[KLUG Members] "Big media" and the laws they pass that destroys everyone's freedom -- WAS: And the Spam Wars continue...

[Bryan J. Smith]

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[ This should probably be moved to ADVO at some point ]

On Sun, 2002-11-17 at 09:13, Bruce Smith wrote:
> That is already being done in a slightly different sense!
> Some DVD's have a "commercial" at the beginning and your DVD player
> FORCES you to watch it!  You can't "buzz thru it" or skip it in any
> way.  Your DVD player's firmware honors certain codes that disable all
> functions that can be used to skip the commercial.  (that's one reason
> there are "hacks" for some DVD players)
> And the worst part, IMO, is you already PAID MONEY to rent or purchase
> the DVD, and now you are REQUIRED to watch the commercial EVERY TIME you
> play the damn thing!  IMO, this is worse than forcing commercials/ads on
> "free" broadcasts.

And various organizations and companies then sued the Tivo-competitor
(who was it, not MS ReplayTV but someone else?) for their device that
automatically skipped/didn't record commercials.  I mean, what case do
they have?

FYI, I have very Libertarian-style ideals, so the following views
result.

You see, I don't mind so much that organizations and companies try to
"control" a product in how it is created, how it can be used and how it
can be marketed.  That's just what happens in a free society.  If the
DVD consortium wants to screw companies, consumers and what not in the
way they try to "control" their products, that's their business.

Because, in the end, the worst case is that they are only going to hurt
their consumers.

But that's not the problem.  The reality is far more sinister.

The problem I have is when the same company uses that freedom to benefit
themselves, but then turns around and sues other organizations, let
alone lobbies for legislation to be passed that unfairly restricts its
competitors and forces its consumers to use only their solutions and
their services in the ways only they want them to.  They want to take
away that freedom for everyone else!  The result is the destruction of
those inalienable freedoms for a corporate industry that provides wants,
and not needs (unlike the medical or other industries).

That's the problem in a free, capitalistic society.  It's never the
market system, which has its own checks'n balances.  It's the unchecked
bureaucracy that is not influence by that system, but can exert their
own will on the system.  The government can be and is often used to
force people to do things in violation of their right to choose not to.=20
The problem is that most Americans don't realize this industry is doing
that right now -- they just think they are fighting "piraters" and have
a right to do so.

It gets worse.  This "Big Media" lobby can even get legislation passed
to screw over their own "workers," the artists in this case.  They
outlaw an "electronic form of freedom of assembly" for the consumers,
while not paying their own artists a dime in royalties for the
"electronic versus" of their works despite their total copyright
violation.  And many Americans don't realize this.  Furthermore the fact
that the founding fathers specifically realized that "infinite
copyrights" must not be allowed because they could result in all the IP
and associated rights being in the hands of a small few who could
dictate what anyone else could do.

Lastly, the efforts of "Big Media" have managed to see new digital laws
pass that override the protections of non-digital common-law and common
sense of our rights protected in the Constitution.  These laws affect
everyone -- their freedom largely because it destroys their right to
privacy.  In seeing the government mandate the a "clipper chip" be
placed in every electronic device, an extremely optional but
self-industry has ensured a far bigger opportunity for the "1984 state"
to exist in great excess that the US government itself could have done
on its own.

I regularly scoff at the idea that many Americans argue that "Big
Tabacco" harmed millions of Americans unknowingly because the fact
remains that Americans _did_ have a choice to smoke or not, and whether
they gave into "peer pressure" or even "abusive marketing" doesn't
matter.

But far worse is "Big Media" who is passing laws that destroy the rights
of each and every American, regardless of whether they use their
products or have anything to do with their industry.  The right of
Americans to their privacy, their life, their liberty and right to
assemble when and how, in the real world or electronically is being
destroyed.  There will be a day very soon when you will not be able to
share an article with a neighbor, or a book with a colleague, and free
publication of ideas will be forbidden.

All for the sake of profits.

--=20
Bryan J. Smith, E.I.            Contact Info:  http://thebs.org
A+/i-Net+/Linux+/Network+/Server+ CCNA CIWA CNA SCSA/SCWSE/SCNA
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The more government chooses for you, the less freedom you have.

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