RIAA Believes The Silent Majority Support Them
from the this-sounds-familiar... dept
There are increasing similarities between SCO and the RIAA these days. Despite the amount of loud backlash to SCO attempt to take down Linux, SCO insisted that it was all orchestrated by a thieving IBM and that "the silent majority" supported them. Now, the RIAA is saying almost exactly the same thing. They've come up with their own study, which they say proves the public supports them in their quest to sue their customers. Of course, since the RIAA created the survey themselves, you can imagine how the question was phrased. I'll take a stab at it: "Do you think the music industry should sue thieves and pirates who are stealing their music, in order to make sure that they can continue to make the music you love?" For someone who doesn't understand the issues, it's pretty obvious what they're going to answer. However, someone else could just as easily turn it around and change around a few loaded words to the other side and ask: "Do you think the music industry is being heavy handed in suing children for millions of dollars, when they just want to be able to listen to a song they love?" I imagine the results would be a bit different. Clearly, these are two extremes, but even a subtler set of questions would yield very different results. When even musicians are saying that the RIAA has gone too far "in their name" you have to wonder if the "silent majority" is really limited to "people related to music industry execs".
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Yes, they should sue
Instead of getting new laws on the books, when they didn't bother to use the old laws.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Support Survey
grep
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Support Survey
http://www.twainquotes.com/Lies.html
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Support Survey
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Support Survey
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Support Survey
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not everyone agrees
Sue-ees say otherwise ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Not everyone agrees
If a law is being broken by many people, perhaps it should not be a law.
'ignorance of the law is no excuse' - even if it is a crap law, benefitting a cartel
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
Whether you agree with what the RIAA is doing, it's permissable/legal and well within their rights. And don't agree with it but I don't agree with a lot of the laws that I'm REQUIRED BY LAW IN THE UNITED STATES to honor.
SCO on the other hand has yet to provide proof that their copyright has been infringed upon.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
Especially ones that have been filed improperly.
Do you think it is acceptable for the RIAA to trespass onto your hard drive on mere suspicion of having a copyrighted piece of material ?
Show me some printed proof that using the technology of file sharing or P2P of copyrighted material is illegal.
Every day I send copyrighted material to others through email and this too is a data transmission method.
The RIAA certainly does have the right to attempt to sue ... as the American people have the right to disagree and do what is necessary to make changes to the current draconian situation.
Thats the beauty of this country, if I don't like it, I can work to change it ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
Just because you can do something legally doesn't mean it's smart, and doesn't mean it won't harm your business. It's a situation where lawyers are taking over for business people.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
A lot of posters/writers are very passionate about the whole file sharing thing but in the end, at least as far as the law goes (currently), it is illegal to duplicate copyrighted material beyond whatever terms the author/owner has permitted.
The RIAA and there approach to putting their head in the sand isn't a sound approach to business but as a monopoly, they can currently take this tact and get away with it. Until another competitive business pops up in their place they can continue this indefinitely.
Right now no one has that alternative. I've watch a number of people talk about how the companies should exploit this file sharing capability 'somehow' but no one has come up with a viable method for doing this. I mean any of the music companies or anyone on these many boards bemoaning the file sharing thing. Until someone show the companies (or artists) how they can make as much (no actually more) money than they do now, it's not in the companies or the artists best interest to change anything.
Downloads appear to becoming more acceptable to the companies but I suspect the DRM they are applying to the files will make them too much of pain to work with and result in a continued downward spiral of sales.
Between the lack of new artists that I enjoy and the copy protection schemes that are being attempted on CDs these days, I've pretty much relagated myself to buying older used CDs ... which again is costing the music companies business.
Your right Mike, they aren't getting it but other than apple's Itunes, I haven't seen anyone close to getting it right ... and even itunes has an issue or two.
--RJD--
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sharing Illegal? Time to move on...
Here's a thought for those arguing the copying is illegal party line:
Why can I rent and copy movies but not music CDs?
There are plenty of other countries where CD rentals are legal. I sincerely believe that if CD rentals were wide spread, the whole P2P sharing thing wouldn't have had the ride it's enjoying now.... and all you have to do to understand why this is true is look at other countries where CD rentals are legal (and affordable).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sharing Illegal? Time to move on...
VCRs are such a common place in our life that we think because they exist, that copying must be legal. It is as long as the material copyright permits it. Virtually none do.
This is another good analogy. A VCR's function allows you to break the law and copy movies. However, it serves a legit purpose and therefore is available to the consumer. P2P software needs to establish they same beachhead in order to avoid being sued out of existance. Right now, there isn't an overwhelming LEGAL use of the software.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]