Electronic Hezbollah
I have already talked about this interview between John Perry Barlow of the EFF and Dan Glickman of the MPAA here but on reflection I found I objected to John Perry Barlow's comments about the "Electronic Hezbollah".
... they're up against 17-year-olds who have turned themselves into electronic Hezbollah because they resent the content industry for its proprietary practices ...There are a lot of kids out there copying and distributing movies not because they care about seeing the movies or sharing them with their friends but because they want to stick it to the movie business.
I find that comments like this not just unhelpful in furthering the debate about copyright - but actually helping to reinforce the RIAA & MPAA propaganda line that "P2P file sharing is piracy".
While the rest of the world is trying to fight off the current RIAA & MPAA propaganda line that ANY form of P2P file sharing is "piracy" and "copyright theft" here is John Perry Barlow telling the WHOLE WORLD that P2P violations of Big Media companies are caused by an "electronic Hezbollah" who only want to "stick it to the movie business".
The phrase "putting out fire with gasoline" comes to mind.
With "friends" like John Perry Barlow to do the propaganda PR for the RIAA & MPAA - who needs enemies ...
Furthermore, the very use of the phrase "electronic hezbollah" in this context is offensive - the words "digital underground" or "digital resistance" could have sufficed
The use of the word "hezbollah" in this context makes me as annoyed as when the RIAA & MPAA call digital copyright violators "pirates".
Copyright violation thieves are not "pirates" and the people who oppose them are not the "hezbollah" - pirates rape, kidnap and kill people and the hezbollah is outlawed as a terrorist organisation across the globe.
Labelling people who oppose DRM and harsh digital copyright laws - along with those actively breaking those copyright laws - as an "electronic hezbollah" - does nothing more than smear them by making it look like they are terrorists.
The RIAA & MPAA could not buy advertising like this - it only helps to harden attitudes on both sides of the fence.
Right now figuring out how to fix the whole digital copyright mess - without DRM and without giving up our existing rights under copyright law - should be our only priority.
Tags: riaa, mpaa, john perry barlow, wired, bbc, electronic hezbollah, copyright violation, piracy