Obama Nominates Former Top RIAA Lawyer To Be Solicitor General

by Mike Masnick | Techdirt
Jan. 25, 2011

This has actually been rumored for quite some time, but now it's official. President Obama has nominated one of the RIAA's top litigators, Donald Verrilli to replace Elena Kagan as Solicitor General. Verilli, of course, was instrumental in leading the RIAA's case against Grokster. He was apparently also involved in Viacom's fight against YouTube (according to Wired -- I didn't know that previously). In other words, he's been the copyright maximalists' go to guy in court for extending and twisting copyright laws in anti-competitive and free speech-destroying ways. So, it seems we should expect a pretty strong defense of the government seizing domain names in violation of the First Amendment.

Of course, I find it kind of amusing that Darrell Issa and anti-Google lobbying group Consumer Watchdog are still claiming that the administration is in Google's pocket. As far as I know, many of the former top Googlers who did go to the White House have since left (some in frustration), while Obama has been hiring all sorts of folks who are about as anti-Google as can be into top roles. Beyond Verilli, Obama has also hired Bill Daley, who had been president of SBC (now AT&T), which has gone out of its way for years to try to take down Google. Where exactly is Google's "power" in the administration these days?