I get really tired of reading things about the RIAA and MPAA and piracy and everything. I find both associations extremely annoying, and unnecessary. Unfortunately, I enjoy reading boingboing, and Cory Doctorow is one of the foremost anti-copyright bloggers, so I kind of have to read about it from time to time. I don't enjoy writing about this, either, but there was a quote that really irked me.
Cory posted a short quote from a fairly long article. I haven't read the whole thing, but I probably should. The last part of this quote, however, is what really irked me:
"This is not Napster," says Harvey Weinstein, the movie mogul who heads the Weinstein Co., a MediaDefender client. "Online piracy has got to be stopped. The biggest spear in the neck of the pirates will be (a) being vigilant, (b) prosecuting, and (c) in a way, making fun of them, finding a way to say, 'That's not cool -- that's anything but cool.' If you had people who the young people respect in this industry -- Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Shia LaBeouf -- these guys did public service announcements that said, 'Don't steal, stealing's not cool,' I think you can go a long way toward stopping this." Weinstein says that if Democrats maintain control of Congress and gain the White House, he'll flex whatever political muscle he has acquired by being a major donor to achieve one thing: "Tougher, more stringent piracy laws." Does he see any use for P2P systems? "No."
Anyone who uses computers knows that P2P systems are mainly used for music, movies, and software piracy. However, anyone who knows a bit about the systems knows that the technology behind it is quite amazing. My personal favorite, which may or may not technically be considered a P2P system, is Bittorrent. The technology behind is awesome, and it's extremely useful for sending large files. While it's often used for piracy, it has many other practical uses. I don't have to look far for one of them (Overclocked Remix).
Now, I can only assume that anyone who thinks P2P systems have no use at all obviously knows nothing about technology. That right there is what really irks me. Why are the people who know nothing about technology the people who are filing lawsuits and making laws about it? Why are the people who have all the political and economical power over these things the ones who have no knowledge of how any of it works? Either they need to learn, or the people who actually do know should be the ones in high positions.
Posted by Shenlon at January 14, 2008 11:17 PM