The War between the RIAA and The Rest of the World

by Tom Koltai at 05:31PM (EST) on March 29, 2009


War throughout the ages has been traditionally declared for the acquisition by one sovereign state (or Warlord) of another’s (sovereign state or Warlords') possessions.
The legitimacy of the process is provided for by the Charters and Constitutions of nearly all of the World Governments.
Censorship, introduced by those Governments has traditionally been in force to prevent the people from observing that which the Governments decided was not good for them. In this manner, throughout the ages, Governments have prevented their populace from being able to seed revolution.
Unfortunately, the Internet has provided the tools of Global free speech uniting the world, not against their Governments, but against Corporate America.

Definition (US site) DECLARATION OF WAR - An act of the national legislature, in which a state of war is declared to exist between a nation and some other nation. This power is vested in Congress by the Constitution, There is no form or ceremony necessary, except the passage of the act. The public proclamation of the government of a state, by which it declares itself to be at war with a foreign power, and which forbids all and every one to aid or assist the common enemy. A manifesto stating the causes of the war is usually published, but war exists as soon as the act takes effect. It was formerly usual to precede hostilities by a public declaration communicated to the enemy, and to send a herald to demand satisfaction, but that is not the practice of modern times. If the content Industry with its own peculiar accounting systems, offshore bank accounts for the receipt of licensing and royalty fees, international lobbyists (Content Industry Ambassadors) to all Governments isn’t a recognized Independent State, it should be.

SunTzu provides an insight [http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html] into how the result may turn out.
(Using the Stanza numbering from the web site)

12. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let
      them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:--

13. (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law?  
      (2) Which of the two generals has most ability?  
      (3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?  
      (4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?  
      (5) Which army is stronger?  
      (6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained?  
      (7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?
14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat

The answers at the moment are in my opinion,
(1) The Global Internet Community
(2) The Global Internet Community - IF it bands together
(3) The Global Internet Community
(4) RIAA
(5) The Global Internet Community
(6) RIAA
(7) RIAA

Therefore - at the moment we have a slight advantage. In the last week, that advantage started to grow.

Last week a colleague stated that US Corporations were currently in survival mode. “Telcos and Content Companies are going to be squaring off to try to monetise the consumer in any way that they can.”
This week some extraordinary comments started emanating from some of the biggies.
AT&T"We are not under any circumstances going to suspend or terminate any customer's service as a result of a third-party allegation unless they have a court order," Mr. Cicconi said. "The copyright owner has legal rights, and we are not going to be the agent to enforce their rights."
Comcast:"Comcast, like other major ISPs, forwards notices of alleged infringement that we receive from music, movie, videogame, and other content owners to our customers. This is the same processwe've had in place for years - nothing has changed. While we have always supported copyright holders in their efforts to reduce piracy under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and continue to do 50, we have no plans to test a 50-called 'three-strikes-and-you're-out' policy."

It would appear that survival is becoming more important than Corporate comradeship.
Governments are also starting to see where the tide is swelling and siding with the voters (filesharers).New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said last Monday:
“We have now asked the minister of commerce to start work on a replacement section [for 92A]… There is a need for legislation in this area. Some progress was made between copyright holders and the ISPs but not enough to agree a code of conduct… In our view there are a number of issues that made it difficult to complete that code of conduct without fixing the fundamental flaws in section 92a.”

And it would seem that even in the courts, the content industry is managing to upset the judges.According to this story recently on P2PNet, the RIAA lawyers basically snubbed Juctice Nancy Gertner and told her to Stick her Decision…... ( a request for additional detail on a motion that the RIAA didn’t want to respond too).

The History of Censorship in Australia.
Many in Australia consider the Governments Internet Filter a methodology of returning Australia to the days of old when Censorship was the norm.
From the 1930 Australian National Yearbook [large pdf file] page 760 under the heading........
CHAPTER XXVI.—MISCELLANEOUS.§ 11. Film Censorship.
1. Legislation. The censorship of imported films derives its authority from section 52 (g) of the Customs Act, which is the section giving authority to prohibit the importation of goods. Under this section proclamations have been issued prohibiting the importation of films and relative advertising matter except under certain conditions and with the consent of the Minister. The conditions governing importation are contained in regulations issued under the Customs Act and provide, inter alia, that no film shall be registered which in the opinion of the censor is,(a) blasphemous, indecent or obscene; (b) likely to be injurious to morality, or to encourage or incite to crime;(c) likely to be offensive to the people of any friendly nation; (d) likely to be offensive to the people of the British Empire; or (e) depicts any matter the exhibition of which is undesirable in the public interests.

Therefore the Governments desire to be able to filter P2P content is demonstrably based on the historical methodology of prudent governance of a Nation.

However, there appears to be some objection to this being able to occur.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30sYTuP_UnM&feature=player_embedded

With the Population making anonymous Manifesto threats – there is no doubt, some would say, the world is most definitely at war.
With Corporations and Governments siding with the people does the content industry have a chance?
The financial and voter reality is – probably not.



Keywords:  NZ section92a, SzunTu, censorship, war, RIAA, P2P