Comments | tarmle: You take my freedom, I take your power

tarmle

You take my freedom, I take your power

Apr 24, 2006 19:30

This is insane.

Wiretapping for suspected IP theft? Ten years in jail for just trying to infringe copyright? On-the-spot knee-capping for humming a copyrighted tune in public ( Read more... )

politics, the pledge, civil liberties, movies, technology, rant, music, copyright, drm

Comments 4

spikee_d April 24 2006, 22:39:23 UTC

I'm almost the same however, when imposing yourself in a blanket ban, you run the risk of outcasting those spreading similar sentiments. Rather then a complete ban, there are musicians and film makers out there worth supporting, send your funds to houses that reflect your ideals as appose to those that don't. It is these institutions that write the stories of the times they live through, their books and films will be warning the next generation and giving those bloodlines a home in the future. A pot of money and an army of people that may make some small difference ( ... )

tarmle April 25 2006, 12:02:27 UTC

This is difficult, and I was thinking of RRR while I was writing it (as I often do when writing these copyfight tirades) worried how you would interpret it.

Up front it sound perfectly reasonable to run a No Buy List including all the members of the RIAA and MPAA for a start. But things quickly become complicated when you realise RIAA has about 1500 members - not much help when you're standing in the middle of HMV. The MPAA member list might seem more 'friendly' with only seven members but it's not that clear-cut - for instance DreamWorks is not a member but they are in the process of being bought by Viacom, the parent company of Paramount Pictures which is a member! And then we'd have to add to that all the independents or un-associated companies who have restrictive and harmful policies. If you don't have a PDA with an alphabetical No Buy List including parent companies and subsidiaries it's going to be very difficult to know what can and can't be bought in the high street ( ... )

tuxmentat April 26 2006, 03:51:52 UTC

I have been doing this for quite a while now. I do not buy music anymore. At some point I said fuck it, and stopped contributing to the RIAA customer harrasment fund. I haven't bought a CD in years. I also do not download music. I listen to the radio in the car, and that's about it.

Same with movies - I pay for HBO and Showtime but I rarely go to the theather and buy DVD's. Every once in a while, there is something that I will watch (like Star Wars, and LOTR movies) but otherwise I just don't care.

I just feel guilty when I pay MPAA, especially if the movie is crappy. Cause I know that my money is going to either fund a lawsuit against a 12 year old girl, serve as a political bribe to ensure new cripling copyright restrictions, or research of yet another DRM scheme...

I'm with you all the way on this. Fuck RIAA, fuck MPAA, fuck DRM, fuck DMCA, fuck them all! :P

tarmle April 26 2006, 21:25:49 UTC

Thing is, would we be missing out on the next LOTR? However, I find it hard to believe that the movie industry would suddenly start getting good just as we turn our backs on it.

Here's another thing, are we tacitly supporting *AA members even if we don't directly pay for individual products like CDs and DVDs or movie tickets? For instance we all love Lost, right? Well Lost is produced by Bad Robot Productions and Touchstone Television, Touchstone is a division of The Walt Disney Company which owns Buena Vista which is a member of the MPAA. Now, I get to watch Lost here in Ireland on the national RTE network which is partly funded by a mandatory TV licence. Even though I personally don't have to pay to watch Lost the network does. This means that they are paying for the show with my license fee, which I have to pay by law! Because I own a TV/PC I am forced to support the MPAA in some small way ( ... )