In an article in Monday's edition of The Guardian, movie director Alex Cox questions the movie industry's definition of "piracy." He argues that the studios, which he notes "are already hugely wealthy," are the real "pirates" as they manipulate the legal process to ensure their own profits at the expense of their artists' creativity.

As Cox points out, every new device — from the 8-track tape and VCR to the CD and DVD — has actually served to increase the profits of the very industries that claim to fear the use of these devices for unauthorized copying.

Perhaps no individual fact in Cox's article will surprise 2600 readers, who have been alerted for quite some time to the greed of the movie and music industries. But it is always refreshing to hear these complaints clearly presented from someone who is perhaps on the "inside" of the Hollywood system and who has been personally hurt by exaggerated restrictions of copyright law.