Re: Summary: [Fsfe-uk] TV show about copyright, the Internet and DRM

[Jason Clifford]

On Fri, 5 May 2006, Chris Croughton wrote:

> > Why continue to us the word "protection". By doing so you are granting the 
> > central plank of their case to those who want more restrictive copyright 
> > powers.
> 
> It's 'protection' in the same sense as the Mafia use it -- pay us or
> we'll send da boyz round and do yer.  Or as in 'protectionism', we'll
> slap heavy tariffs on anyone else because our own prices are so high we
> don't want to compete.

I don't agree. I think most you are forgetting that most people wont have 
considered the issue very much and most of what their hear is the industry 
spin - ie this is our artists legitimate income and we have to protect it. 
Put only in that context the word does not have a negative connotation.

It's also a position the industry has been putting forward successfully 
for several years in their lobbying so it's a well established one with 
the law makers etc.

I think if we want to win the arguement we should be sure to set the 
language as much as possible so as to avoid the possibility that the other 
side can be seen to be reasonable. If they are seen to be reasonable we 
loose.

Don't forget that in this kind of thing they are past masters at this art 
and language is one of the fundemental building blocks they use.

Jason