Simon arrived in Greenwich, and Joseph Schlapp also brought Simon some bad news.
The latest draft version of the Digital Copyright Act, which the Westeros system focuses on improving Internet copyright and copyright protection, was rejected again during the second review process by the House of Representatives.
The core of the controversy is the 'safe harbor regulations'.
The reason given by lawmakers who oppose the safe harbor regulations is that this provision is likely to be abused after being enacted, leading to the proliferation of pirated resources on the Internet.
According to the legislative process of the U.S. Congress, a bill must go through two votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate after being reviewed, must be supported by more than half of the members, and must be signed by the president before it can take effect. The president of the U.S. has the right to refuse to sign certain bills, and Congress also has the right to do so. As for countermeasures, as long as more than two-thirds of the members of Congress are approved, the bill can also be passed by force.
Most bills in the United States are usually blocked in the review process. Sometimes they may not be passed after being delayed for five or six years and going through seven or eight reviews.
The final voting session will not be too suspenseful.
Because once voting begins, it often means that a bill has won the approval of the majority of members of Congress after repeated negotiations and compromises.
"According to our team's lobbying feedback data, the Senate is not a big problem because the majority leader of the Senate is Al Gore. However, if we want to pass the House, we still need to get at least 20 votes."
The 100 seats in the U.S. Senate remain unchanged for a long time, and the number of members in the House of Representatives is regularly adjusted based on changes in the U.S. population. There are currently 434 seats, and more than half of the votes are at least 218. 20 votes does not seem like a lot, and it is not easy to win.
At this stage, the number of seats held by the Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives is 256 and 178 respectively. It stands to reason that as a supporter of the Democratic Party, it should be easy for the Westeros system to pass a bill, but this is far from the case. The Democratic Party is not monolithic, and the Westeros system is not popular with all Democrats.
It is easy to imagine that those Democratic congressmen with the support of traditional paper media groups behind the scenes will definitely not stand on the side of the Westeros system and continue to sit back and watch the Ygrit Company develop and grow.
Seeing that Simon was just looking down at a document he had brought, Joseph Schlapp continued: "Congressman David Melloth of Connecticut, together with several other congressmen, are currently seeking to advance an Internet media regulation bill. "," Schlapp said, rummaging through the pile of information he brought in front of Simon for a moment, and said, "This is it, so if we want to pass the Digital Copyright Act, we probably need to make some exchanges. In addition, Many members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, are also seeking to relax the cross-media ownership ban, and this is our opportunity."
Although everyone understands that emerging Internet platforms such as the Yigrit Portal have media attributes, Yigrit itself positions its news and information department as a content publisher rather than a media company. The key lies in these two areas. The regulation required is completely different.
The publishing industry in the United States has a strong degree of freedom, but the media industry is subject to strict supervision because of the freedom of speech clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Among them, the 'cross-media ownership ban' is a major curse that restrains traditional media such as newspapers and television. This is a bill promulgated in the 1960s in the United States, and since the Nixon era, many media giants have continued to lobby in an attempt to relax the relevant ban. .
In order to prevent the media from manipulating public opinion, the main provisions of the 'cross-media ownership ban' include that a media group is not allowed to own more than two newspapers in the same area, it is not allowed to own both newspapers and TV stations in the same area, and a media company is not allowed to own more than 12 directly owned local Television stations, the audience market share of large public television networks must not exceed 35%, etc.
After continuing to operate generously for several years, the Westeros system can probably mobilize 17 congressional votes in the House of Representatives and 6 in the Senate. These are all members who will clearly stand on the side of the Westeros system if necessary. , and the proportion may seem small, but it is already a piece of political capital that cannot be underestimated, and it is also what Schlapp calls a bargaining chip.
Simon has a good memory.
Congressman David Melloth of Connecticut was the congressman whom William Hester III personally introduced to him when he attended the Hearst family party. He used the power of the Westeros system and the traditional print media to Given the current stalemate between the two countries, it is only natural that the other party takes the lead in initiating the Internet Media Regulation Bill.
Relaxing the 'cross-media ownership ban' is also a relaxation that traditional media groups urgently need to maintain their industry status in the context of the increasingly turbulent Internet industry.
Hearst Group, Condé Nast Group, New York Times Group and other deep-rooted traditional paper media will definitely control only a lot more congressional votes than the Westeros system. If the two sides reach an agreement, they can win additional votes. It would be easy to get 20 House votes to pass the Digital Copyright Act.
