Jammie Thomas Refuses To Make RIAA Propaganda In Exchange For Reduced Payment
from the laughable-propaganda dept
Back in 2009, Kevin Cogill, who was given two months house arrest for uploading a pre-release version of Guns 'N Roses' album, was also required to create a propaganda video for the RIAA about how terrible infringement is. Instead, he didn't do that, and started doing interviews explaining how the RIAA "f**** people in the a**." Amusingly, the RIAA then claimed that it was its own decision not to have Cogill create the propaganda video, because there would be "unnecessarily high production costs."Given that experience, it seems a bit bizarre that the RIAA has suggested that it would accept a lower payment than the $222,000 verdict (the one of a few verdicts that is now the final verdict) requires if Jammie Thomas were to do the same sort of propaganda. She, however, has made it clear that she has no interest in doing that. As she told Dave Kravets at Wired:
However, the 36-year-old mother of four and the nation's first file-sharer to challenge a Recording Industry Association of America lawsuit, said she would rather go bankrupt.Of course, bankruptcy declared after the court ruling may not be that helpful, as I don't think she can get out from the amount owed that way (a bankruptcy lawyer recently explained that it is possible, in some situations, to get out of such rewards by declaring bankruptcy before the case is final, but once it's final... not so much). Of course, the RIAA isn't that interested in the money anyway. The focus here has always been on making "an example" of Jammie Thomas and others, in the mistaken belief that it would scare people away from file sharing. That, obviously, would be the same goal of any propaganda video, and it would almost certainly fail.
"I'm not doing it," the Minnesota woman said in a telephone interview today.
The issue is that the RIAA and other maximalists still think this is an "education" issue, rather than an issue about how people want to access and share content. The "education" doesn't stop infringement, and it never has. Putting someone that was put through the wringer by the RIAA legal machine in front of a camera would just be even more ridiculous, because pretty much everyone would realize that a forced statement was not sincere, and that propaganda made in response to a required payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars really would just do more to highlight what an incredible bully the RIAA really is.
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Filed Under: copyright, jammie thomas, jammie thomas-rasset, kevin cogill, propaganda
Companies: riaa
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Missed chance
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Its transparent contradictions.
Its rationalisations.
Its blatant disregard for revolutionary technology.
Its slippery slopes.
Its encouragement of delusions towards creators.
Its unfalsifiable tautologies.
Its impossible balancing act.
Its a-historial failure to demand free speech regulation without corruption.
Its war on philosophies that pose a credible alternative to its claims such as assurance contracts.
Its dismissal of the fruits of labour of derivative artists as acceptable collateral damage.
Its monopolistic encouragement, both from legal and illegal pillars.
There is a reason why a child can see through all of it, as so easily demonstrated by the young generation of today who have come to absolutely hate the copyright laws.
It just takes one person: "why should we have to give up hard fought freedoms in the name of an unenforcable world-fence?" Word gets around, and the revolution starts.
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VC
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Evidently stubbornness is a piratey trait.
On to amusing example of Mike's ignorance: "put through the ringer" -- College boy, it's "wringer", from rollers that wring water out of clothes, mostly in early washing machines. By the way, those work great and are fun to operate, mindful of fingers. But I'm sure Mike never helped his mother do laundry: his class has servants for housework.
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That or your just a dolt. I'm never sure which.
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Re: Evidently stubbornness is a piratey trait.
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That said she decided to stand up for her convictions and tell the people who are trying to destroy her "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" (to quote a great old song), and I applaud her for it.
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Education does not help in this case, because the RIAA would invariably use the "starving artist" line, which is a lie (at this point, an outright, dyed-in-the-wool fallacy) to cover up publisher excess.
Education does not help in this case, because the RIAA has been engaging in the basest (most predictable) form of lobby protectionism, emphasizing dying business models and crushing innovators through legislative and judicial process (hello, mandatory Pandora royalty fees!).
Education does not help in this case, because the RIAA is human garbage, and everyone should avoid giving them money on the general principle that you should not feed ambulatory piles of garbage. There are still ways to hear music and only minimally contribute to that walking shitheap. Radio and Pandora are the prime examples; yes, there are royalty agreements there, but using radio doesn't actually impact how much the RIAA gets, and Pandora, if nothing else, needs to get motivated to work their own shit out aggressively.
Jammie Thomas made a principled objection to the demands of a cruel, vicious predator. That creature is human according to Mitt Romney, but commands vast resources and comprised of many individuals, and is effectively immortal. Time for the rest of the world to pull out their own Beowulf, St. George, or Gilgamesh and be as brave as Ms. Thomas, and slay this nasty fucking monster.
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They're human?!?!?
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"So, you want your culture back? We'll give it to you at $20 a pop. It will be soaked in excrement and barely work. It will be scanning for eyeballs and if it encounters more than two, it will subsequently ignite your device in a ball of blazing inferno."
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I am very very sorry but...
This is why I wouldn't want to make a PSA about piracy... This was meant to be educational and in its quest this video failed to curb software piracy and it only made the BSA look ridiculous. It's the out of touch attitude of the RIAA that will.
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Of course she's not going to make propaganda for the organisation that ruined her life for the equivalent of copying a CD for a friend, something that people were doing every day before the internet made them shit their pants. Good for her for not buckling, since the difference is probably the choice between "bankrupt and life ruined" and "bankrupt and life ruined with a slightly smaller bill".
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