Mashup is a Caribbean word, mateys

As the crowned heads of cyberspace met at the Consumer Electronics Show, the spectre of  content piracy,  aided and abetted by peer-to-peer (P2P) networking, cast a shadow of fear over the event.

“The volume of P2P which is dominated by illegal, uncopyrighted material is overwhelming and that clearly should not be an acceptable continuing status,” the general counsel of NBC Universal is quoted as saying in The Hollywood Reporter.

Reporter David Kaplan of the e-zine Paid Content touched on this same issue in a brief but informative report that contains many useful links to other sources in the battle that is brewing between mashup culture and corporate content.

In searching around this morning I also found an earlier article in the e-zine Ars Technica, reporting on a speech by the chief executive of NBC Universal. The title says it all: “Piracy is the new face of economic crime, and we’re losing.”

I recently wrote about a study by Nokia that suggested that, within a few year’s time, that a quarter of all entertainment “will have been created, edited and shared within their peer circle rather than coming out of traditional media groups.”

Aarrgh! Don’t you just hate it when industries go to war with their customers!