In this article in the New York Times, Jack Valenti is quoted as saying, on behalf of the MPAA, that “We’re fighting our own terrorist war” against people who would pirate movies online.

So, copying movies is morally equivalent to, say, crashing airplanes into buildings and killing thousands of people. If Jack Valenti really believes this, then he should also believe that the MPAA would be justified in sending hit squads out to kill people who would pirate movies. Pirates are terrorists, right? Then really no remedy should be out of the question. Perhaps the MPAA needs its own nuclear arsenal.

Mr. Valenti either needs to tone down his rhetoric, or he needs to be locked up because he has now gone completely insane and presents a threat to the safety of others.

(The article also quotes Valenti as saying “The great moat that protects us, and it is only temporary, is lack of broadband access.” This is interesting, as it seems to confirm something Lawrence Lessig said in an article I wrote about last week. At the time, I thought that Lessig was exaggerating or at least barking up the wrong tree. Valenti’s comments make me wonder whether that’s true.)