[Fsf-friends] Letter to the Hindu from RMS

Arun M arun@gnu.org.in
Sun Oct 19 15:31:58 IST 2003


Dear Editors

Your Sep 27 article, When "Piracy" Funds Terrorism, violated a basic
principle of journalism: not to make an accusation without positive
grounds.  It accused unauthorized CD producers of funding terrorism,
but cited no grounds for this except that some of them are in
Pakistan.

I have no great sympathy for those who commercially copy music without
paying the musicians.  (That includes the major record labels, since
most of their musicians do not actually receive royalties for their
records.)  But we must reject the attempts to demonize those who copy,
whether it means saying they support terrorists or simply calling them
"pirates", because this propaganda campaign doesn't stop with
commercial copiers.  Its real target is you and me--anyone who
sometimes copies a record.  The real terror campaign is being mounted
by the record companies, which are suing hundreds and perhaps soon
thousands of ordinary people in the US.  It aims to make people so
frightened that they do not dare share with their friends.  Helping
one's friends is part of human nature, so it takes a lot of fear
to make people stop.

I hope that the citizens of India will insist on keeping India safe
from record company terror.

Richard Stallman
545 Tech Square
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA







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