It is obvious that the main obstacle to the passage of the Digital Copyright Act is probably these print media.
Simon quickly sorted out this information in his mind, and suddenly looked up at Joseph Schlapp, with a smile on his lips, and said, "Isn't there someone who wants to reconcile?"
Joseph Schlapp was stunned for a moment. He was still thinking about how to raise the topic, but he didn't expect that Simon had already guessed it.
Because he is familiar with the character of his boss and the current relationship between the Westeros system and the power of the paper media, Joseph Schlapp is very cautious about helping certain people spread the word. After all, he is now working for the Westeros system, working for Simon Westeros, and the entire Schlapp family and other stakeholders attach great importance to their current status in the Westeros system. Absolutely I don’t want Simon to have the impression that he is not loyal enough to the Westeros system because of this message.
In recent years, even before the rise of the Internet industry, the huge US print media industry has begun to decline due to the impact of the increasingly prosperous television industry.
Whether it is the Hearst Group, Condé Nast Group or others, they are all seeking to develop into the television field. This is why the Hearst Group snatched 20% of the ESPN TV network from Daenerys Entertainment.
However, before traditional print media has completed its transformation into the television industry, the Internet has already surged in and has had a more direct and stronger impact on the print media industry.
The first thing that the established media forces think of is to block and confront.
But now it seems that this kind of targeting is of little use.
The attempt was made to compromise Westeros in disguise by suppressing Daenerys Entertainment, but the result was that Daenerys Entertainment released hit movies one after another. Daenerys Entertainment has compressed film and television advertising for paper media and opened up Internet marketing channels, which has instead allowed traditional paper media to steal the chicken and lose the rice.
On the other hand, in less than four years, the popularity of Internet users in the United States has reached 30% of the total population. This development speed far exceeds the original promotion of TV sets. Perhaps within 10 years, the popularity of the Internet will reach 30%. Go straight after the TV networks.
Since confrontation is ineffective, following the trend is undoubtedly the wisest choice.
After thinking about his words for a moment, Joseph Schlapp said: "The New York Times plans to open an electronic version in the near future. You know, Simon, without the support of the Yigrit portal to guide traffic, the other party will not have much development at all. "
Schlapp has another subtext.
If the electronic version of The New York Times wants to gain a foothold on the Internet platform, it will inevitably mean direct competition with Yigret’s news and information business.
Moreover, because the services provided by the two are equivalent, users will inevitably prefer the free Yigrit portal information instead of spending money to subscribe to electronic newspapers. This is another inevitable conflict of interest. The two parties want to reconcile and cooperate, and the Igret Portal must make certain concessions in this regard.
Compared with the entrenched old paper media, the news and information department of Yigret Portal is still very weak.
In terms of the number of employees, the New York Times Group only owns the New York Times newspaper, with more than 1,600 employees around the world. Since the development of Yigret's news and information department, the team size has just reached 500 people.
In order to lead other competitors astray, Simon listed news information as the highest priority business of Yigrit, but in fact, news information has never been the core of Yigrit. If Igret Portal could obtain the online news authorization from the traditional paper media group, Simon would not have invested a lot of resources in building its own news information team.
Therefore, making concessions in this area may seem to outsiders to have touched upon Ygritte's core interests, but this is not the case.
On the other hand, if an established media like the New York Times can digitize the large amount of print media information it owns, it can definitely enrich the content resources of the Internet platform to a great extent. This is something Simon has been promoting. Only if the online content resources are rich enough, can Yigrit's search engine business achieve better development.
Moreover, although Simon is determined to let Ygritte grow wildly, he does not object if a settlement can be reached with some large print media.
One more friend is always better than one more enemy.
Joseph Schlapp's hint was already very obvious. Simon thought for a moment and asked: "Behind the New York Times, um, the Salzberg family?"
At this stage, traditional American newspapers are basically still controlled by various established families, such as the Hearst family, the controller of the Hearst Group, the Salzberg family behind the New York Times Group, and the Washington Post Group. The Graham family, the Newhouse family, owners of Condé Nast, and more.
Joseph Schlapp nodded and said: "Simon, if you have time, Arthur Salzberg Jr., the current publisher of the New York Times, would like to meet with you."
Simon did not agree immediately.
