The High Court ruling this week against online music retailer CD-Wow sets an incredibly dangerous and worrying precedent. In one fell swoop the British music industry has lost any claim they might have had to the moral high ground in the fight against piracy by essentially criminalising companies who attempt to give those who actually want to buy legitimate products a good deal. Imagine if the same logic was applied to bananas. Or cocaine... (erm, you've lost us now, Neil...)
As usual, "No rock And Roll Fun" has the most incisive commentary, which I urge you to read:
http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2007/05/cd-ow-massive-fine-for-trying-to-save.html
It's a blog worth subscribing to as well, for those of you who fear for the future of popular culture...
So true, the logic just isn't there when you really think about (thank you for the banana analogy!) And it does seem strange that CD-Wow appear to have been singled out, or are they now going to go after all the other internet companies who offer this perfectly legal service? (I best get a big order in quick!)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link to "No Rock and Roll Fun", having looked at a few articles in it I will now be a regular reader (and not just because of the YouTube clip of Paul Weller and the Charlatans doing "A Town Called Malice").