Bill Thompson at the good old Beeb brings up a good point about the viability of the record companies new tactics:
If they cannot come up with a business model which allows them to make profits without criminalising their customers, trampling over our civil liberties or installing malware on our computers then they do not deserve to stay in business, and new ways for artists to reach the public will have to emerge.
Hear hear. If anything, the record companies (as well as their lobbying groups and allies) have shown their arrogance many times over during 2005. A lot has been said about Sony’s rootkit fiasco and the finnish travesty of a copyright law. But unless both are struck down hard, they will emerge again, stronger and better camouflaged.
While the former seems to have been now neutralized, it’s just a matter of time before another company allows its greed and blatant lack of clue to overwhelm the duty to its customers. But the public has now been warned, and the response can be expected even harsher the next time someone tampers with music.
The latter is a more problematic case. Yes, we now have a stringent copyright law. A law whose content needs so many interpretations, that no-one can adequately explain what actually is and what isn’t legal, anymore. Hence the regular Q&A’s in recent magazines, editorials that are not completely aligned with each other.
And nope. It’s not about being able to download zero-day movies from the net. Neither about amassing vast quantities of MP3′s that are never listened to. No. It’s about being able to use appropriate devices to replay the content of legally purchased media products.
[ via Butt Ugly. ]