We have been fighting this battle for years now. Lobbyists write and convince legislators to introduce a terrible bill which ends up having broad bipartisan support but drawing the ire of the people. The bill is shelved for a spell and then renamed, reloaded with even crazier provisions, and reintroduced. Today it is “anti piracy.” Tomorrow it will be “for the children.” And the next day it will be “national security.”
And don’t forget the legacy industries’ end-runs around Congress via ACTA and now TPP “international agreements” both of which were negotiated in complete secret without any public input or feedback.
And one also cannot forget the recent revelations that the US basically blackmailed the Spanish government into passing laws that we wanted them to pass.
Also recall the recent news that the US is extraditing and charging a UK citizen for having a blog that posted links to places where you could watch TV shows. On what grounds? Because the “.com” is signed by Verisign which is located in the USA.
All of this is fueled by the very same organization–now headed by Chris Dodd–whose leader once said of the VCR: “I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.”
Rupert Murdoch “So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery,” News Corp’s chairman and chief executive officer posted on his personal Twitter account on Saturday.”
Hmmm, isn’t it interesting that Mr. Murdoch thinks it okay to break into people’s cell phone accounts, but he’s adamantly against piracy when it concerns his interests. Sorta like a music industry that fixed prices for records, tapes and cds for sale to the public regardless of the content, and paid its artists low compensation for their creations while often cheating them on royalties, but they are concerned about their content being pirated?
Why should we be protecting thieves by disabling, hobbling and disrupting the greatest invention for free speech since the invention of the printing press?
We have been fighting this battle for years now. Lobbyists write and convince legislators to introduce a terrible bill which ends up having broad bipartisan support but drawing the ire of the people. The bill is shelved for a spell and then renamed, reloaded with even crazier provisions, and reintroduced. Today it is “anti piracy.” Tomorrow it will be “for the children.” And the next day it will be “national security.”
And don’t forget the legacy industries’ end-runs around Congress via ACTA and now TPP “international agreements” both of which were negotiated in complete secret without any public input or feedback.
And one also cannot forget the recent revelations that the US basically blackmailed the Spanish government into passing laws that we wanted them to pass.
Also recall the recent news that the US is extraditing and charging a UK citizen for having a blog that posted links to places where you could watch TV shows. On what grounds? Because the “.com” is signed by Verisign which is located in the USA.
All of this is fueled by the very same organization–now headed by Chris Dodd–whose leader once said of the VCR: “I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.”
Rupert Murdoch “So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery,” News Corp’s chairman and chief executive officer posted on his personal Twitter account on Saturday.”
Hmmm, isn’t it interesting that Mr. Murdoch thinks it okay to break into people’s cell phone accounts, but he’s adamantly against piracy when it concerns his interests. Sorta like a music industry that fixed prices for records, tapes and cds for sale to the public regardless of the content, and paid its artists low compensation for their creations while often cheating them on royalties, but they are concerned about their content being pirated?
Why should we be protecting thieves by disabling, hobbling and disrupting the greatest invention for free speech since the invention of the printing press?