Battleangel

RIAA’s Rosen ‘writing Iraq copyright laws’

Oh, just great. This was surely one of the headlines I never thought I’d see. Whats next? “Saddam writing new democratic constitution” or maybe “Freddy Kreuger in charge of Iraqi kindergartens”?

Chief executive for the Recording Industry Association of America, Hilary Rosen, is helping draft copyright legislation for the New Iraq, according to investigative journalist Gregory Palast.
“Who’s really going to win this war? It looks like Madonna,” Palast told Democracy Now radio. “Where before, they feared Saddam Hussein, now they have to fear Sony Records will chop off their hands if they bootleg a Madonna album.”

Hilary will almost certainly be setting to work on the current law’s Article 13:- “The author may not prevent a person making one copy of a published work for his own use.”

Under Iraqi copyright legislation, passed by The Revolution Leadership Council in 1971, a copyright lapses 25 years after the death of the author, but no more then fifty years after the publication of the work. It’s shorter for private works, and there are several public interest exemptions.
We wonder which member of The Revolution Leadership Council penned this, or whether someone wrote it for them, but the real author of this enlightened document ought to step forward. Maybe they could help liberate the USA - which extended copyright to seventy years after the author’s death - from Hollywood.

Haha. Ironic. Isn’t it? Apparently Iraq wasn’t all that bad. And now another safe haven is gone. Bummer. This goes to prove that the world isn’t as black and white as some people would like to paint it. From a copyright perspective, Iraq was one of the most liberal countries in the world. The copyright laws of Iraq are interesting not only because they leave the consumers with a lot of FREEDOM (didn’t think that existed in Iraq, did you?) BUT ALSO since they resemble those of Sweden. Oh, I wonder when we’ll see CBGs off the coast of Sweden threatening our sovereignty for a few Madonna albums? It’s time to draw a line. Here and no further! Where would you want to live - in Iraq or the US? How lucky for me that I reside in Sweden, isn’t it … where I can enjoy the best of those two worlds. Blah ..

There might not have been one simple reason for the invasion of Iraq (like oil for example). I see a number of organizations and institutions that benefit from an americanized Iraq. Cultural differences is one good reason. Basically kill what you do not understand. And the US has a long history of intolerance. Another sort of cultural reason is religion. There is no doubt that Christian movements have extended their tentacles all the way to the white house. A third good reason would be Israel which is pretty much the 51st state (in close competition with the UK). Yet another reason is the growing amount of oil being traded in Euros (Iraq was perhaps the first major oil exporters that ditched the dollar in favor of the Euro). One reason could be the legal quagmire presented by “rouge” nations like Iraq. They seldom sign international laws for example. At least not copyright laws if they are handed out by US henchmen. Such nations render international treaties ineffective. No matter if they are stupid treaties or not. It’s not difficult to see that since the US government is elected with the help of money from the same companies that pushed these treaties in the first place, there is a slight conflict of interest here.
Then there is of course the issue of Saddam being a dictator for life and the pretty much non-existent freedom of speech (as long as you are critical to the regime). And Iraq did invade a neighbouring country .. even if Kuwait was (and still is) a cosy dictatorship just like Iraq. Some would have us believe that only the last two reasons are good enough to motivate an invasion. I wish. The case is more complicated than what first meets the eye.

The only thing I know for sure is that democracy isn’t the only thing these knuckleheads are out to spread …