Yeah, the irony is killing me here, too.
The president of News Corp. has lambasted the Internet as a “moral-free zone.”
Speaking Tuesday at an annual conference organized by the Progress & Freedom Foundation, Peter Chernin decried the “enormous amount” of worthless content online.
Definition of “worthless”: Not belonging, nor providinging revenue, to my company.
He also predicted that without new laws to stave off illicit copying, News Corp.’s vast library of movies may never be made available in digital form.
“Give in to my demands, or else I’ll shoot myself with this gun.”
In an interview after his speech, Chernin threw News Corp.’s support behind three controversial bills. The company backs a plan by Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., to implant copy-protection technology in software and hardware devices, as well as a bill introduced last month by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., that would authorize copyright holders to hack into and disrupt peer-to-peer networks.
News Corp. also endorses a bill by Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who hopes to make it a federal felony to try to trick certain types of devices into playing unauthorized music or executing unapproved computer programs.
Yeah, that’s the way to advance Progress & Freedom: let Big Media hobble technology, restrict the entry of Small Media into the market, outlaw security research and fair use, and destroy the computers of anyone who gets in the way. Uh-huh.
“We support efforts to help us fight digital piracy,” Chernin said. “We applaud any of those guys in Congress who are helping to wave the flag for us.”
And their checks are in the mail.
Chernin decisively attacked sexually explicit material on the Internet. “The prevalence of pornographic Web sites and e-mails is a lot more than an insult to common decency,” Chernin said. “It’s an increasing reason to keep kids and families off the Internet. And these are only part of the virtual logjam of valueless clutter.”
Funny — that’s how a lot of people would describe Fox Television (a subsidiary of News Corp., and perpetrators of such uplifting and educational properties as American Idol and Celebrity Boxing), too.
But, of course, that’s Intellectual Property and Owned Content. And, more importantly, they own it.