[Fsfe-uk] Re: [Free-sklyarov-uk] The BBC again

[Peter Clay]

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004, Tom Chance wrote:

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3501964.stm

... and another thing. Look at the three "related internet links" on the
right of that page. Two of them are to pro-digital rights organisations,
FIPR and EDRI. The third is to the European commission, which is a
presumptively impartial body. Those links are the BBC's creative input
into that page, which is otherwise a reprint of a press release. Now, one
could argue that reprinting press releases without comment is bad form,
but that cuts both ways.

I'd like to request that people NOT complain to the BBC over this
article. It's not that their coverage as a whole is/is not pro-IP, but
this is the *wrong article* to fight over. Arguing against it will make us
look petty, and confirm Anne McCarthy's view of us as "over imaginative
lobbyists from the online community" and would "not reflect well on [our]
ability to look at the facts and make a balanced judgement".

Wait until a much uglier article comes along, something that's more
clearly wrong and easier to tear to pieces. In the case of the IPED, when
someone is actually arrested for possession of MP3s *then* we swing into
action: demos on the streets, Free Dmitri campaigns, outrage, "any of us
could be next", the full machinery of an activist campaign. Until then
this is too theoretical to engage most people.

Face facts: we're extremists by virtue of the very views we hold.
Therefore we must strive to present ourselves in the most moderate way
possible, carefully backed by reasoned arguments and committed only to the
most defensible positions. We have very limited resources, so we should
choose our battles. (More on this later)

Pete
-- 
Peter Clay                                         | Campaign for   _  _| .__
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