Comment MPAA's real motivation? (Score 3) 191
Am I the only one who thinks that the real reason the MPAA is fighting DeCSS is precisely to control the how, when, and where of viewing copyrighted content? Am I the only one who envisions a brave new world in which you can no longer *buy* books, but must license the content for a limited time and for specific purposes?
We talk about how we live in the Information Age, but noone seems to understand how that fact will change our society and its laws. When our societies were land-based and agricultural, the owners of the land organized society in such a way as to protect their own interests at the cost of the poor saps who worked the land. It stands to reason that in the Information Age, the owners of the information (i.e., copyright holders) will do the same.
Picture yourself as an Information-Age serf and you will have a clear idea of what the MPAA has in mind. We are presented with two choices: lie back and enjoy it, or become authors ourselves and use our copyright/copyleft authority set up an alternative to their vision of the future.
We talk about how we live in the Information Age, but noone seems to understand how that fact will change our society and its laws. When our societies were land-based and agricultural, the owners of the land organized society in such a way as to protect their own interests at the cost of the poor saps who worked the land. It stands to reason that in the Information Age, the owners of the information (i.e., copyright holders) will do the same.
Picture yourself as an Information-Age serf and you will have a clear idea of what the MPAA has in mind. We are presented with two choices: lie back and enjoy it, or become authors ourselves and use our copyright/copyleft authority set up an alternative to their vision of the future.
