Aardvark Daily

Please visit the sponsor!

Grumpy old Murdoch whinging again

The SOPA bill in the USA is still trundling along on the path to becoming a full blown law but at least the Obama administration is starting to show signs of hessitance in the face of growing public opposition.

This bill (for those who have been living in a cave for several months) is the USA's attempt to impose massive control over what the Net-users of the world can see and do online -- and it's all (allegedly) in the name of protecting the rights of copyright owners.

As I mentioned last week (here and in this blog, the mainstream media have seemingly tried to bury news of this proposed draconian legislation -- and this week, NewsCorp's "grumpy old man" (GOM) Rupert Murdoch has demonstrated why this is.

Murdoch, who also owns 21st Century Fox (can you say "conflict of interest?") has come out with strong criticism of the Obama administration's attempts to distance itself from the more controversial aspects of the SOPA bill.

According to The Guardian, Murdoch has alleged that the US president is effectively in bed with a bunch of "Silicon Valley paymasters" who are seeking to lessen the bill's scope and power.

Hell Rupert, why not just have some of your staff hack their phones so you can get the dirt on this horrific graft and corruption?

Oh.. what's that? You'd rather we didn't mention News Of The World?

Using his newly created Twitter account, Murdoch got stuck into Obama, filling his his 140 character or less blasts with terse comments such as

"So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery".

While ranting at full grumpiness, Murdoch also laid into Google, a company he probably despises because it continues to grow at rates which make NewsCorp look like a minor-player in the new media...

"Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying."

I'm sure Rupert has never spent a dime on lobbying governments -- right?

No, his employees were too busy bribing police to engage in any kind of lobbying -- right?

The good thing about Murdoch's public displays of pique are that they clearly show how disempowered he has become by the Net and the way it is busy reshaping news, broadcasting and entertainment.

Rupert -- maybe if you can't accept the way the Net is changing the shape of news, broadcasting and entertainment then it's time for you to buy a blanket, some slippers, a pipe, an old dog and spend the rest of your days sitting in front of the fire -- rather than whining about things.

We don't need any more GOM -- there are enough of us here already.

I suspect that if Murdoch's lawyers read this there will be all manner of sabre-rattling but, as I'm sure Rupert himself has done many times in the past, I stand by my honestly held opinions.

And Rupert, if you want to download one of your biggest grossing movies, just click here.

And I'd bet good money that if he clicked, he wouldn't get it.

Is Murdoch embarrassing himself through what appears to be gross hypocrisy in respect to the "ethics" of copyright infringement and his failure to adapt to the changing mediascape?

Should he, as I suggest, simply retire and smoke his pipe by the fire, instead of whinging like a little boy who's found out that other kids now have better toys than his?

Please visit the sponsor!

Have your say on this...

PERMALINK to this column

Oh, and don't forget today's sci/tech news headlines

Rank This Aardvark Page

Change Font