Thursday, July 01, 2010

Homeland Security are now cast members

At Disney. [Link]

Now, it looks like law enforcement isn't even trying to hide the fact that they're taking orders from Hollywood. Dark Helmet points us to the news that Homeland Security proudly announcedraids on nine different movie sites, which they accuse of infringing on copyrights. But what's most interesting is where the announcements about these raids happened: at Disney. And who else was there on stage? Execs from other studios. Yup, Homeland Security isn't even trying to make the slightest effort to hide the fact that it now works for corporate interests. It will announce legal activity from the companies, which stand to benefit the most from such activity.
Imagine if the FTC announced plans to charge Google with antitrust from Microsoft's offices? With execs from Yahoo and Apple on stage. Wouldn't people cry foul?
Not only that, but the guy in charge of the raids blatantly admits that it's now a homeland security priority to protect movie studio interests:

The head of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], John Morton, says that the number of illegal movie sites is dramatically rising both in the U.S. and abroad, and organized crime is behind some of them. ICE is putting movie piracy front and center in this new initiative, by making its first actions to protect the movie studios' intellectual property.

What does customs have to do with a domestic dispute over civil copyright infringement? And why are Homeland Security officials so closely involved with a few Hollywood Studios that they're not just protecting their business models, but also announcing these efforts from the studios' own offices?

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