John Gilmore writes on Intel selling out your rights to the Hollywood oligopoly:
What really saddens me is that Intel has no need to buy off that oligopoly. In fact it’s quite the opposite. Intel’s efforts to suck up to that oligopoly have CREATED the perception among policy makers that “something needs to be done”, since Intel and the oligopoly “agree on the problem”. Intel and other honest manufacturers should stand fast and say, “We are not the world’s policemen. We sell general purpose equipment and we make it as flexible as possible to attract the broadest range of customers. You can’t hold the man who makes pencils responsible because a bookie used a pencil to write down a bet. And you can’t demand that he design a pencil that can’t be used to write down a bet.” If you answered the oligopoly demands in those terms, there would be no political “problem”. And you would have good Supreme Court law behind you — the Betamax case.
Instead, you are working to undermine the Betamax case, the competitiveness of your own industry, the interests of your own customers, and the foundations of your own free society.
Sony v. Universal Studios Decision (1984) is universally known as the Betamax case. Here is a summary. Digital Consumer is a great advocacy site on the issue.
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