Slashdot Mirror
ISOC Hires MPAA Executive Paul Beringer
First time accepted submitter imwilder writes "The Internet Society has hired Paul Beringer to head up its operations in North America. Beringer was formerly Chief Technology Policy Officer for the MPAA, and Executive Director of Internet and Technology Policy for Verizon Corporate Services. Does this challenge the notion that ISOC is a 'trusted, independent source of Internet leadership?'"
Where "independent" and "objective" simply means "giving the bad as much airtime and consideration as the good."
... we now have a case of the fox and a platoon of his buddies guarding the henhouse?
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
He was only at the MPAA for a year, and from what I hear, that was no accident. I know people who know him, and they say that he understands the Internet and didn't agree with what the MPAA was doing, and was described to me as "one of the good guys." We shall see, but he won't last long at ISOC if he isn't.
When you hire someone, you don't magically become a shill of that person's past employer.
While true. You don't appoint the former CEO of a national beef conglomerate to be head of PETA. You don't appoint a former devil worshipper as pope. You don't appoint a former member of the pirate party as an executive of the RIAA.
The fact that you were a chief executive of an organization such as the MPAA says something about you. And what it says is largely inconsistent with the values of the internet society.
You choose executives whose personal views are consistent with the values of the organization, or who at least are not widely known as having opposite views; such as the scope and capabilities of the internet should be heavily restricted in order to protect media companies.
They're not my favorites either, but let's not become too pessimistic. All is not lost. The most important thing is that the free world remain so and that we retain the ability to resist all efforts to introduce censorship of any type.
We refer to this era we live in as the information age because the Internet is so amazingly effective at making it possible for people all over the world to freely exchange information. This has been great for most people, but since it has also had the effect of decommoditizing information in general, it has been bad news for the various publishing industries and their centuries-old business model, so don't be surprised if they continue to put up a fight.
They see censorship as the best way to once again make information scarce and thereby raise the value of their products, so our task is to raise public (and ultimately political) awareness that such an artificial measure can only be counterproductive at best. It will be much better for society in general if the publishing industries learned to develop new business models, rather than if our governments effectively allow them to dictate rules that will lead to the implementation of tools more befitting of a police state. If we allow that to happen, then we may wake up one day to find that the clock has indeed been turned back... to 1984.
How does one go about boycotting this?
There's a 'how to' video on boycotting this, but it's not available online. You have to provide two forms of picture ID to order the physical media, register your IP address, sit hrough an FBI warning and promise that only you - and you alone - will watch it. Sharing it with others, making copies, posting it online or selling it as used is strictly forbidden. A 'how to ' video about acquiring their videos is being prepared by their lawyers in conjunction with the US government and Interpol.