Addendum: Re: Wydenism in the UK: "Wydening" the Loopholes...
I neglected to mention that Wydenism can also include legislative measures that curtail the (in the USA specifically) First Amendment rights (freedom of speech, freedom of association) and other civil rights of anyone criticizing tech companies as written in the IRFA, a bill which Wyden has sponsored:
IRFA would make it a violation of the Sherman Act for “any copyright owners of sound recordings acting jointly, or any common agent or collective representing such copyright owners, to take any action that would prohibit, interfere with, or impede direct licensing.”
http://thetrichordist.com/2012/11/29/congressional-research-service-memo-on-constitutionality-of-irfa-section-5/ :
The following is an excerpt from a memo by the Congressional Research Service on The Constitutionality of IRFA Section 5:
"David Lowery, writing for the Thetrichordist.com, has argued that “Section 5 of IRFA is perhaps the most pernicious part of the bill, for it would make it illegal for anyone to criticize digital sound recording licensees. If IRFA becomes law, artists and artist organizations will need to watch what they say in public in opposition to [certain licensees’]direct licensing efforts.” It seems that Lowery takes issue with the use of the words ”any action” that would ”prohibit, interfere with, or impede ”negotiations.
He argues that these terms are too broad and could apply even to those who would criticize licensees for attempting to negotiate direct licenses with copyright owners. Another concern cited by Lowery in opposition to Section 5 is the ambiguity inherent in the language “any copyright owners acting jointly.”
This language does not necessarily seem to be limited to large member-based royalty collection organizations like SoundExchange. It may be broad enough to encompass, for example,the members of an individual band, who might be considered to be individual copyright owners, acting jointly. Under this broad reading of the language, an argument could be made that a band, posting its criticisms of direct licensing negotiations between a licensee and a copyright owner, would betaking an action that would interfere with a direct licensing negotiation, thereby violating Section 5.
Though this hypothetical presents a broad interpretation of the language of Section 5, it is not an implausible one. It is possible that the language may be broad enough to cover a blog post by a band expressing their opinion regarding contract negotiations between a licensee and a copyright owner. Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that, in practice, Section 5 would impinge upon First Amendment rights" (Emphasis added.)
Again, that long citation is from the Congressional Research Service Memo on the Constitutionality of IRFA Section 5.
Sadly, the Congressional Research Service neglects to say exactly *why* Section 5 would be "unlikely in practice to impinge on First Amendment rights". Because, considering the amount of money at stake, and the ease with which these large and wealthy companies could subject any critics to crushing lawsuits and their crushing expenses, and the fact that the bill PERMITS legal action against any speech that "interferes" with their business - I think that the bill's "impingement on First Amendment rights" would be "guaranteed".