One of Obama's first tech-related decisions has been to select the Recording Industry Association of America's favorite lawyer to be the third in command at the Justice Department. And Obama's pick as deputy attorney general, the second most senior position, is the lawyer who oversaw the defense of the Copyright Term Extension Act.

Some argue that a lawyer is an objective advocate of his client's interests, which should not be read as his own, but there is a very strong relationship between the leadership of the Democratic party and the upper echelons of the copyright maximalism movement, and these lawyers, along with Joe Biden, are right in the middle of that relationship.