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Looking back to my history
In a mystery,
how it came to me
A little money
and a lotta time
I gave all thats mine,
and now I got my sign
Ohhh, Im not your puppet
Dont pull my strings,
fool with this
Ill make you,
yea yea yea
Dance for me
—”What Chu Want” by Australian rap group J Wess Project
Its always something! Last week, in a series of surprise raids, the recording industry police, utilizing warrants based on some obscurities, blew into the Australian offices of Kazaa (Sharman Networks) and half a dozen other places, apparently, and took or trashed everything they could. I was visualizing Elliot Ness bursting into a Frank Nitti warehouse, using big axes to bust up liquor barrels and yelling, “Tell Capone he was paid a visit!” The only things the recording industry mob seems to be missing are machine guns and fedora hats.
This took place after the recording industry, which lost its case in April 2003 trying to shut down various peer-to-peer operations, showed up in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena pleading for a reversal. The industry has decided to get tough with everyone. This includes targeting telecommunications companies. In Australia, the stated hope is to find evidence to use against Sharman in the U.S. Sharman says its just harassment. Welcome to the world of globalization.
Click here read the entire Dvorak commentary at
PC Magazine.