The Slow Checkmate Of Internet Control

The specious arguments made and overly harsh penalties sought by the copyright (Big Media) industry would be comically absurd if systemic corruption didn’t immediately transform them into tragedies.
outed shortly after the verdict as a copyright industry puppet.

Many awaited the logic of the Pirate Bay’s prosecutors. What kind of argument would support high fines and jail time for “assisting copyright infringement”? Would that logic apply to the makers of VCRs, DVD recorders, and MP3 players? Mix tapes? People who lend books to others? The entire Internet?

Well, yes, to the entire Internet question. The entire Internet is the problem. Just think of the multitudes of people now who didn’t have access to one another previously. But going after individuals proved very unpopular, so bigger targets were necessary to instill the proper fear. Pirate Bay is perfect for that, and Sweden apparently doesn’t offer protection to website operators from third party content, the way the Communications Decency Act in the US does.

Yes, the good ole US of A, the shining city on the hill, the land of the free, the home of the DMCA takedown notice. This type of government favor can’t be bought there, right? Um, right?

The White House finally, after initial objections, declassified buy ten times as much music than those who never download illegally? Likely you’ll never see that study quoted by the one industry not financially strapped during the economic downturn. Likely you’ll never see it quoted by Vice President Joe Biden, either, who knows where Democratic campaign coffers are buttered, and whose biggest donors from his Senate days included law firms and entertainment companies.
traditionally more Biden’s, but of course the President signs off on these nominations. The new they’ll be just thrilled with Obama’s choice for the new “copyright czar.” Also meanwhile, the administration agrees with the previous administration that both phone companies and the government should be immune from lawsuits over spying on citizens. Obviously the network policing goal is one shared by the government, Internet providers, and by the entertainment industry.

So good luck in calling those dogs off.

What we’re seeing here is the slow checkmate of Internet control, a seizure by government and industry. The death of Net Neutrality in committee is all part of an enormous money and power grab that very much excludes citizens and businesses benefiting from the “Wild West” of competition on the Internet.

The champion many thought they had in Google becomes a tinier David to one enormous Goliath, and that may be why we’ve seen sudden sheepishness from the company in its dealings with the AP, the AAP, and other