Wednesday, 23 June 2010 12:21
US government works for the movie and music industry
Written by Nick Farell
Your tax dollars at work
The US government will pursue foreign websites that pirate American music and movies.
US Vice President Joe Biden has finally admitted that public resources will be used to defend the movie and music industry from pirates. Biden said that piracy is theft... "It's smash and grab, no different than a guy walking down Fifth Avenue and smashing the window at Tiffany's and reaching in and grabbing what's in the window," he said.
Biden said the United States would exert more pressure on foreign governments to shut down the sites by "being as public as we possibly can" about illegal activity. It is not clear if that remit would include the deployment of US troops. He didn't rule it out or in, but given the insanity of the music and film industry to protect copyright we would not put it past them.
Biden said that the US will "shine the spotlight on foreign governments that have rogue actors doing illicit business within their borders, it's the government's responsibility to respond." The move would put the US on a collision course with both Russia and China. China's top internet search firm, Baidu, was associated with between 50 per cent and 75 per cent of illegal music downloads in China and several Russian websites still provide illegal downloads.
Biden claimed the issue as being a matter of both safety and national security.
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