Washington Post's Fast Forward (tech) section is naturally following the
"epic" struggle of the music industry (RIAA) against evolving
technology.
Latest column (Rob Pegaro):
RIAA Uses Law to Defend Interests
After years of trying to criminalize hardware and software
that can be used to steal music, the recording industry is
going after the people who actually publish copyrighted
work online.
It immediately brings to mind Heine's famous quote:
Wherever they burn books they will also,
in the end, burn human beings.
Heinrich's quote has been used thousands of times in terms of politics
and Nazi Germany.
But, stripped from its previous use, it real appears to be describing
technology's ability to change established order through that
technology's enhanced distribution (communication of ideas, whatever).
Books are a wonderfully endurable technology, having proven their
"marketability" for centuries, so Heinrich certainly didn't lack
observational data.
When that technology becomes "bothersome," it will be attacked.
("Bothersome" usually means it contributes to the decline of some
process of economic-social domination in current existence.)
And when that technology cannot be contained, the logical next step is
to go after the users of the technology.
I've followed this RIAA business from beginning, because of my random
placement in time and location. Dispassionately considered, RIAA is
behaving in a rational, expected manner.
Ken.
--
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-- Robert Frost
