Apple’s Backing Puts Gay-Marriage Focus on Obama at Court. Gay-marriage advocates, aiming to show broad support as the U.S.
Supreme Court takes up the issue for the first time, have enlisted Apple Inc. (AAPL), Morgan Stanley (MS) and dozens of Republicans who once held top government positions. Now they’re eyeing the White House. President Barack Obama’s administration has until tomorrow to say whether it will join about 60 companies and a largely Republican group that includes six former governors in urging the court to back gay marriage nationwide.
Obama “has not yet said there is a constitutional right to marry, but he has been very careful not to say there isn’t,” said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, a New York- based national gay rights group. The justices will hear arguments March 26 on California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that halted gay marriage in the state after it was allowed for five months. The corporate group, which also includes Facebook Inc. Former Governors More Companies Influential Briefs. 'Words with Friends'-maker Zynga hires lobbying firm.
The Washington Lobbying Dance. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates speaks to government officials and business… (Alex Wong, Getty Images ) My first day of work at Microsoft, 15 years ago, I wore a DOJ baseball cap that a friend had given me when she heard I was going to work in Redmond.
DOJ stood for Department of Justice, which is where my friend worked. I wore the cap into the office on my first day, intending this to be a little joke. The Clinton Justice Department had recently filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft, threatening huge fines and even a breakup of the company. But I learned a lesson: Nobody thought the hat was very funny. Outside of Washington, they take politics and their consequences seriously, more seriously than in the nation's capital, where it's all "just business," as they say in "The Godfather. " When George W. For many years before the lawsuit, Microsoft had virtually no Washington "presence. " At first this was regarded (at least in Washington) as naive. So that's what Microsoft did. Privacy Bill of Rights: Let the Lobbying Battle Begin.
The “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” issued by the Obama administration Thursday is another reminder of the increased attention being paid by lawmakers to companies like Google and Facebook – and the increased attention those companies are paying to Washington in return.
The White House proposal is essentially a “blueprint” for potential legislation intended to give web users more say over how their personal information is used online. Whether or not that legislation materializes or gets passed, though, the Commerce Department will work with Internet companies to develop “enforceable codes of conduct” based on the ideas it has laid out (see the seven key points in the bill of rights in the chart, below). RELATED: Google Reminds Us What It's Really Selling: Us The White House says its proposal applies to “personal data,” which it defines rather broadly as “any data, including aggregations of data, that is linkable to a specific individual.”
Two Victories in One Week, The Internet Flash Lobby Becomes A Political Force. Last week, two Internet regulation bills on the fast track to becoming law were stopped in less than 24 hours after tech-savvy netizens erupted in protest through social media and tech blogs.
The instant and overwhelming force of the same community that overturned the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is starting to gel into a recognizable political lobby. SOPA “was clearly a watershed moment,” says Matt Lira, the digital director for House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, “Just as the people who comprised that community kind of awoke to new ways to engage with Congress, I think Congress, as a whole awoke to the fact this audience is out there.”
As a result of having its voice heard in government, this new digital, loosely organized lobby, which quickly bands together and dissipates like a flash mob around Internet-related policy issues, is becoming a political force. After being flooded with thousands of emails, Councilwoman Mary Cheh shelved the proposed law by breakfast the next morning.