How A Reporter Spins The Grokster Decision

Ramblings

from the impartial-reporting? dept

While most news organizations focused on the judges decision or the implications of the Appeals Court Grokster decision, an article in the UK is somewhat amusing for the clear (but unstated) bias the reporter has, siding with the entertainment industry on the decision. The article leads with: “Attempts by the music and movie industries to clamp down on internet piracy suffered a major blow….” That’s funny, the entertainment industry won the case against Napster, and that made the problem worse because people moved on to decentralized file sharing apps. So, this wasn’t an attempt to “clamp down on internet piracy,” but a weak attempt to blame some companies for internet piracy that occurred using their technology because the industry refuses to come up with a more modern business model. This point, central to the ruling earlier this week is completely buried in the final paragraph of the piece. The article also only includes outraged quotes by the heads of the RIAA and the MPAA but no one from Grokster or Streamcast.