TECHNOLOGY AND THE BIG COMMERCIAL RIP OFF

So the most recent rip off was the I-tunes battery issue, but technology rip offs are part of the legitimate fabric of commercial practise these days, and have been for years. Consumer products like Hi Fi or domestic appliances have constantly been re-invented in the name of upgrading, better lifespan, service or quality. Rarely has this actually merited a new purchase, or a replacement unit. Of course everyone bought new things anyway, as boredom seems to be a deciding factor in replacing consumer durables. We weren't too concerned at being ripped off when a unit went out of production, or couldnt be repaired, as we secretly wanted a new one anyway. We didnt mind it was twenty quid more.

But the net of entrapment in the mire of technology has only really just got going, and the legal aspects for the end user are fast eroding into a sludge of different laws and statutes that usually only protect the owner of the copyright, the manufacturers copyright, or the owner of the intellectual property as in the case of software authors etc. We the purchasers, have little or no rights to complain, bargain for a better deal, fight for our rights as users, or demand better treatment. Cds, digital downloads, software, etc are all holding us, the end users, to ransom. Why do we have to purchase the whole of Adobe Photoshop just to make a couple of jpegs? Why do we have to pay incredibly inflated prices for cds in order to prop up the crumbling music industry and its inflated self indulgent practises, why must we purchase digital TV technology just because the government says we should? No one seems to stop and think about the principals which are being destroyed. We are forced to purchase certain items to carry on normal daily life [see cellphones/cars/pcs/other item of choice] but then have to pay extortionate amounts to use said items. Don't forget that when mobile phone technology first began, it was actually much cheaper generally than it is now. Think of all the measures to generate money from traffic and parking. These are the hidden rip offs that are part and parcel of the new technology driven world. A license to print money. A license to make up laws. A license to rip us all off at every touch and turn.