The last experience I had with the Hearst family was really not a pleasant one, including Rupert Murdoch, who had a fairly good relationship with them, but he was actually an old fox. Now that the other party has just tested him, Simon is responding hastily. It's hard to say what trouble the Salzberg family will pull up.
After thinking for a moment, Simon said: "I have to return to Los Angeles in the afternoon. If the other party has time, let him come to the West Coast. I can entertain him at any time."
Joseph Schlapp probably also understands Simon's thoughts. The stalemate between his boss and the Hearst family has not eased at all. Even he himself has not seen the arrogance of the old media family. Since the initiative lies with the Westeros system, if the other party wants to reconcile, it is necessary to make some low gestures.
Then he continued to talk about other things, such as the 1994 midterm elections that had already begun, the capital gains tax reform bill, the lifting of the ban on media industry integration, the "Telecommunications Act" being brewed by the Clinton administration, etc., and so on until noon, trying to retain Schlapp. After lunch, Simon boarded the plane back to Los Angeles at one o'clock in the afternoon.
In the study room in the front cabin of the Boeing 767.
After the plane calmed down, Girl A came in and reported the arrangements for the information from the UK in the morning. Finally, she said: "Boss, Yulia Shulshkina's matter has been dealt with. Do I need to arrange for her to come to the United States?"
Simon was still reading the documents left by Joseph Schlapp in the morning. Hearing this, he asked in confusion: "What?"
Alison repeated: "Yuliya Shulshkina."
Simon then remembered that the ballet teacher in London Fruit Nana's group of girls was a Slavic girl who fit his image of an elf.
The last time Janet and I were watching the London girls practicing ballet, we spotted each other and casually ordered them to go down and get the information a few days ago.
It is very common for a little woman in the turbulent background of a great era. Her advantages and disadvantages are probably that she is too beautiful.
Yulia Shulshkina, 31 years old, has been married once and has a 3-year-old daughter. The girl came to London two years ago with a British banker. To be precise, she was deceived into London by a smooth-talking British banker. He promised marriage and a green card, but the result was not fulfilled.
The banker had a family and a wife, but he just wanted to keep the other person as his lover. He even deliberately refused to solve the green card problem for the mother and daughter in order to control them.
The girl had already resigned herself to her fate, but she didn't expect that the banker, who had a relatively rich family, took the wrong direction during the 1992 pound crisis and suffered a complete defeat. Not only did she lose all her tens of millions of pounds, she also owed millions of pounds in debt, and her marriage also collapsed. . The banker who has nothing can no longer support his Russian lover, but also forces him to find a job to subsidize himself.
When the staff of the Westeros system contacted the girl, the banker was even planning to sell the mother and daughter together to a prostitute in London. The price had been negotiated, 150,000 pounds.
Simon didn't have any special feelings about this.
In turbulent times, there are countless more personal destinies than this. Now that I met him, I casually sent the banker to jail, and at the same time arranged everything needed for a mother and daughter.
Of course, Simon also did not hide his possessive desire. He has never been a good person who helps people in need. However, the Russian girl only knew that she had become an affiliate of the big shot behind the scenes of the group of girls in the London villa, and she did not know Simon's identity yet.
Simon was just a habitual collector, and there was no shortage of women around him, so he shook his head: "Let her continue teaching girls to dance in London. By the way, don't let the girls practice toes. It seems that ballet dancers' toes are not very beautiful." .”
Alison nodded, a little confused, rummaged through the folder she held in her arms, found a photo, and said, "No, it's very beautiful."
Simon reached out and took the photo and looked at it. It was a photo of a Russian girl in a dancing position. Although she was wearing thin white stockings, she could still recognize a pair of small and perfect feet.
Girl A said from the side: "I know something about it. Many ballet dancers' pointe deformations are caused by improper training methods. Yulia is very professional in this regard."
Simon recalled the last time he saw a Russian girl teaching girls exercises. Although he didn't know much about ballet, he could feel Yulia's professionalism at that time.
Putting down the photo casually, Simon said: "Anyway, it's better not to practice pointe. Girls are not meant to be professional ballet dancers. In addition, collect information about the family behind the major federal paper media groups for me. First, start with the family behind the New York Times." Starting with the Salzberg family, try to be as detailed as possible.”
Alison nodded, and seeing that Simon had no other instructions, turned and left the study.