Copy Protection Would Save The Tech Industry?
from the say-what? dept
It’s not that surprising but it seems that Hollywood still doesn’t understand the basic economics behind file sharing – and how open, unrestricted file sharing not only could be very useful to their business, but is also more of a threat to them if they don’t embrace it. Slowly, but surely, they’re being forced to embrace more open file sharing because not doing so is causing more problems for their business. At the same time, though, they keep trying to fight the same fight. The latest is the Comdex speech from Peter Chernin at Fox, saying that if the tech industry helps Hollywood with strong copy protection, it will save the technology industry. His idea is that once all that great Hollywood content is available online (even if it’s in incredibly restricted formats) then technology will thrive again. He seems to be missing out on the fact that people aren’t interested in the restricted content. It seems, like many in Hollywood, he sees the computer and the internet as an extension of the television and the stereo, as opposed to a truly interactive medium that lets information go in many directions. It’s not a content-down model that people want. It’s the ability to share content. A top-down model just turns the internet into another TV, which kills off many of its most basic advantages.
