White House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery

Re:White House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery by jsaxton86 on Sunday January 22, 2012 @09:49AM (#3496639)

I'm just as disgusted as this as most people are, but how is this illegal? In the United States, so long as the MPAA isn't directly giving money to politicians, this kind of bribery is legal. Per Citizens United vs the FEC, the MPAA can spend as much as they want on re-election campaigns.

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Re:White House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery by bad_user on Sunday January 22, 2012 @11:12AM (#3496847)

You can only "donate" money as long as there are no strings attached. This is clearly extortion.

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Re:White House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery by biot on Sunday January 22, 2012 @01:04PM (#3497164)

There are always strings attached. Let's say you give money to support a politician who opposes SOPA. When you give the money you are perfectly free to say "I'm contributing to your campaign because you are against SOPA".

Would it be extortion for you to tell a politician "If you reverse your stance and later support SOPA, I can no longer in good conscience continue to contribute to your political campaign"?

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Re:White House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery by techiferous on Sunday January 22, 2012 @11:45AM (#3496938)

Clearly in a legal sense? Honest question.

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Re:White House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery by shingen on Sunday January 22, 2012 @10:44AM (#3496772)

I think the issue is getting them to look under the rug to see what has been swept under there. That's the reason why an investigation is needed.

You don't lobby that much money over that length of time without breaking a zillion laws. As it is, nobody has wanted to look because it's obvious what will be found. Hollywood has probably broken a lot of laws; far more than Megaupload ever did I'd wager.

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