____ is killing the ____ industry
Carrie at StayFree points to another PR blitz from the copyright lobby. Yawn. As Kembrew McLeod argues, this tired line of argument just doesn’t wash:
Valenti has argued “If the value of what [movie studios] labored over and brought forth to entertain the American public cannot be protected by copyright, then the victim is going to be the American public.” He went on to assert that if people were able to freely copy and watch movies whenever they wanted, this would lead to a “lessened supply of high quality, expensive high budget material where its investment recoupment is now in serious doubt. ” Valenti said this over twenty years ago, and he was talking about the VCR. (11)
So you can fill in those blanks accordingly:
1978: Home taping, record;
1982: The VCR, film;
2005: CD burning, music.
Update 8/18: BoingBoing links to a PowerPoint presentaation from Mitch Keinol of the RIAA. CD buring is clearly the next frontier of RIAA lawsuits. Also, expect more p2p lawsuits. And I imagine continued attacks on “fair use theology.”
Time for more activism here. Fair Use is not theology; it is the LAW.
