[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“Last week the American Federal trade commission, FTC, published
a report that lambasted the cultural industries for marketing
adult-oriented movies, violent video games and obscenity filled
music to young children. Cynics remarked that the report was in
time to coincide with the American presidential elections and allow
the candidates to win cheap political points. The cultural
industries wailed about the threat to free speech and how their
activities are perfectly legal. Indeed, listening and reading about
the controversy would surely shame Janus; the two headed Roman
god….”
“As a foreigner to this particular American report, what I find
rather interesting is that no one has made the obvious linkage
between the cultural industry’s aggressive defense of their
copyright and intellectual property and eschewing any
responsibility for how they market their products. Sorry guys but
the world doesn’t work that way. You can’t use the DCMA to
rampage like a rabid pit bull on crystal meth and prohibit
downloadable music or impede Penguinistas from watching DVDs on
their platform and then disavow any responsibility for
inappropriate marketing to young children. There’s a bilateral
obligation: the state protects your copyright while you market your
products appropriately to the customers sought.”