Bush once said you were either with him or against him in the war against evil.
The same seems to be said for the Motion Picture Association of America when it comes to the subject of piracy.
A reactionary bunch, of that there is no doubt.
But a powerful bunch, nonetheless with powerful friends who have enough influence on our lives that we cannot play any DVD that we want to in the players that we buy with our hard earned cash.
Here we have a very real situation where corporate profits rule over individual freedom.
What is the difference between the depth of feeling in the war against pirates that the MPAA have and that of the music industry.
The MPAA are better organise and have more power in the market place.
Hence when you buy a CD you can play it anywhere.
So when my son who is in university in Oxford brings home two DVDs and a CD for his father at Christmas we have the absurd situation that I can play my Carpenters CD but the DVDs are unplayable.
Of course Disney, AOL Time Warner, Twentieth Century Fox, Vivendi Universal, Paramount and Sony MGM have all received letters form the European Commision and have been subject of an investigation into an illegal price-fixing cartel.
The inquiry has been into the the inflated prices of DVDs, paid by British film fans compared to us in the States amid concerns that Hollywood studios are colluding to exploit the two separate markets.
It is reckoned my son will have paid
Bush once said you were either with him or against him in the war against evil.
The same seems to be said for the Motion Picture Association of America when it comes to the subject of piracy.
A reactionary bunch, of that there is no doubt.
But a powerful bunch, nonetheless with powerful friends who have enough influence on our lives that we cannot play any DVD that we want to in the players that we buy with our hard earned cash.
Here we have a very real situation where corporate profits rule over individual freedom.
What is the difference between the depth of feeling in the war against pirates that the MPAA have and that of the music industry.
The MPAA are better organise and have more power in the market place.
Hence when you buy a CD you can play it anywhere.
So when my son who is in university in Oxford brings home two DVDs and a CD for his father at Christmas we have the absurd situation that I can play my Carpenters CD but the DVDs are unplayable.
Of course Disney, AOL Time Warner, Twentieth Century Fox, Vivendi Universal, Paramount and Sony MGM have all received letters form the European Commision and have been subject of an investigation into an illegal price-fixing cartel.
The inquiry has been into the the inflated prices of DVDs, paid by British film fans compared to us in the States amid concerns that Hollywood studios are colluding to exploit the two separate markets.
It is reckoned my son will have paid