Mailinglist Archive

On Mon, 2007-07-09 at 13:30 -0700, Linux News wrote:

	The following is an editorial from the O'REILLY NETWORK's LINUX NEWS
newsletter.  It isn't Linux specific, nor even open/free software.  It
is a sad and frightening commentary on the realities of global living.
Basically "the people" have no rights.  At least none not specifically
granted by big global corporations.

	Read this.  Research it and digest it for yourself.  Then ask yourself
if this isn't a real and imminent problem.

> As a copyright holder myself, I respect the rights of other
> copyright holders to earn a fair living off their works. I even agree,
> in principle, that people should pay for the music they own (once,
> with the rights to do whatever they want with it). But, as this
> article in Florida Today notes, the music mafia (and using that term
> is an insult to organized crime...) has begun shaking down
> coffeehouses who have performers that sing copyrighted songs. One bar
> owner was allegedly shaken down because he had Monday Night Football
> playing in his bar, and "Are You Ready For Some Football" is
> copyrighted.
> 
> http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070708/NEWS01/707080343/1006
> 
> At one point the U.K. equivalent of ASCAP/BMI even attempted to bully
> a guitar shop into paying its copyright protection money, claiming
> that if people played copyrighted music while trying the instruments,
> the shop needed to pony up a royalty. 

> http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=16513231&method=full&siteid=50003&headline=-you-need-a-licence-to-strum-stairway-to-heaven--name_page.html
> 
> I have to ask, what will be next? Mind reading technology developed so
> that people thinking about a copyrighted piece of music can be forced
> to pay? Gangs of RIAA militia accosting people in the streets because
> they were humming "My Humps?" There is a balance between protecting
> the rights of the copyright holder and acting like a bunch of
> jack-booted thugs, and the music industry entered the latter realm
> several years ago.
> 

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