Suck it up

The debate on amendments to NZ copyright law in regard to technology is generating some pithy comment. For example, consultant Hamish MacEwan, in conversation after InternetNZ’s workshop on the topic, protested at the special status accorded librarians et cetera, that allow them to get round technological copy-protection mechanisms to execute “permitted use” rights. “They’re allowed to do it, but Joe Blow [the average user] isn’t,” he said. “No, I’m not even going to call him Joe Blow — he’s Joe Suck. He’s expected just to sit there and consume.” You could have given a catch-phrase to the world there, Hamish.

Stephen Bell