The Copyright Alert System, Consumer Attitudes and…Fascism?

Well, that didn’t take long.

The Copyright Alert System has only been in place for a matter of days, and already some consumers (who do not appear to have received any notices) are already comparing it to the mechanisms and implements of control utilized by the Nazis.

I could write a lengthy post about how ridiculous that is, how it tends to trivialize the atrocities committed by the Nazis, and the suffering of those who were the objects of the Nazi’s fascist totalitarianism, but instead I’ll just let the words of one Gawker commentator speak for themselves:

“Looks about like a Gestapo officer saying my papers are invalid. They’ll round us up soon, us dirty pirates. We’re all that’s ever been wrong with the economy, you know.”

Um… yeah, that’s just what these notices are like; the Gestapo checking your papers. Brilliant!

I’m not even sure who the metaphorical Gestapo is in this inane analogy. Is the ISP the Gestapo? The monitoring agency? The rights-holder?

The comment was posted in response to this article, which shows you what the notices themselves apparently look like.

To be fair to the Gawker reader who posted it, it’s clearly meant to be over the top and sarcastic, but I get the sense that the anger and sense of victimization is sincere. He/she hasn’t even been a target of such a notice, and already it’s an outrage.

Setting aside this specific comment for a moment, it’s really beyond time that all Internet users backed off the Nazi analogies. They weren’t apt with respect to George Bush, they aren’t valid when directed at Barrack Obama, and they sure as hell have no place in a discussion of the Copyright Alert System.

Hyperbole has its place, sure…. but enough is enough, already.