12 fevereiro 2003

CULTURAS IN VITRO
Digital Entertainment Jumps the Border: Popular culture has become one of America's biggest exports. Every year the U.S. sells more than $60 billion worth of music, books, movies, television programs and computer software to consumers abroad. And this estimate does not even include the revenues made by illegal copying and other forms of piracy. In Europe or Canada, one need only flick on the television, buy a compact disc or browse the entertainment section of a newspaper to see the ubiquity of American culture.
Pirates & Paranoids: Recording Restricted: "Disney has no asset more valuable than the film The Lion King," says Preston Padden, a Disney executive vice president. "We have presented, and would like to present again, The Lion King free over the air on Sunday night on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney. But if doing so means that perfect digital copies will be posted to file-sharing sites on the Internet, then we would have to seriously reconsider putting it on ABC."
But the fact is, consumers expect high-quality recording to be available.