[Cdn-DMCA] TPM and the End User

[Russell McOrmond]

On Tue, 9 Apr 2002, Michael Richardson wrote:

>   Let there be three countries: A B C with equal productivity. Each
> country products one hit song per citizen.

...and every other country imports equally from every other country.



  Bollywood (based in Bombay) produces many more movies than Hollywood
does, and yet the average person in India has heard of and seen many
Hollywood movies while the average North American doesn't even know 
Bollywood exists.   Considering the huge number of movies with english 
subtitles, language isn't the issue.


  I can't really explain what is the issue without using the phrase
"cultural neo-colonialism".


  This has little to do with bits or regular rules of "trade".  It is
frustrating to note that India, which still has people who are under-fed,
is a net exporter of food and being pushed by foreign corporations towards
agri-business cash-crops.  The United States, in a similar way (except
under it's own rather than foreign control), is a net exporter of culture.  

  Both of these countries badly need domestically that which they are a
net exporter of.


  As I've said before, the word "Free" in current "Free Trade" means
"liberated from responsibility".

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