The War On Sharing As An Infographic Of Europe

from the where's-the-battle-of-moscow? dept

We already covered the RIAA’s subpoena to Box.net, but ReadWriteWeb has a post on the story that’s worth pointing out, because it highlights this absolutely wonderful infographic that Ashley Angell put together a few months ago, mapping out the “War on Sharing” as an infographic:

Definitely click through to see the full image, and to Angell’s explanation for the graphic. I’m sorry I missed this when it first came out, but happy I eventually spotted it.

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Comments on “The War On Sharing As An Infographic Of Europe”

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30 Comments
drewmo (profile) says:

Confused

I’m really confused… What is the connection to the countries shown in the infographic? I was expecting an explanation somewhere…

Are the populations or geographic size of the countries labeled proportional to the size of the networks they’re labeled with? That can’t be, because the UK is simply “compact disks” and the Pirate Bay is just in the ocean, and why would Germany be “proponents of copyright”?

Is this supposed to be some sort of analogy to WWII?

Seriously, I want to understand this infographic, and what point it’s trying to make by connecting these sharing tools to European countries. I clicked through to the hat-tipped sites and I still don’t see a coherent explanation of WHAT is going on in this infographic.

G Thompson (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

Hate to disagree, but a Trade Union at least has a sort of democratic process where its members, large and small, get a say in what it does. The MPAA/RIAA of the world do not even attempt to listen to their artists or do things in their best interests.

I would be more inclined to say
And all I see are Egotistic Feudal Lords that do nothing but sue, and whine about their vassals dying.

Though More and More I keep seeing them as Daleks…

The eejit (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Re:

No, that’s what we think of them – from their About page:

“The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the trade organization that supports and promotes the creative and financial vitality of the major music companies.”

Admittedly, it’s not woth a bits it using, but that’s what they say about themselves. IT doesn’t matter that they hold sway over the labels, it’ss till a Trade Union.

nasch (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Hate to disagree, but a Trade Union at least has a sort of democratic process where its members, large and small, get a say in what it does. The MPAA/RIAA of the world do not even attempt to listen to their artists or do things in their best interests.

Your mistake is in thinking the members of the MPAA and RIAA are artists. The members are the movie studios and record labels respectively, and they definitely have a say in what the organizations do.

Ashley Angell (user link) says:

Infographic

Hey guys, I became aware of this post from Twitter and I wanted to say “hi” (I made the info-graphic).

I wanted to provide some context for its creation, as well as to answer any possible questions. This is the only place I will do this on the subject (other than the comments on the original link).

Basically, I made this as my submission for a college assignment for a new subject on Web Media. Our brief was to create a Reflective Web Media Creation and post it on the web. the *vast* majority of my peers did YouTube videos, but I thought I’d do this; since I have always been interested in trending new media and modern war history.

Indeed, this is supposed to provoke discussion about the effectiveness of copyright proponent policy (sue every breach we find) and the battles of World War 2 (which didn’t work out so well for the Germans in the long run).

To be honest, I never suspected that the info-graphic would ever be considered any good, so this is all a bit of a surprise that anyone cares at all! And no, I hadn’t heard of Godwin’s Law, until I read @scarr’s comment (and I wouldn’t have done WW2 if had, but it still was a very funny comment, kudos).

This is more about the battles than the geographical circumstance. In hindsight (as my lecturer commented on my ‘pitch’ actually, but it was too late to change) I should have chosen the Vietnam War, and used the analogy of the guerrilla skirmishes and tactics that both sides use in the copyright “war”.

I am very open to constructive criticism and I am happy to answer any questions people might have. My website is linked in the article, and you can get me there, or alternatively I’ll check here from time-to-time and update as needed.

Thanks.

Jay (profile) says:

Re: Infographic

How about the War on copyright akin to either the war on terror or the war on drugs?

There’s a similarity to all three that can not be ignored. Essentially, it’s a war on an idea. The idea that you can use enough force to effect change, yet in all three areas, the war has failed.

Sadly I can’t find Wired Magazine’s global drug trade routes, but it would be great to see other parts of the world, based on research, as they have been attacked for the perpetual war on piracy.

drewmo (profile) says:

Re: Infographic

Wow Ashley, thank you for taking the time to give more explanation. If nothing else it is a nice illustration of just how many copyright conflicts of this sort there have been in recent history. I was confused because I was sure there was some meaning I was missing, defining an analogy I didn’t quite get. Thanks for your clarification.

Anonymous Coward says:

From the linked article:

This means that most of the people attacked by the RIAA are regular people simply enjoying media on their own terms.

Most “regular people” likely do not have 100’s, and perhaps 1,000’s, of music files on their computer in a “share file”.

If by “simply enjoying media on their own terms” it is meant that P2P distribution to anonymous people throughout the world is just fine, then I must disagree with the linked article’s author.

darryl says:

Copyright and world war, nice,, whats next ?

I have to admit, but it is a very pointless graphic, it does not show anything.

but it is right down Mikes alley, trying to confuse and muddy the issues.

Trying to show everyone how in Mikes mind such a simple thing can be made to look very complex.

And if he has to scour the web for peoples “assignments” to put forward his “case” then so be it.

It’s very sad, that Mike has to resort to this tactic, but it also shows that Mike, (like most true file pirates) has little or no ability for original thought.

After all, it is so much easier to Google search for dirt and copy/paste..

“then wait for the google cheques’

Comparing copyright, to WW2 is just sick, pointless racest, and likely to incite further hate…

Good work TD, nice muck raking…. Way to play on something very important to promote the most trivial..

What will it be next???

Copyright verses world hunger ?

or copyright and abortion ?

what about copyright and religion ?

im sure there are lots of emotive subjects that you can tie purile copyright too.

But the end result is probably not the result that you are seeking, but it does tend to show you for what you are, and how you think (or not).

Jeni (profile) says:

Re: Copyright and world war, nice,, whats next ?

@darryl, Do you realize you sound quite petty? Every time I see remarks like yours about Mr. Masnick my respect for him rises a notch.

The map is very creative and shows quite a bit of research. I don’t see anywhere on it how the artist was/is aiming for a World War or depicting racism.

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