So Warner Brothers told Gary Shapiro of the Consumer Electronics Association to stop making them look bad because they were early adopters and innovators and embracers of new technology.

Gary Shapiro takes that assertion, wipes his butt with it, and sends it back to them with crapstains on it…

You also said of your industry that “history shows that we are often adapters and embracers of new technologies.” In the last few decades, the motion picture industry came late to digital television and actually used every means possible to block new useful technology. Consider:

* the lawsuit seeking to stop the VCR
* the efforts to pass legislation blocking video rentals
* the lawsuit against ReplayTV, a PVR start-up, (the company was bankrupted by the lawsuit)
* the lawsuit against ClearPlay, a company with technology that deleted obscene content
* the lawsuit against Sima, a company which sells editing technology to wedding videographers
* the lawsuit against Kaleidescape, a company that lets consumers send lawfully acquired DVDs around their home
* the lawsuit against Load ‘N Go, a company which sold pre-loaded iPods with DVDs, as long as the consumer also bought the DVD.

The recent legislative efforts to mandate technological changes to stop copying, block the so-called “analog hole” and impose other “fixes” on the technology industry certainly make your claim of embracing new technology a bit hollow.

I found the letter via TechDirt, one of the best Tech news sites on the planet. You can read it here in all it’s Word formatted glory (honestly guys, a Word doc? Could you be less secure?)

I find it particularly ironic that a company like Warner would claim that the industry is innovative and embraces technology in any fashion. As Gary Shapiro correctly notes, “embracing” technologies is nowhere near the truth when referring to Hollywood. In fact, they do everything possible to stop customers from ever taking any advantage of any technology.

Screw ‘em. As many have said, the more you treat your customers like criminals, the more they will learn the skills and start acting like criminals.

Fine with me. I’m an honest paying customer, but at some point even people like me are going to get fed up.

Technorati Tags: warner, shapiro, piracy, technology