50 million are right, 60 million are not

September 25, 2003

CNN: House votes for do-not-call registry

'"Fifty million Americans can't be wrong," Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-Louisiana, declared Wednesday, referring to the number of people who have signed up to block the unwanted solicitations.'

Oh, really?

"Once the scourge of the music industry, Napster had at its peak in 2000 more than 60 million people using its software that allowed Internet users to copy and share music for free, until the five largest record companies successfully sued the company for copyright infringement."

News.com, March 6, 2001: Napster settlement chances appear dim

'At a digital entertainment conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., expressed what is becoming an increasingly common refrain in the nation's capital.

"It would be extremely good if the music industry would focus its energies into harnessing the power of file sharing," Tauzin said. "I think (the record companies and Napster) would want to solve this on their own. I think all of us would prefer that they did."'

It's too bad Congress could act in the interest of the consumer in one case but not the other.