Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
And it's exactly the "no regard for content" that makes such advertising objectionable.
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Historically, controlling media content by pressuring advertisers has been a tool used for the comfort of (or power plays by) specific interest groups, rather than for the good of society. One thing to keep in mind is that copyright infringement is not remotely the greatest threat facing humanity just now, whereas self-righteous interest groups and overbearing corporations rank right up there.
An EU court just slapped down an industry lobby's attempts to make file hosting sites snoop out copyrighted content for that very reason: individual privacy trumps the 'right' to maximize profits and feel big and in control. Furthermore, entrenched, slow-moving industries' right to profit does not trump the rights of newer industries (such as file exchanges) simply because a lot of people don't understand what the newer industries do. I got hit by the MegaUpload fallout today when I discovered that the files I have linked or personally uploaded on another service, MultiUpload, are no longer available because the chilling effect of the raids frightened that service out of business. What were those files? Scripts and ROMs freely provided by the Nook Color modding and development community to help other people use their devices. No one wants to run that kind of simple, anonymous file-hosting now, and basic internet functionality is impaired or destroyed.
To stop pirates? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
*sob*