I came across this article today and was pretty disturbed after reading it…
“Last week, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on the ‘Broadcast Flag’ and ‘Audio Flag,’ a set of proposals by the MPAA and RIAA that would stifle innovation by giving content holders a virtual veto over new technologies and existing user rights,” iPaqAction.org writes. “But Senator Stevens, the 82-year old committee chairman from Alaska, surprised the audience by announcing that his daughter had bought him an iPod, and suddenly Stevens had a much greater understanding of the many ways innovative technology can create choice for consumers. Content industry representatives at the hearing found themselves answering much tougher questions than they typically receive.”
This is so wrong on so many levels. First of all, how does a fricking 82-year-old living fossil get to become committee chairman of a technological debate when he hasn’t even used the technology himself? Has this been how policies have been made in the history of this nation? Someone who has not used the technology and doesn’t understand its underpinning affects to the rights of both the consumers and corporate entities get to call the shots in this debate. They are all just making all this shit up as they go like that clueless company I was consulting with? This is absolute chaos from a consumer’s standpoint. These guys are making policies left and right without even understanding even the tiniest bit on how they will affect everything else. Makes me wonder what kind of homework the lawmakers did before they passed DMCA of 1998.
God I can’t tolerate idiotic lawmakers.
via [MacDailyNews]