From Dear Author we have something that just amazes me in shear economic WTFry.
We all know at the wonderful, and oh so successful, way that major content providers (MPAA, RIAA, Viacom etc.) have tried to impose 19th century “this is my widget” mentality to IP law in the digital age. The stupidity these major interests have unleashed onto the legal system and Teh Internets is almost beyond human comprehension. But this draconian effort, suing dancing babies and all, has worked so well that some geniuses in the print realm have decided to take this line of thought back into the physical brick and mortar world.
They want royalties on used books.
Do I even need to explain why this is toxic waste masquerading as a business model? Hell, let’s just suck all the life out of the secondary market so when my books go out of print we can insure that no one ever hears of me ever again. Let’s make it more economic to pulp all these copies then have someone else read them. Good plan. Maybe you can add a review tax, there’s another cannibalistic income stream. Oh, and charge to view the cover blurb…
To be enshrined along with “we had to destroy the village in order to save it.”
“I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.”
George Bush, announcing that American Capitalism has jumped the shark.
I don’t usually post similar posts back-to-back, but occasionally the stupid comes fast and furious and I can’t help but stand by and mock. Since this all is my blog, I can do that. So, with this in mind I present to you the latest in a long line of politicians who just don’t get the internet, Belgian Minister of Defense Pieter De Crem. And as politicians are wont to do, he makes a completely superfluous international flight from Europe to the US to attend a non-existent UN session and proceeds to get plastered in a Belgian bar in New York City. A bartender there, apparently unaware that it is part of the Defense Minister’s mandate to use taxpayer money to fly him and his whole entourage to Manhattan in order to par-tay like an AIG executive, decided to go ahead and blog about it in Dutch.
This makes De Crem sad. De Crem doesn’t like being the subject of public derision and ridicule. Bad blogger. You made the defense minister cry. But De Crem is a man of action who will not allow things like self-reflection and common sense get in the way of what needs to be done. What does he do, you ask? Does he sue Google in an Argentinian court? Of course not, as he doesn’t play soccer. No he calls the employer of the bad, evil, nasty, thoughtless blogger who hurt his wittle feelings and got the insensitive, misguided wretch fired.
Yeah, a European Defense Minister is running around calling bars and acting like a crooked Youngstown Alderman. I can even see how the call started, “Do you know who I am?“ This is where De Crem shows his complete and utter stupidity regarding the internet. Rule one: if you are a major public figure who tries to stomp a blogger (especially a blogger who’s only crime is pointing out your own stupidity) then more people end up blogging about it. De Crem is beside himself, after all what kind of world is it where public servants cannot go overseas to get ripped on the public dime without some nosy blogger telling everyone about it.
However, our globetrotting inebriate will prevail. When his own parliament started questioning him about his recreational use of public funds and his tendency to turn personal embarrassment into potential international incidents, he was able to explain everything in a rational dignified manner— by blaming the Internet:
I want to take this opportunity and use this non-event to signal a dangerous phenomenon in our society. We live in a time where everybody is free to publish whatever he or she wants on blogs at will without taking any responsibility. This exceeds mud-slinging. Together with you, other Parliament members and the government I find that it’s nearly impossible to defend yourself against this. Everyone of you is a potential victim. I would like to ask you to take a moment and think about this.
Step three, hire the lawyers to “defend his integrity.” Good lord, what kind of bars was he going to? Kind of makes you wonder. Also, dude, maybe the blogs wouldn’t be so dangerous if you weren’t such a asshat in a public place in a country where people are allowed to mock politicians and point out their stupidity.
Mock! Mock! Hear me mocking you Mr. De Crem? I guess this means this blog is officially dangerous in Belgium.
(via TechCrunch)