exactly a sound-bite machine. Observe as the interviewer throws a juicy cut of raw, piracy-related meat on the floor, which Valenti would have devoured in a teeth-gnashing shower of spittle:
Q: One of [the issues Glickman needs to deal with] obviously is piracy. How do you plan to cope with the perception in Silicon Valley and among many consumers that MPAA is anti-technology and acts to thwart innovation?
A: I don't think that MPAA is anti-technology. But it's vital that we combat piracy with a three-pronged approach: improve [piracy deterring] technology, enforce the laws and educate people, largely the younger people, in high schools and universities.
Three-pronged approach? Education? Where are the SWAT teams, the rape-thirsty boats full of movie-downloading buccaneers? It hasn't even been a whole day and we already miss Jack Valenti's sweet, pirate-hating mania.
