By Jonathan Greenblatt
During a business trip to southern China several years ago, I was surprised at the number of pirated movies littering the stalls of street vendors. After a series of conversations with friends in the entertainment industry, I am reminded of that scene. My peers describe the Internet not as a happy global village but as a borderless black market where stolen content flourishes and pirates lurk around every corner.
In a post-Napster world, it's no surprise that media companies feel such anxieties. The brief reappearance earlier this month of Film88.com, the pirate film site, upped the ante. These companies see a future in which rogue players will set up shop in far-off locales, steal their intellectual property and erode their industry.
Such hysteria has fed a flurry of activity in Washington, particularly the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA) currently circulating on Capitol Hill. Consumer advocates have blasted CBDTPA as a heavy-handed move by the Hollywood lobby to stifle online expression.
Cyberactivist Gordon Mohr satirized such legislative efforts when he recently wrote that perhaps the time has come to fit all consumers with a "digital helmet."...
http://news.com.com/2010-1078-941412.html?tag=rc_spec
- js.