For years I’ve wondered if ex-White House advisor Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Assocation of America, might not be a foreign agent. Hilary Rosen, too–the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America. No, not really, but almost. Along with many others, I’ve warned of the intense hatred that our clueless copyright laws are stirring up against the States. Brilliant way to recruit hackers for Saddam. Regardless of the consequences, Hollywood and Washington want to inflict our antiquated intellectual property models on the whole planet. Who says the Iraq crisis is the only source of divergence from Europe?
Now, from the United Kingdom, has come some anti-Yank xenophobia that Valenti and Rosen and their congressional allies vastly deserve, or at least would if the damage could be limited to them.
The difference is that Bill Thompson, ranting in the Register, is only a writer-consultant and presumably isn’t in a position to bribe legislators with massive campaign donations, unlike Hollywood and the American recording industry. “Damn the Constitution: Europe must take back the Web,” is the headline of a column that he wrote last year, and that I discovered today through Luke Francl, a TeleRead contributor who had read my item below. Seems that Thompson
