The Media Grinch
Downhill Battle, a file-sharing activist group from Worcester, Mass., has launched an Internet campaign to send lumps of coal to the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America. The group said it will send a brick of unsightly coal for every $100 that people donate to digital rights defense groups Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge and IPac. -- news.com

Now just hold on thar, Baba-louie... When I was just wee bit of a lad, one of the jobs I had was working for the superintendent of the slum, er, tenement we lived in. Aside from dragging garbage cans up and down from the basement a couple of time each week, my tasks included stoking the boiler. For those of you who were born in the modern age, that meant hurling shovels full of coal into the gaping, flaming mouth of the beast.

I understand the symbology of what Downhill Battle wants to do, but coal is not unslightly. In fact, it could be downright good looking if the light was right. And of course, those of us who watched the old Steve Reeves Superman series know that coal becomes diamonds if you apply enough pressure. Can the RIAA and the MPAA apply pressure? Check the next post.
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