Jack "The VCR is to filmmakers what the Boston Strangler is to Women" Valenti claims that conterfeiters are organized crime syndicates with links to terrorism, in "News: MS, Hollywood: Mob rules pirate world." This is the same man who claimed VCRs would kill movies. The same kind of twits who attempted to sue Marconi for inventing the radio (which was going to destroy music), and block the sale of player pianos in the early 20th century (which were going to destroy the performing industry.)
Fear-mongering losers, all of them. Unfortunately, FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) seems to work wonders with lawmakers these days.
In a related note, our office is going to be audited by an industry umbrella group representing homeless, staving software employees everywhere. Given that software is copywritten, this is analagous to the RIAA phoning you up at home, telling you that they have the legal right to step into your home anytime they like to make sure none of the music you own is copied. Except in software, the license number doesn't prove that you own the software, since having a license # handy doesn't prove you own the software in and of itself. You could have gotten that off of a friend. So you have to have the original physical receipts when the BSA (the American Business Software Alliance Gestapo) audits you. So basically, the consumer is guilty until proven innocent. This makes me mad as hell. It also ensures that I do not trust these companies one bit, since they obviously do not trust me. They are unlikely to regain my trust and respect until they accept that the human race will not be tagged, tracked, audited, watched to ensure 100% compliance with copyright laws. The only way to ensure nobody is breaking copyright law is basically to be 1984'd, so lets just give up on that orwellian ideal, okay? No system is perfect, but with Microsoft having 40 billion dollars in the bank, and being the company with most pirated software in the world, the point that these twits are trying to make is that it is not enough to make a stupid margin of profit (~ 200% on Windows or Office), and make craploads of money. Nope, the American dream will crumble around our feet unless each and every possible source of revenue must be flogged to death at the expense of the of treating consumers as 2 year olds that need to be watched over vigilently lest they make small monetary transgressions here and there. Thoughts?
Posted by garret at March 14, 2003 10:49 AM