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Már ÖrlygssonConnecting the dots...
Brian Flemming: Apple Plays Big Brother - illegal(?) video-remix commenting on the ironic connection between Apple's "1984" ad back in 1984, and it's brand spanking new Pepsi/iTunes ad in 2004. The common theme seems to be somewhat Orwellian.
I love it when illegal(?) internet art is used to convey a political message, and make people think.
Update, 3 minutes later: Hey, wow, I just realised that Brian Flemming is the guy who made the excellent pseudo-documentary Nothing so Strange.
More like this: English Entries, .
Reader Comments (5)
Jósi replies:
Mr. Flemming is barking up the wrong tree. He seems to be claiming that Apple has become a sort of "Big Brother" just because iTunes tries to make people pay for downloading music!
His comments that the teenagers weren´t "prosecuted" only work if you agree with his definition of "prosecution". So what if it was a civil suit and not a criminal one, these people were attacked and prosecuted by the RIAA.
The ad is a nice tongue-in-cheek work that shows that you can download music without the hassle that these kids had. Where are these dots we´re supposed to connect?
ps. IMHO, the iTunes music store sucks, because it´s only available in America and it´s a bit too expensive at 99c per song. But I can´t see the evil Big Brother conspiracy ;)
February 16. 2004 kl. 20:19 GMT | #
Már Örlygsson replies:
Nah I think you're reading it wrong. Flemming is not saying Apple is "Big Brother", but rather that Apple is playing (along) with Big Brother in the guise of RIAA and its misinformation campaigns and heavy-handed tactics on kids suspected of downloading a few songs off the Internet.
The word "persecution" implies legal action and the involvement of the courts with judges and the whole shebang. The point is that none of these cases were ever taken to court. RIAA sued but no formal legal proceedings too place. I believe Flemming's is using the dictionary definiton of the word "prosecution".
bq. "the institution and continuance of a criminal suit involving the process of pursuing formal charges against an offender to final judgment" -- http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?prosecution
It seems to me that Flemming's tongue-in-cheek video remix was (amongst other things) meant to make fun of Apple/iTunes for being tasteless (his opinion of course) and for willingly helping RIAA to spread their misinformation and fear-mongering propaganda even further.
February 16. 2004 kl. 21:49 GMT | #
Jósi replies:
from http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=prosecution :
Prosecution does not mean only a legal action made by government agencies. Prosecution also covers legal action taken by private parties. So there ;)
February 16. 2004 kl. 23:10 GMT | #
Már Örlygsson replies:
When did I talk about "government agencies" taking legal action? If I ever did, I promise you it was unintentional.
My point (and Flemming's point too, afaiu) was merely that threatening to take someone to court, is not the same as actually taking them there; a mere "lawsuit" is not the same as "prosecution".
The kids in the advert were "sued" by RIAA but they never got as far as being "prosecuted", because their families settled out of court - in some cases within 24 hours of being served the law-suit.
February 16. 2004 kl. 23:42 GMT | #
Jósi replies:
My presumption about government agencies came about because I thought you and Flemming were referring to the fact that the RIAA´s lawsuit was a civil suit and not a criminal one, so that no District Attorneys were involved, only private lawyers, and therefore this could not have been an "official" prosecution. Mea culpa.
However,
Flemming writes: "She was not, though, 'prosecuted' for anything. She'd never been in a court". My problem with this is that (afaik) you don´t have to go to court to be prosecuted. You do have to show up to be aquitted or convicted, but if you settle before going to court that does not mean that no prosecution process took place.
And even though some maintain that the RIAA only started a "lawsuit" and not a "prosecution" of these kids, the two are not different at all. Compare my earlier definition of prosecution with the following one from http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=lawsuit : "An action or a suit brought before a court, as to recover a right or redress a grievance."
Personally I think that the RIAA´s legal action was flawed and would never have stood up in court. But that does not negate the fact that these kids were hounded, accused, incriminated and prosecuted.
February 17. 2004 kl. 20:44 GMT | #