Every so often, you discover something that illuminates and explains an issue perfectly.
Some background: a few days back OSNews had a pointer to an article over at the Swedish site Falkvinge.net. It was titled: Cable Reveals Extent of Lapdoggery from Swedish Govt on Copyright Monopoly.
The article examined evidence from Wikileaks that strongly suggests that US media companies and trade associations (thanks to direct assistance from the US Embassy and other US government agencies) have been allowed to interfere with the Swedish government, legal system, and internal politics.
And what makes it so alarming is that the Swedish government has gone along with it for the most part.
From the Falkvinge & Co. article:
The article is a good read. And pretty damning as long as you're not saying these "leaked documents" are a complete fabrication, as some in the media industry are starting to claim. Well worth reading through slowly in order to reach your own conclusions, if for nothing else.
But interesting as the article was, what I found even more valuable was a question and a response from two of the readers.
First came the question from reader Ad who wondered what it was about the media industry that Washington was bending over backwards to protect it - despite the fact there are obviously more important industries and issues the US could be focusing on:
The answer came shortly after from reader Anonymous. This is a response that needs to be read and digested. Because I think it exactly nails what the motivation and the real agenda behind all the nonsense surrounding patents, copyright, DRM, and IP law is.
I'll sum Anonymous' response up briefly: The United States effectively produces little other than so-called 'intellectual properties.' And will soon produce nothing other than intellectual properties if its current business and investment practices continue in the direction they're going.
And that direction seems to be "through the looking glass..."
[attach]
Some background: a few days back OSNews had a pointer to an article over at the Swedish site Falkvinge.net. It was titled: Cable Reveals Extent of Lapdoggery from Swedish Govt on Copyright Monopoly.
The article examined evidence from Wikileaks that strongly suggests that US media companies and trade associations (thanks to direct assistance from the US Embassy and other US government agencies) have been allowed to interfere with the Swedish government, legal system, and internal politics.
And what makes it so alarming is that the Swedish government has gone along with it for the most part.
From the Falkvinge & Co. article:
Quote
Among the treasure troves of recently released WikiLeaks cables, we find one whose significance has bypassed Swedish media. In short: every law proposal, every ordinance, and every governmental report hostile to the net, youth, and civil liberties here in Sweden in recent years have been commissioned by the US government and industry interests.
I can understand that the significance has been missed, because it takes a whole lot of knowledge in this domain to recognize the topics discussed. When you do, however, you realize that the cable lists orders for the Swedish Government to implement a series of measures that significantly weakens Sweden’s competitive advantage in the IT field against the US. We had concluded this was the case, but had believed things had come from a large number of different sources. That was wrong. It was all coordinated, and the Swedish Government had received a checklist to tick off. The Government is described in the cables as “fully on board”.
Since 2006, the Pirate Party has claimed that traffic data retention (trafikdatalagring), the expansion of police powers (polismetodutredningen), the law proposal that attempted to introduce Three Strikes (Renforsutredningen), the political trial against and persecution of The Pirate Bay, the new rights for the copyright industry to get subscriber data from ISPs (Ipred) — a power that even the Police don’t have — and the general wiretapping law (FRA-lagen) all have been part of a greater whole, a whole controlled by American interests. It has sounded quite a bit like Conspiracies ’R’ Us. Nutjobby. We have said that the American government is pushing for a systematic dismantlement of civil liberties in Europe and elsewhere to not risk the dominance of American industry interests, in particular in the area of copyright and patent monopolies.
But all of a sudden, there it was, in black on white. It takes the description so far that the civil servants in the Justice Department, people I have named and criticized, have been on the American Embassy and received instructions.
This will become sort of a longish article, as I intend to outline all the hard evidence in detail, but for those who want the executive summary, it is this: The Pirate Party was right on every detail. The hunt for ordinary Joes who share music and movies with one another has been behind the largest dismantlement of civil liberties in modern history, and American interests have been behind every part of it.
The article is a good read. And pretty damning as long as you're not saying these "leaked documents" are a complete fabrication, as some in the media industry are starting to claim. Well worth reading through slowly in order to reach your own conclusions, if for nothing else.
But interesting as the article was, what I found even more valuable was a question and a response from two of the readers.
First came the question from reader Ad who wondered what it was about the media industry that Washington was bending over backwards to protect it - despite the fact there are obviously more important industries and issues the US could be focusing on:
Quote
Ad
September 5, 2011 - 17:17
What I’m curious about is the “why?” behind all this. Why is the US pushing so actively for the entertainment industry? There are, after all, bigger industries (moneywise) than entertainment. My thoughts are that piracy and sharing hurts the industry that is necessary to promote the “American way of life”, i.e. cultural dominance of the USA. Control of the media equals controlling the public. I tried other explanations, this is the best I can come up with so far…
The answer came shortly after from reader Anonymous. This is a response that needs to be read and digested. Because I think it exactly nails what the motivation and the real agenda behind all the nonsense surrounding patents, copyright, DRM, and IP law is.
I'll sum Anonymous' response up briefly: The United States effectively produces little other than so-called 'intellectual properties.' And will soon produce nothing other than intellectual properties if its current business and investment practices continue in the direction they're going.
And that direction seems to be "through the looking glass..."
[attach]
