Rogue archivist Carl Malamud sez:
For two years now, I have been begging the U.S. Congress to loan me DVDs they have of congressional hearings so I can load them up to the Internet Archive. So, I was pretty steamed to see all 4 of the senior leaders of Congress cut a shameless ad for YouTube, making YouTube the official video purveyor of both the House and Senate.
Sure, they talk about how this is only one of many avenues that the modern new socially aware Congress will pursue, but you don't see Pelosi and Boehner cutting any ads for the Internet Archive or C-SPAN (let alone Yahoo or MSN).
In the case of the Internet Archive, the Speaker's actions are especially puzzling, considering Brewster Kahle is one of her constituents and I assumed probably even voted for her! I did note that the Google official PAC gave $34,000 to the four actors who appeared in their ad.
4 resources, decide for yourself if this stinks:
1. The Official Congressional YouTube Ad
4. The Federal Election Commission report by Google's PAC. Public.Resource.Org doesn't have a PAC.
(Thanks, Carl!)
