Saturday, July 24, 2010

Gordon in the morning: Myths of the near future

Back in March, James Murdoch - one of Gordon's bosses - gave a speech in which he stoutly defended the sacrosanct nature of copyright:

Murdoch, who stressed that future growth would come from original content production, took the toughest line on piracy.

"We need enforcement mechanisms and we need governments to play ball … There is no difference with going into a store and stealing Pringles or a handbag and taking this stuff. It's a basic condition for investment and economic growth and there should be the same level of property rights whether it's a house or a movie," he said.

"The idea that there's a new consumer class and you have to be consumer-friendly when they're stealing stuff. No. There should be the same level of sanctity as there is around property. Content is no different. They're not crazy kids. No. Punish them."
Borrowing content is like stealing Pringles or a handbag. People who do it must be punished.

Bear that in mind, then, as you read Gordon's story about The Klaxons this morning:
KLAXONS found a drastic cure for their writers' block - a mind-bending psychedelic session.

They got their juices flowing by drinking a powerful hallucinogenic Amazonian potion under the eyes of a shaman - a spiritual healer.
If that sounds familiar, it might be because it's the focus of the band's big interview with NME this week.

Familiar down to the quotes:
Jamie said: "Everybody goes to these sessions with questions.

"Mine was 'How do I write this new album?'

"And it gave me the answer. 'You don't need anything. Just go and do it.' So we did."
Just as the NME reported.

It is possible that The Sun has licensed the content from IPC to reuse - although you'd normally expect to see an acknowledgment if that's happened. But it can't be that Gordon's just lifted the whole thing without permission or even a mention of the NME, can it? Because that would be like stealing a handbag stuffed full of Pringles, wouldn't it? And whatever would James Murdoch (a fully licensed copy of Rupert) say about that?


No comments:

Post a Comment

As a general rule, posts will only be deleted if they reek of spam.