Hidden within the fine print of usage contracts, purposely stuck at or near the bottom so as to bore you to sleep, hide one or two sentences of what has become the finest of lines between your life as a free man or felon in prison. What makes this all the more troubling is the Big Media companies are trying to take control of policing any supposed infringement of their profit machines via legislation. Is this a good idea? Hardly. As a writer I have been informed of a few class action copyright infringement law suits that I may have had a claim to. Everyone of them involved one or more of the big motion picture and television studios. None of my scripts were ripped off, I don't write the kind of stories that they steal, I'm an art house kind of guy. I did notice that soon after a rather large number of new TV line ups changed drastically. We all know motion picture and mainstream music sales have also fallen off drastically in resent years. According to the studio exec's it is because of piracy, not poor movies and cookie-cutter pop stars. Those people on the internet are stealing the crap they stole first. For as long as entertainment has been around entertainers have been ripped off, then sued. Writers fall into the same category, as do the buying public. None of these proposed and pending laws are needed. They are simply wanted by major corporations as a legal means to bully more money from your pocket. They want to police themselves and us.The policy of self policing has and always will be less than poor judgement when allowed to occur. Allowing the fox in the hen house, so to speak, is just what this type of legislation will do. One last note, they want the power to levy fines, impose prison sentences and or bar you for life from what is fast becoming the only information highway available to the masses. How many politicians can you buy?
Did I piss you off? I will.
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