Links

[Eric D.]

on 31/3/02 21:19, John Nelson at john@computation.com wrote:

> So what you're saying is that the greed and machinations of Hollywood and
> those with vested content interests will undermine, not only the ability
> of this country to compete with other nations computationally, but the
> very defense and security of this nation (which relies heavily on
> computing)?
> 
> -- John

Pretty much. Seems more like shooting yourself in the head to deal with the
pain of a stomach ache rather than laying off the potato chips.

It's kind of funny that Hollywood & the RIAA are hauling in record profits
yet they feel compelled to portray themselves as being under siege from this
ever-so-dangerous technology of personal computing and the internet. If
anyone has a legitimate complaint its the software cos themselves. It's not
like Hollywood or the RIAA are responsible for anything creative (Hollywood
only seems capable of making crap (as evidenced by the fact that Pearl
Harbour was even _nominated_ for Oscars)... though, I guess some good came
out of Hollywood this year (unlike last year where Traffic and Gladiator
certainly couldn't be described as being "inspired" or even creative))!

Hmm. How does Linux fit into all of this (so this isn't a completely OT
thread); Linux will face extinction if any of the contentious legislation
passes. Without built-in uncrackable copy protection software will be
rendered illegal. Linux is 100% open source which means that _any_ built-in
copy protection is automatically crackable.

I get the feeling that the only way they're ever going to be able to put the
cat back in the bag is by banning personal computers altogether.

Eric.