When will the European Union learn that it has no right to interfere in private business decisions? The news today that Europe is launching an antitrust probe against Apple, Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI should come as no surprise to those, like myself, who have been closely watching the increasing tenacity with which Europe is stomping over the freedoms of those who are unfortunate enough to live or do business within its jurisdiction.
Apple is – even at this stage – probably better off perservering with these pretentious pricks for business reasons than to do as I would love to see them do: pull out of Europe completely and let them suffer the consequences. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see every large American corporation shut their operations in Europe under an ultimatum? ‘We’ll bring your streets to a standstill unless you get the fuck out of our way and let us do business unimpeded by your bureaucratic bullshit.’ We can’t even begin to imagine the beauty of the devastation it would cause. Lessons would be learned, and quickly.
If rights were of concern to the E.U. they would know that to exercise power of any kind over someone’s intellectual property rights is to steal from those people the ownership of their own labour. But Europe, as usual, doesn’t see it that way, which may go a long way toward explaining why the economy in the United States is sizzling while Europe’s ticks along lethargically.
I don’t know who is going to do it, but someone must put these arrogant bastards in their place.
John Wright
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