[update: o Miguel Caetano do excelente blog Remixtures resolveu traduzir este artigo de RMS, para quem tem dificuldades com o inglês tem agora disponível uma versão em Português]
Eis um artigo do criador da licença GNU e do movimento do Software Livre, Richard Stallman, que deve ser lido e relido,especialmente pelos senhores da MAFiAA, que todos os dias nos chamam a todos de criminosos.
When record companies make a fuss about the danger of “piracy”, they’re not talking about violent attacks on shipping. What they complain about is the sharing of copies of music, an activity in which millions of people participate in a spirit of cooperation. The term “piracy” is used by record companies to demonize sharing and cooperation by equating them to kidnaping, murder and theft.
To stop people from sharing goes against human nature, and the Orwellian propaganda that “sharing is theft” usually falls on deaf ears. It appears the only way to stop people from sharing is with a harsh War on Sharing. Thus the record companies, through their legal arms such as the RIAA, sue teenagers for hundreds of thousands of dollars for sharing. Meanwhile, corporate conspiracies to restrict public access to technology have developed systems of Digital Restrictions Management, designed to handcuff users and make copying impossible. Examples include iTunes as well as DVDs and Blueray disks. (See DefectiveByDesign.org for more information.) Although these conspiracies operate in restraint of trade, governments systematically fail to prosecute them.
At a recent film conference I heard a proposal to require people to prove their identity to gain access to the Internet; such monitoring would also help crush dissent and democracy. China has announced such a policy for Internet cafes; will the EU be next? An MP in the UK proposed to imprison people for ten years for sharing. This has not been adopted — yet. Meanwhile, in Mexico, children are being invited to report their own parents, Soviet style, for unauthorized copying. It seems there is no limit to the cruelty that the copyright industry will propose for its War on Sharing.
The record companies’ main argument for forbidding sharing is that it causes the “loss” of jobs. This claim turns out to be pure guesswork (1). But even if they were true, they would not justify the War on Sharing. Should we forbid people to clean their own homes to avoid “loss” of janitorial jobs? Forbid people to cook for themselves, or forbid sharing of recipes, to avoid the “loss” of restaurant jobs? Such arguments are absurd because the “cure” is more profoundly harmful than the “disease”.
Besides, even if the record companies never succeed in crushing human cooperation, they cause much misery just by trying, and intend to cause more. Rather than allow them to pursue the War on Sharing until they admit it is futile, we must stop them as soon as possible. We must legalize sharing.
Some say the networked society has no more use for record companies. I do not support that position. I will never pay for a music download until the day I can do that anonymously, so I want to be able to buy CDs anonymously in a record store. I do not wish for the elimination of record companies in general, but I will not give up my freedom to keep them going.
Filed under: Computers, Education, Emenda 138, Internet, Monopoly, MPAA, Music, Privacy, RIAA | 1 Comentário »
