Glickman Debates Barlow

Filed in archive Commentary , RIAA, IFPI on August 28, 2006

But not one on one. The BBC feature on film piracy stages Dan Glickman, MPAA Prez, against John Perry Barlow, of the grateful dead and EFF co-founder. There is little new in the polarized format.

Barlow reminds Glickman that this is a battle the can't win in the long-term.

The good news is that you guys have managed to buy every major legislative body in the planet, but you know the problem is, the bad news is that you're up against a dedicated foe that is younger and smarter than you are and will be alive when you are dead, and has historical forces on its side, and is using its technological acumen very adeptly to ward off all of your efforts of control and you're gonna lose that one. I mean you're fifty-five years old and these kids are seventeen and they're just smarter than you are. So you're gonna lose that one. But the good news is you guys are mean sons of bitches and you've been figuring out ways to rip off audiences and artists for centuries really, and all you gotta do is get outta bed a little earlier in the morning for a spell and you'll find new ways of doing this. I have every faith in you and you should give yourselves a little credit, instead of howling that you're going to be victimized. It's not like you to be victimized.