Pretty soon we're gonna need a czar czar (har har)

from Wired:

The “copyleft” and the “copyright” are both applauding the presidential appointment Friday of Victoria A. Espinel to become the nation’s first copyright czar.

Congress created the new czar position last year as part of intellectual property reform legislation...

In October, President George W. Bush signed into law legislation creating the new czar, a position on par with the nation’s drug czar Congress created in 1982 to wage the War on Drugs.

“We believe she will be fair in her approach to intellectual property enforcement issues,” said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a left-leaning digital-rights advocacy group.

The “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act,” known as the Pro-IP Act, requires the new czar to “report directly to the president and Congress regarding domestic international intellectual property enforcement programs.”

“Today’s nomination is a positive development towards fully implementing and funding the Pro-IP Act, and we hope President Obama and Congress will continue this important work by ensuring Victoria has the resources and authority necessary to get the job done,” said Mark Esper, a vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Before Bush signed the legislation, the White House successfully lobbied the Senate to remove language tasking the Department of Justice with suing copyright and trademark infringers on behalf of Hollywood, the recording industry, manufacturers and software makers. But the Bush administration also said it didn’t want a copyright czar, either. Lawmakers sent him the package anyway, and Bush signed it...

The czar’s position is charged with overseeing government anti-piracy crackdowns and, among other things, training other countries about IP enforcement. The Pro-IP Act also called for the creation of an FBI piracy unit and allows for the forfeiture of equipment used in large pirating operations. The legislation was strongly backed by Hollywood, the recording industry, unions, manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce.

I'm sure you need to add the name Disney in that last group also. After all, they're all groups doing their best to block any new entries to the public domain and any truly sensible copyright reform, and if there's any one group that has done their best to make sure that creators have no access to our shared cultural heritage while at the same time benefitting greatly from that same heritage, it's the house of mouse...